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OIL SPILL RESPONSE Everything But The Oil ECM/Hudson Simulations Help Owners Prepare For Spill Responsibility by Dan Maniotis, senior editor It all began at 6:30 a.m. Friday morning — when, following an engine room fire that caused a loss of propulsion, a 584-ft. (178-m) tanker ran aground in the area of Robins Reef Light. She was inbound in the Kill Van Kull waterway, heading for IMTT Bayonne Terminal laden with a cargo of 51,043 cubic meters of #6 oil. The vessel had suffered rup- tures in Tank Nos. 1 and 2, and was leaking its cargo into the waters surrounding the Port of New York/New Jersey. The master of the vessel called and informed the owner's retained Qualified Individual (QI), Lewis J. Corcoran, one of the spill man- agers at ECM/Hudson Maritime Services, LLC. The QI immediate- ly asked the master to fax him an incident report with all pertinent information, so the QI could inform the regulatory authorities on the particulars and mobilize the emery gency cleanup response while master did everything possible to contain the spill on the scenpr Just about every maritime operation in the area was shut dowjr— includ- ing the Staten Island ferry, which meant thousands of commuters were cut off from their places of employment in the morning, and then from their homes that evening. National Response Corp. (NRC) the owner's Oil Spill Response Organization (OSRO), and Don Jon Marine, the owner's salvage /firefighting contractors, were on the scene in a few short hours. NRC alone mobilized 8,000 feet of 24-inch boom, portable barges and, a weir disc skimmer. By 7:20 a^iff; a safety zone was estahM§ned throughout the Upper JiSy from the Verrazano Narpefws Bridge North to the Broo^l^1 and George Washington bridges and along the Kill Van Ktffl to the Bayonne Bridge, jr Nevejgmeless, the damage to the tank^was such that by 7:45 a.m., th^ Master reported he'd lost Approximately 2,600 cu. m. of cargo from the 1 and 2 center r.arp-o tanks, and that the outflow of oil continued. Results of an 8:00 a.m. overflight indicated oil was moving into the Kill Van Kull. New York and New Jersey shorelines were oiled from Bergen Point/Con Hook to the Bayonne Bridge. The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) closed Ne- wark Bay to all vessel traffic. ^ Why haven't you raatfabout any of this? Becaus£>twas all part of a detailed sjjrfulation carried out by ECM/Hudson, with offices in Wiltqjfrf'Conn., Camden, N.J. and Hptfston, Texas. A relatively young TOmpany but backed by years of maritime experience, ECM/Hud- son was formed when Environ- mental Crisis Management (ECM) merged with Hudson Maritime Services earlier this year. Spill simulations such as the one which began with the previous sce- nario are provided for by the USCG's PREP Guideline, but there can be a dramatic difference between simply meeting regulato- ry rrqiiir"m"r)lnH ntiil n lii I I J {hi |i II i In — and ECM/ Hudson has been emphasizing the latter. Cynthia Hudson, vice president of ECM/Hudson and founder of Hudson Maritime Services, puts it this way: "In spite of the latitude that the PREP guidelines have giygja-^he says, "we've been able •rorind and define a pathway that makes it a really valuable experi- ence for those owners that are tak- ing the intention of the guideline seriously, and making a very good and a practical effort to handle the exercises responsibly." ECM/Hudson's approach tests the organizational elements a shipowning company has in place, and says it accomplishes this at relatively modest expense — in no small part because no actual equipment is mobilized, other than telephones and fax machines. "There are those who see these exercises as things they've got to do ... They simply meet the regula- tions, and that's it," says Ms. Hudson. "We think you can do these kinds of exercises really for ~Tm~T lititlrmnrir" It doesn't have to be some""&*4ravagant event with thousands andn^jsands of dol- lars flying around. Ithwjk you can make a practical exerci&s^from which you will really lear?N^- "BE ST VALUE FOR MONEY" ASTANO ASTANDER CADIZ P.O. BOX 994 15080 Ferrol La Coruna - Spain Tel. (3481) 34 3211 Fax (3481) 34 3252 P.O. BOX 10 39080 El Astillero Cantabria - Spain Tel. (3442) 54 0050 Fax (3442) 54 0026 P.O. BOX 39 11080 Cadiz Spain Tel. (3456) 27 3350 Fax (3456) 27 8362 ASTILLER0S ESPANOLES December, 1995 Circle 207 on Reader Service Card 7
