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Vacancy for Technical Adviser at ITOPF

ITOPF is advertising the following vacancy:-

 

TECHNICAL ADVISER (MARINE POLLUTION)

           

An international, not-for-profit organisation providing the maritime industry with objective technical advice, expertise, assistance and information on effective response to oil and chemical spills in the marine environment is seeking a new Technical Adviser to join its small London-based team. ITOPF’s work is varied and challenging. It involves giving advice world-wide on the most appropriate methods for responding to oil and chemical spills from ships, minimising their impact on economic resources and the environment, and the provision of compensation. Further details of ITOPF’s activities can be found on the web site at www.itopf.com

Candidates should possess as a minimum a degree in a scientific, engineering or related discipline and have relevant practical experience of pollution control, and/or the effects of pollution on marine resources.  Fluency in a language other than English, and particularly Mandarin and Spanish, would be a distinct advantage. The successful candidate must be willing to travel extensively, often at short notice, and be able to work under pressure. Good written and oral presentation skills, strong interpersonal abilities and computer literacy are all vital.

Starting salary will be commensurate with experience and include a generous benefits package.

If you feel you meet the above criteria and would like further details, please contact:

Carol Remnant,

ITOPF Limited, 1 Oliver’s Yard, 55 City Road, London EC1Y 1HQ

Tel: +44 (0)20 7566 6999 Fax: +44 (0)20 7566 6950

email: carolremnant@itopf.com

Download an application form (32Kb)

3rd May 2012

 

 

ITOPF launches set of new Technical Information Papers (TIPs)

TIPsSome 150 representatives from the maritime industry and government agencies helped ITOPF to celebrate the launch of its set of 17 new Technical Information Papers (TIPs) earlier this week. These publications represent the culmination of several months of work on the part of ITOPF’s staff (past and present) and serve to provide realistic and practical guidance to readers on the many aspects of oil and chemical spills.

ITOPF’s Managing Director, Dr Karen Purnell, said that "we take pride in the fact that each of these TIPs has been written by our own technical staff and provides advice based on real-life experience from some 700 spills attended worldwide".

The complete set of TIPs comprises the following titles:

  1. Aerial observation of marine oil spills
  2. Fate of marine oil spills
  3. Use of booms in oil pollution response 
  4. Use of dispersants to treat oil spills
  5. Use of skimmers in oil pollution response
  6. Recognition of oil on shorelines
  7. Clean-up of oil from shorelines
  8. Use of sorbent materials in oil spill response
  9. Disposal of oil and debris
  10. Leadership, command & management of oil spills
  11. Effects of oil pollution on fisheries and mariculture
  12. Effects of oil pollution on social and economic activities
  13. Effects of oil pollution on the marine environment
  14. Sampling and monitoring of marine oil spills
  15. Preparation and submission of claims from oil pollution
  16. Contingency planning for marine oil spills
  17. Response to marine chemical incidents

 

The set can be downloaded from the Publications page of ITOPF’s website at http://www.itopf.com/information-services/publications/technical-reports/.

14th March 2012

 

New ITOPF Handbook available

The 2012/2013 edition of the ITOPF Handbook has just been published. The Handbook contains a wealth of valuable information and guidance for those likely to be involved in spills of oil and chemicals from ships. This year’s edition contains updated information on oil spill statistics, compensation and ITOPF staff.  Information is also provided on  ITOPF’s technical and information services, the fate and effects of marine oil spills, clean-up techniques, the organisation of spill response and planning, the status of international conventions and ITOPF publications.

Download the full version in PDF format (3.13Mb)

Hard copies of the Handbook are also available.  They are free to ITOPF Members and Associates, as well as to closely related groups. Single copies are also available to others on request - contact Terry Goodchild. 4th March 2012

 

The winner of the 1st ITOPF R&D Award is announced

The recipient of the 1st ITOPF R&D Award is to be a consortium of four research institutes led by the Laboratoire des Sciences de L’Environnement Marin (LEMAR) in France, partnered with the University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada; Centre de documentation, de recherche et d’expérimentations sur les pollutions accidentelles des eaux (CEDRE), France; and Consiglio Nazionale delle Recherche (CNR-IAMC), Italy. The Award will be used to fund a PhD student who will work with the consortium to study the health and behaviour of fish in the presence of dispersed oil and to provide operational recommendations for using dispersants in coastal waters.

The ITOPF R&D Award Committee met to assess the applications for the Award last week and, while the ranking of the applications was very close indeed, the Committee awarded a higher ranking to this research study, stating that it was innovative, had clear objectives and was very relevant (especially given the renewed focus on the consequences of dispersed oil following the DEEPWATER HORIZON incident).

ITOPF’s Managing Director, Dr Karen Purnell, said that ‘our shipowners supported the R&D initiative wholeheartedly and would be pleased to hear that the Committee had chosen to provide this opportunity for a student to develop expertise in such an important topic.’ 1st March 2012

 

ITOPF plays prominent role at INTERSPILL 2012

ITOPF is a supporter of the forthcoming INTERSPILL 2012 Spill Conference & Exhibition taking place at Excel, London, UK from 13-15 March 2012.  The day before the main conference, we will be jointly running a short course with Oil Spill Response Ltd entitled "Oil Spill Response - A Technical and Strategic Overview" and a course on chemical (HNS) pollution incidents with the International Maritime Organization (IMO). We will also be making presentations on half day courses on Oiled Wildlife Response and Claims and Compensation, with Sea Alarm and the IOPC Funds respectively.  Please visit INTERSPILL's website to register for these courses (www.interspill2012.com).

At the main conference, Richard Johnson will be presenting a paper entitled "Half a century of shipping spills: What's changed?".  We will also be presenting papers on containership incidents and responding in remote locations. Dr Michael O'Brien, Richard Johnson and Alex Hunt will be chairing sessions. In addition, ITOPF will be manning stand W#200 in the main exhibition area. Please contact INTERSPILL for further information on the short courses, conference and exhibition. 16th February 2012

 

Tanker owners maintain their good record

 

Number of large spills (over 700 tonnes) from 1970 to 2011

ITOPF’s annual tanker spills analysis released today shows that the trend towards fewer spills from tankers and less oil spilt is being maintained. Only one large spill from a tanker occurred in 2011; the same as for 2008 and 2009. With only four medium sized spills recorded for the second year in a row, this means that 2011 saw just five spills of greater than 7 tonnes (50 bbls) from tankers, the lowest on record. Hand in hand with this, the total volume of oil spilt in 2011 was also the lowest on record and, at approximately 1,000 tonnes, represents an infinitesimally small percentage of the volume of oil moved by sea. This combination of record lows is especially encouraging given the ever increasing quantities of oil transported by sea.

ITOPF maintains a database of oil spills from tankers, combined carriers and barges. This contains information on accidental spillages since 1970, except those resulting from acts of war. The data held includes the type of oil spilt, the spill amount, the cause and location of the incident and the vessel involved. For historical reasons, spills are generally categorised by size, small (<7 tonnes or <50 bbls), medium (7-700 tonnes or 50-5,000 bbls) and large (>700 tonnes or >5,000 bbls), although the actual amount spilt is also recorded. Information is now held on nearly 10,000 incidents, the vast majority of which (81%) falls into the smallest category i.e. <7 tonnes.

This year, analysis of the causes of large spills since 1970 has allowed a more detailed breakdown of vessel operations taking place at the time of the incident. This analysis has revealed that 50% of large spills occurred while the vessel was underway in open water with allisions, collisions and groundings accounting for just over half of these. These same causes accounted for some 95% of incidents when the vessel was underway in inland or restricted waters.

Further details on the number and quantity of spills from tanker accidents since 1970, together with figures and tables are available on the statistics page of ITOPF’s website and in ITOPF’s annual statistics package. 14th February 2012

 

 

 

 

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