Prestige: Oil recovery
Dedicated response vessels and recovery systems
Nine
European countries fielded 15 dedicated oil response vessels to
deal with the spill. In addition to the French vessels involved,
namely the Ailette and the Alcyon high sea supply vessels that
were on the spot on 16 and 25 November 2002, the following vessels
of varying tonnages responded to the spill: Alonso de Chavez (Spain),
Sefton Supporter (UK), Union Beaver (Belgium), Neuwerk (Germany),
Acqua Chiara and Tito (Italy) Rijn Delta and Arca (Holland), Normand-Draupne
and Far Scout (Norway), Gunnar Seidenfaden (Denmark). All of them
were fitted with oil recovery and containment systems.
In addition,
the French government deployed forty more vessels from varying
administrations such as the Navy, the Gendarmerie, Maritime Affairs,
Customs and the DGA and that were either involved in spotting,
responding or supporting other operational vessels. Those that
were fitted with sweeping arm systems used them to more or less
avail depending on the system, namely the Rijn Delta, Arca, Neuwerk
and Sefton Supporter.
Other vessels fielded different recovery
systems such as weir skimmers: Transrec 250 and Foilex TDS 200
and 250, belt skimmers: Desmi Belt skimmer coupled with a Ro-Clean
Desmi Terminator and a Hiwax module coupled to a Transrec 350
and oleophilic skimmers such as Lamor Brush Skimmer and OCS Float
Discoil 50 that encountered difficult operating conditions on
account of the soaring viscosity of the oil to be recovered.
In
view of the prevailing weather conditions, only 35 days of operational
high sea response were possible for the following vessels:, Arca,
Normand-Draupne, Far Scout, Bamse and the Gunnar Seidenfaden which
when under French command went out for 21 days and recovered 1081
tonnes of emulsion.
Nets and surface trawl systems
As the slick was steadily breaking up, it was decided as a matter of course to implement nets and surface trawl systems which require extensive logistics and skilled and trained responders as the equipment when deployed and towed requires a great deal of vessel-to-vessel co-ordination. There can be no doubt that handling and on board storage operations are tricky manoeuvres to co-ordinate. Various trawl systems were implemented, some of which were tried and tested whereas others were still in the development phase. Responders were quick to realise that nets could only be used once in view of the oil viscosity which was not without incident in terms of securing further stocks but Thomsea trawl systems use booms for concentrating the oil and as a result, the booms could be used time and time again.
A few ships belonging to the European fleet
Alcyon and Ailette (F)
Arca (NL)
Alonso de Chaves (SP)
Fishing boats and manual recovery systems
From the outset of the response initiative, the Spanish fishermen used scoops, rackets and various manual systems and light duty collection systems from their trawlers and fishing boats and which turned out to be increasingly effective between mid January and mid March 2003 given the fragmentation process of the emulsion.
Simple and efficient techniques and a whole range of equipment were either adapted or created by highly motivated professionals that had a direct stake in mitigating the spill.
Prestige’s
Fuel recovery implemented by Spanish fishermen from the Basque
Country
Basque aircraft flew perpendicular to the coastline and as they came closer and closer to the coastline they were able to use their cell phones to call up the AZTI research institute and give people there the GPS co-ordinates of the slicks they had spotted in addition to indications of quantities and surface areas. AZTI developed a data base that included all the vessels involved in the operation (180 vessels 15 to 30 metres long), including storage capacity, quantity recovered (via a real-time radio link), their current position and the number of sailors on board.
The AZTI operator then ascertained which vessels were closest and whether they had enough storage capacity left to deal with the reported slicks. He would then radio the crews and tell them where the slicks were in almost real-time. The boats went to the position and recovered the emulsion and then radioed back to the AZTI operator how much they had recovered. Once the operation was over, the trawler master radioed the AZTI HQ giving indications of tonnages recovered before proceeding to recover another slick or head for port.
Quantities recovered by the response vessels and fishing boats.
Far Scout (N)
Gunnar Seidenfaden (DK)
Photo
source: French Navy, AZTI, Cedre
Last update: April
2004