Thread: World's largest skimmer arrives in Gulf

World's largest skimmer arrives in Gulf as Alex disrupts oil cleanup

By the CNN Wire Staff
July 1, 2010 3:08 p.m. EDT

New Orleans, Louisiana (CNN) -- Rough seas in the wake of Hurricane Alex kept oil skimming boats out of the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday and could keep many tied up through the weekend, the retired admiral in charge of the federal response to the Gulf oil disaster said.

Thad Allen, briefing reporters in civilian garb after retiring from the Coast Guard on Wednesday, said seas over 5 feet hinder the effectiveness of most boats used to scoop oil. All but the largest vessels will likely be idled for another three days, he said.

"In general, we're waiting for the weather to abate so we can continue with recovery operations," he said.

A ship billed as the world's largest skimming vessel has arrived in the Gulf of Mexico and was awaiting approval to begin cleaning, according to a spokesman for the Taiwanese company that owns it. The A Whale arrived in the Gulf on Wednesday and was anchored in Boothville, Louisiana, about an hour south of New Orleans.

Frank Maisano, a spokesman for ship owner TMT shipping, said it is still awaiting approval to join the effort. Allen said the vessel -- estimated to be able to skim up to 21 million gallons a day -- is awaiting testing. That capacity is at least 250 times the amount that the modified fishing boats currently conducting skimming operations have been able to contain, the company says.

Built this year, the A Whale was initially designed to be one of the largest cargo vessels afloat. It was completed at a South Korean shipyard for transporting crude oil and iron ore. However, Maisano said in the statement, when the disaster unfolded, TMT modified the vessel to become the world's first large-scale skimmer.

"We're anxious to find out how effective it will be," Allen said. He cautioned that the area of the slick in which the ship will be most effective is a "congested" site above the ruptured BP well, which could make it harder to operate the 1,000-foot-plus vessel, but added, "Anything that's effective we're looking forward to using."

Hurricane Alex hit the Mexican coast, more than 600 miles from the center of the Gulf disaster, on Wednesday night with 105 mph winds. It had diminished to a tropical storm by Thursday afternoon, but it continued to stir up seas of 6 to 8 feet around the site of the 10-week-old disaster and forced the postponement of a planned overflight of the area by Coast Guard Rear Adm. Paul Zukunft.

And the system's prevailing winds have affected the direction of the oil slick, steering it away from the western Florida Panhandle toward the environmentally sensitive Mississippi and Chandeleur sounds off the coast of Mississippi and Louisiana, Zukunft said.

Researchers have estimated that between 35,000 barrels (about 1.5 million gallons) and 60,000 barrels (about 2.5 million gallons) of oil have been gushing into the Gulf every day since April 20, when the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and sank off the coast of Louisiana.

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In other efforts, the U.S. Navy said Thursday it was sending a silver-colored blimp to aid in oil disaster efforts. The blimp, known as the MZ-3A, will fly slowly over the region in order to view the area where the oil is flowing and how it is coming ashore. It can also direct oil skimming operations. It was on the way to the Gulf region from Arizona on Thursday, the Navy said.

In Gulf Shores, Alabama, meanwhile, the official tapped to oversee the payment of claims for damages from BP said he is working to speed up the process and get longer-term payments to those affected. Kenneth Feinberg, the attorney who handled a similar process after the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, said after a meeting with Alabama Gov. Bob Riley that "time is the enemy."

"This is life for many people, in terms of their financial instability and the need for financial certainty," he said. "We do not have a lot of time."

Feinberg said Riley has suggested that affected residents get lump-sum payments for up to six months' worth of lost income rather than month-to-month payments, and "That is what we plan to do."

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/07/01/gulf.o ... gletoolbar

It only took 70 days and millions of gallons, and miles of destroyed beaches! This should have been done by the THIRD WEEK! And they need MORE OF THEM, They have enough offers to get 10 or 20 of these big boys in, Florida, is getting pounded now also.

Originally Posted by Arizonablues

It only took 70 days and millions of gallons, and miles of destroyed beaches! This should have been done by the THIRD WEEK! And they need MORE OF THEM, They have enough offers to get 10 or 20 of these big boys in, Florida, is getting pounded now also.

It took time to modify it and move it half way around the world.

Built this year, the A Whale was initially designed to be one of the largest cargo vessels afloat. It was completed at a South Korean shipyard for transporting crude oil and iron ore. However, Maisano said in the statement, when the disaster unfolded, TMT modified the vessel to become the world's first large-scale skimmer.

If this is the world's first large scale skimmer how do they have offers of 10 to 20 of them?

It seems that there are "A" Whales, soon there is to be a "B" Whale and the Dutch have large skimmers though not as big as this, that are bigger than anything that has been used.

VIDEO of the A Whale at site.

Giant oil skimmer makes stop in Norfolk on way to Gulf oil cleanup
10:24 p.m. EDT, June 25, 2010
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NORFOLK — After making a brief stop in Norfolk for refueling, U.S. Coast Guard inspections and an all-out publicity blitz intended to drum up public support, a giant tanker billed as the world's largest oil skimming vessel set sail Friday for the Gulf of Mexico where it hopes to assist in the oil-cleanup effort.

The Taiwanese-owned, Liberian-flagged ship dubbed the "A Whale" stands 10 stories high, stretches 1,115 feet in length and has a nearly 200-foot beam. It displaces more water than an aircraft carrier.

Built in South Korea as a supertanker for transporting oil and iron ore, the six-month-old vessel was refitted in the wake of the BP oil spill with 12, 16-foot-long intake vents on the sides of its bow designed to skim oil off surface waters

The vessel's billionaire owner, Nobu Su, the CEO of Taiwanese shipping company TMT Group, said the ship would float across the Gulf "like a lawn mower cutting the grass," ingesting up to 500,000 barrels of oil-contaminated water a day.

But a number of hurdles stand in his way. TMT officials said the company does not yet have government approval to assist in the cleanup or a contract with BP to perform the work.

That's part of the reason the ship was tied to pier at the Virginia Port Authority's Norfolk International Terminals Friday morning. TMT and its public-relations agency invited scores of media, elected officials and maritime industry executives to an hour-long presentation about how the ship could provide an immediate boost to clean-up efforts in the Gulf.

TMT also paid to fly in Edward Overton, a professor emeritus of environmental sciences at Louisiana State University, to get a look at the massive skimmer.

Overton blasted BP and the federal government for a lack of effort and coordination in their dual oil-spill response and made a plea to the government to allow the A Whale to join the cleanup operation.

"We need this ship. We need this help," Overton said. "That oil is already contaminating our shoreline. We've got to get the ship out there and see if it works. There's only one way to find out: Get the damn thing in the gulf and we'll see."

TMT officials acknowledged that not even they're sure how well the new skimming method will work, noting that it appeared to perform well in limited testing last week.

"This concept has never been tried before," said Bob Grantham, a TMT project officer. "But we think we can do in maybe in a day and a half what these other crews have done in 66 days. We see the A Whale as adding another layer to the recovery effort."

Virginia Transportation Secretary Sean T. Connaughton said the McDonnell administration "still has great interest in offshore oil development in Virginia" and supports the A Whale's effort to assist in the cleanup.

To join the fight, the ship also might require separate waivers from the Coast Guard and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The A Whale — pronounced along the lines of "A Team" because there is a "B Whale" coming — is designed to work 20 to 50 miles offshore where smaller skimmers have trouble navigating. The ship would take in oily water and transfer it into specialized storage tanks on the flanks of the vessel. From there, the oil-fouled seawater would be pumped into internal tanks where the oil would separate naturally from the water.

After the separation process, the oil would be transferred to other tankers or shore-based facilities while the remaining water would be pumped back into the gulf.

Because the process wouldn't remove all traces of oil from the seawater, TMT will likely have to gain a special permit from the EPA, said Scott H. Segal of the Washington lobbying firm, Bracewell &Giuliani, which TMT has retained to help negotiate with federal regulators.

"The simple answer is, we don't know what the discharge will look like until we can take A Whale out there and test it," Segal said. TMT will work with regulators to determine an appropriate level of oil that can be contained in the ship's discharge.

TMT also is firm is working with the Coast Guard to gain approval to operate in the gulf, which may require a waiver from a 90-year-old maritime act that restricts foreign-flagged vessels from operating in U.S. waters, said Bob Grantham, a TMT project officer.

Connaughton, the former federal Maritime Administrator, said he doesn't believe the A Whale would require a waiver from the Jones Act, a federal law signed in 1920 that sought to protect U.S. maritime interests.

Coast Guard inspectors toured the ship for about four hours on Thursday to determine the ship's efficacy and whether it was fit to be deployed, said Capt. Matthew Sisson, commanding officer of the Coast Guard's Research and Development arm in New London, Conn.

"We take all offers of alternative technology very seriously," Sisson said. The ship, he said, is "an impressive engineering feat."

He would not offer a timetable for Coast Guard approval of the vessel, but said he will try to "turn around a report … as soon as humanely possible."

Of course, even if the ship gains approval to operate in the gulf, its owners expect the company to be paid for its efforts.

"That's an open question," Segal said. "Obviously, (TMT) is a going concern and its people would need to be compensated for their time and effort."

Copyright © 2010, Newport News, Va., Daily Press

http://www.dailypress.com/news/oil-spil ... 2230.story

Another article discussing the use of he skimmes.

[quote]Largest skimmer in the world must be deemed ‘effective’ by the federal government before it’s allowed to help with oil clean-up
By Jon Ward - The Daily Caller | Published: 1:51 AM 06/30/2010 | Updated: 2:18 PM 06/30/2010




The world's largest skimmer known as 'A Whale'
The largest skimming ship in the world — known as an “A Whaleâ€