Hull Cleaning Robot Aids Oil Spill Response
After the recent oil spill disaster of the Bow Jubail in the Port of Rotterdam, Fleet Cleaner has stepped up to help the authorities with cleaning ship’s hulls which were fouled by the heavy fuel oil, in order to minimize the environmental impact. Within record time, Fleet Cleaner has transformed its installation to an oil spill response vessel; by installing specialized heating equipment, the high pressure water cleaning robot was made ready for high pressure steam cleaning. Using the 1 MW installed power, a special oil skimmer as well as the necessary oil booms and PPM’s, the Fleet
Oil Removed from Decades-old Swedish Shipwreck
of the Thetis project, Nicolai Michelsen, general manager of Miko Marine, said; “In addition to the ships and boats that have been lost in recent years, there is a huge number around the coasts of Europe and elsewhere that were sunk during the second world war. Many still have tanks containing heavy fuel oil and after 70-years they are now starting to decay and cause unexpected deposits of oil on nearby coastlines. It took a great deal of research and development work for us to perfect the Moskito but the success of these projects has confirmed our confidence in the technology and that of the clients
Oil Recovered from Sunken Ship Thorco Cloud
More than 440 tons of heavy fuel oil was extracted from the tanks of the sunken general cargo vessel Thorco Cloud. The wreck lies in two sections 1,730 meters apart and 70 meters down in the middle of the eastbound traffic lane of the Singapore Strait following a collision in December 2015. The heavy oil in the fuel tanks and in trapped compartments was seen as a major pollution hazard. Both the bow and stern sections contained fuel tanks that required emptying, so the Thorco Cloud’s owner, Marship GmbH, supported by the P&I insurance company Standard Club, contracted Jaya Salvage
Sanchi Oil Spill Puts Coral Reefs at Risk
with another vessel in the East China Sea, killing all 32 crew aboard and raising concerns about damage to the marine ecosystem. Multiple oil slicks were reported to have come from the ship, which was caring nearly 1 million barrels of condensate, and there are fears that the ship may be leaking heavy fuel oil. Now scientists say water polluted by the Sanchi oil tanker may reach coral reefs in the Ryukyu Island chain, based on the latest ocean model simulation by researchers from the National Oceanography Center (NOC) and the University of Southampton, using the leading edge, high-resolution
Ship Engine Emissions Adversely Affect Macrophages
fine dust particles," said Sean Sapcariu, first author of the study and doctoral student at the University of Luxembourg, a cooperation partner in Helmholtz Virtual Institute of Complex Molecular Systems in Environmental Health (HICE). "We found that the ship emissions of heavy fuel oil and diesel fuel had different effects on triggering pro-inflammatory reactions,"said Sapcariu. Fine particles from heavy fuel oil emissions have a stronger effect on the development of pro-inflammatory reactions than particles emitted from diesel ship engines, but the latter
AIS Marks Hazardous Reefs Following Oil Spills
worst environmental disaster in New Zealand’s history, when the container ship Rena struck Astrolabe Reef spilling much of the ship’s cargo and fuel into the ocean causing immediate and long-term effects on the ecosystem. The ship was carrying 1,368 containers, as well as 1,700 tons of heavy fuel oil and 200 tons of marine diesel oil. Vesper Marine’s Virtual AIS Beacons, which are used to create Virtual Aids to Navigation (VAtoN), will be installed in early 2015. To be located on the existing Minden communications site, the Virtual AIS Beacon will project markers identifying
February 2024
