Marine Log - September 2008 - (Page 17)

BY NICK BLENKEY COVERSTORY SLICK CLEANUP Herculean effort gets river rolling Riverboat is boomed off to protect it from contamination as spill reaches downtown New Orleans F or a while, it looked as though New Orleans, still recovering from Katrina, was to going to get a new and unwelcome label: The Big Oily. Mule-driven buggy drivers, Bourbon Street bar owners and other New Orleans residents gagged on the fumes of No. 6 heavy fuel and signed on to a class action suit. And, the maritime economic impact was mounting: Mississippi River traffic was halted; ferry services were suspended; and ships lined up, unable to enter the Port of New Orleans. These were just some of the impacts of the spill that occurred on July 23, 2008 at about 1:30 am CDT, when the 46,764 dwt Liberian-flag chemical tank ship, Tintomara, collided with the American Commercial Lines barge DM932. At the time, the barge was being pushed by the DRD Towing Company, L.L.C, tug boat, Mel Oliver near downtown New Orleans. The collision split the barge in half, resulting in the spill of 380,000 gallons of No. 6 fuel oil (the heaviest grade of residual fuel)—many times more than the 50,000 gallons spilled in the Cosco Busan incident in San Francisco. The barge came to rest at mile marker 97 at the Crescent City Connection Bridge. Response and Prevention Departments, the Gulf Strike Team, an HH-65C helicopter from Air Station New Orleans, a 41 ft boat from Station New Orleans and the 87 ft patrol boat Razorbill to the scene. Then work began on containing the spill, cleaning up the river, salvaging the barge and getting the river rolling again. By July 26, more than 48,000 gallons of an oil water/mix had been recovered. The recovery operation involved 795 responders from four oil spill response organi- zations, who deployed a small fleet of three tugs, 71 work boats, seven barges, 33 skimmers and 10 vacuum trucks to clean up the spill. Responders also deployed some 188,000 feet of boom to contain the spill. While the spill was being contained, a plan was evolving to salvage the barge. A major problem at that point, however, was that 95 vessels were waiting to transit the river, and another 50 vessels were due to arrive in the area that needed to SLICK CLEANUP continued on page 20 COAST GUARD CLOSES MISSISSIPPI The Coast Guard closed the Lower Mississippi River from mile marker 99 to mile marker 70, above Head of Passes and launched personnel from its www.marinelog.com Bisso floating crane lifts stern of barge DM392, recovered bow unit is already aboard salvage barge SEPTEMBER 2008 MARINE LOG 17 http://www.marinelog.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Marine Log - September 2008

Marine Log - September 2008 Editorial Second Thoughts Update Contents Inside Washington Slick Cleanup The Women of WISTA Keeping Ships at Sea Connected Shipbuilding Shakeup Newsmakers Tech News Contracts Events Website Directory ML Buyer's Guide ML Marketplace Letters Marine Salvage

Marine Log - September 2008

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