EMSA oil spill recovery
Project specifications
Location
North sea
Client
European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA)
Contractor
DC Industrial
Technique
TSHD with oil spill recovery equipment
Period
2008 to present
Equipment
TSHD Interballast III
Contact person(s)
Frederik Nollet – Jef De Brabandere
Group De Cloedt is an outsider! We are the only dredging company in the world that has a dredging fleet that is also used for oil spill response at sea. We're not talking about cleaning up small oil stains or anything like that. No, our ships are used in the event of major disasters. Think of oil tankers that leak in a storm, or shipping disasters in which 1000s of tons of oil ending up in the sea.
Fortunately, it has been some time since there were any major accidents in our region, but in the past, there were some major incidents with disastrous consequences, which everyone may remember:
- The Amocco Cadiz off the Brittany coast in 1978. The tanker was barely 4 years old at the time! More than 2000 km of coastline were polluted when the ship's engine failed, and the ship eventually ran aground off the French coast.
- The Exxon Valdez in Alaska 1989. This tanker was only 3 years old and could still be repaired afterwards. More than 2100 km of beach were contaminated with the oil from the tanker, and the other consequences are still clearly present today.
- The Erika in the Bay of Biscay: This ship was already 25 years old when she ran into difficulties off the French coast. The ship broke into 2 and 77,000 m³ of crude oil (loaded at Dunkirk) ended up in the sea.
- The Prestige off the Spanish coast in 2002. This ship went down after it became rudderless due to engine failure. An attempt to limit the consequences of the disaster failed miserably. Instead of towing the ship into a harbour or small bay, it was towed to the deep sea, where it broke into pieces, after which more than 2700 km of the Galician coast was smeared.
But the accidents still happen at regular intervals: In fact, every 1 to 2 years somewhere on the globe, things go wrong.
As a result of the accidents involving the Prestige and the Erika, the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) was set up within the EU.
Description of the works
Group De Cloedt has been working for EMSA since 2008.
The DC-Vlaanderen 3000 and the Interballast III are fully equipped to carry out interventions.
But we can also be deployed through other partnerships between countries. We also have contracts with the Dutch Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management (Rijkswaterstaat) for the Rio and DC Bruges.
Until recently: every 3 months, EMSA ships were participating at a thorough training at sea.
The first two contracts with the Interballast III and DC Vlaanderen 3000 were completed at the end of 2023.
As of this year, only the Interballast III is still active for EMSA. After the necessary adjustments at the shipyard IDP In Ostend (Group De Cloedt) the vessel was commissioned and approved by EMSA to be on stand by for oil recovery operations.
EMSA requires 4 quarterly drills a year for the vessel and crew to be prepared in case of a large oil spill in our region.
We are, as it were, the fire brigade, waiting for the disaster, which may never come.
Up to now, we have only been involved in the oil pollution with the Flinterstar, a cargo ship that sank off the Belgian/Dutch coast after a collision in 2015. Oil drifts in all directions with currents and winds.
Our added value
The Interballast is now equipped with the following state-of-the-art equipment to carry out oil pollution recovery:
- 2 Koseq sweeping arms of 12 m each can be deployed to collect oil and pump it on board.
- 2 Lagendijk cranes to operate the sweeping arms.
- 2 x 250m of Vikoma high sprint oil booms that can be launched from the ship in half an hour to contain an oil slick or a leaking ship.
- 1 new Lamor skimmer system which, in combination with previous ones, can also sweep oil stains.
- 2 Clayton steam generators on board to enable heating of thick oil slicks.
- A Hopper capacity for oil recovery of 1700m³.
- We have an oil detection radar on board, which also detects and monitors oil stains.
- We have a drone launch pad on board with a drone, which is equipped to detect and track oil spills.
But above all, we now have perhaps one of the most driven and trained crews, all well trained and IMO (levels 1 and 2) certified and always ready in case of an intervention.