Having spilled hundreds of gallons of diesel fuel and lubricating oil into the ocean at Clifton Pier since Saturday, The Contrader, a 280-foot cement tanker remains capsized and continuing to pollute.
“The difficulty is continuous release,” said Pat Bain, operations manager of Baychem Technologies – the oil spill response company that responded to the mishap Sunday afternoon. “That means oil is continuously coming off of the vessel.”
Mr Bain, speaking with reporters at the site yesterday said Baychem made an initial assessment Sunday and began pumping diesel fuel into onshore containers. By Monday floating booms were used to set up perimeter around the ship and contain the lube oil.
But the fluids continued to pour into the ocean within the contained area and on Tuesday, peat sorb – an environmentally- friendly oil absorbing materia l- was applied. In addition to the more than 200 gallons of diesel and lube oil collected, Mr Bain said, an additional 15,000 gallons of diesel and an undetermined amount of oil remained onboard the vessel.
While Baychem contained the spill, assessment crews from various companies, including U.S.-based Titan Maritime Resolve made underwater assessments of damages sustained to the vessel. Brendan DeWolfe, a maritime architect with the company explained that dive crews were trying to locate pollutants and determine which portions of the vessel had been damaged.
Surveys
Once preliminary assessments were complete, he said, a series of surveys would be carried out and a plan initiated to remove the vessel. Considering some of the spills he had seen, Mr Dewolfe opined, the Contrader spill was “a light one. It’s not that much oil and diesel evaporates easily.”
Ron Pinder, parliamentary secretary in the Ministry of Health said, “Anytime there are foreign product or objects coming into contact with our marine environment or the general environment there is always concern.”
Speaking with reporters while assessing the spill with members of the Department of Environmental Health’s technical staff, he said the Department was concerned about possible effects the oil could have on coral reefs, fish and other organisms.
Containment
“The main focus is to contain this area and not allow to impact anymore of the ocean,” said Mr Pinder. “The concern going forward is to raise this vessel, float it and then get a sense of the amount of petroleum oil product that has already seeped into the marine environment.”
He noted that significant damage had also been done to the cement dock where the boat was moored when it capsized. Based on information reaching the Government, Mr Pinder said, it would likely be another week before the vessel was raised.
The boat’s owner, Sea Star Holdings, and insurance consultants London Offshore Consultants who represent underwriter West of England P and I were also on site but were unavailable for comment.
The Contrader was set to make its return to Cuba Friday, after delivering cement to the Island Cement Company when it uploaded contaminated fuel. As a result the vessel was forced to stay at Island’s dock and reportedly capsized during sea surges that accommodated Hurricane Jeanne on Saturday.
Raymond Kongwa, The Nassau Guardian
