Please click for more information on the following news articles:
- Technical Adviser Vacancy at ITOPF (8th December 2008)
- New Leadership at ITOPF (12th November 2008)
- New Technical Information Paper (28th October 2008)
- ITOPF Celebrates its 40th Anniversary (8th October 2008)
- New Ocean Orbit Published (15th September 2008)
- Revised Dues Rate Split 2008/2009 (30th June 2008)
- Updated Oil Movement Data on WebGIS (18th June 2008)
- International Oil Spill Conference (14th May 2008)
- New Technical Adviser (14th May 2008)
- EMSA Issues Tender for Stand-by Oil Spill Recovery Vessels (18th March 2008)
- Video (14 - 22 December) of HEBEI SPIRIT Oil Spill, South Korea (3rd March 2008)
-
The Enviromental Impact of the HEBEI SPIRIT Oil Spill (28th February 2008)
-
New ITOPF Handbook (25th February 2008)
-
HEBEI SPIRIT, Oil Spill, South Korea, 7 December 2007 (1st February 2008)
-
Tanker Spill Statistics (1st February 2008)
Vacancy at ITOPF
ITOPF is seeking an additional Technical Adviser to join its small London-based team.
MARINE POLLUTION ADVISERAn international, non-profit organisation involved in all aspects of combating 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 effective 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 a degree in a scientific, engineering or related discipline. Relevant practical experience of pollution control, and/or the effects of pollution on marine resources is desirable. 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 skills and computer literacy are all vital. Fluency in a language, in addition to English, would be a considerable advantage. Starting salary will be commensurate with experience and include a generous benefits package. View:- Job outline (PDF 54Kb) Application Form (WORD 168Kb) Completed applications should be sent to: Carol Remnant, |
8th December 2008
New Leadership at ITOPF
Dr Tosh Moller, who has been ITOPF’s Managing Director for 5 years, will retire in May 2009 after 30 years with the organisation. At its meeting on 12th November 2008, the ITOPF Board of Directors appointed as his successor, Dr Karen Purnell, who is currently one of ITOPF’s three Technical Team Managers.
 |
| Richard Johnson, Hugh Parker, Karen Purnell, Tosh Moller |
The ITOPF Board has also approved the creation of a new position of Technical Director to which Mr Hugh Parker is appointed with immediate effect. Mr Parker, who has been a Technical Team Manager for the last 10 years of his 28-year career at ITOPF plans to retire from full-time employment in September 2009. The position of Technical Director will then be filled by Mr Richard Johnson, currently a Technical Team Manager and with 14 years at ITOPF.
Dr Karen Purnell is a graduate of the Royal Society of Chemistry, with a PhD in chemical physics. Before joining ITOPF in 1994, she worked on toxic waste management and environmental remediation in the nuclear industry and as a research chemist at several universities in the west of England.
In the course of her 14 years as a technical adviser at ITOPF Dr Purnell has attended many ship-sourced pollution incidents, including the PRESTIGE in Spain. She was promoted to Technical Team Manager in 2003, since when she has acquired an in-depth knowledge of ITOPF’s role and its mission through participation in, and management of, ITOPF’s core activities. Dr Purnell has established a constructive dialogue with shipowners and is highly respected in the maritime world. Her mission is to maintain ITOPF’s position as the world’s prime centre of expertise on the control of ship-source pollution incidents, whilst continuing development in the areas of HNS (Hazardous & Noxious Substances) spill response and environmental damage assessment.
Her analytical approach and training as a chemist have served Dr Purnell well in dealing with the many complex technical issues arising in connection with pollution incidents, such as the use of chemical dispersants, an area of particular expertise. Prominent amongst her personal achievements is the expansion of ITOPF’s capacity to respond to HNS spills and overseeing an internal programme of emergency response planning, training and exercises. She has also been responsible for developing and strengthening relationships with Trustee groups in the USA and has been working closely with US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the US Department of the Interior and the International Group of P&I Clubs on environmental issues.
Mr Hugh Parker, a chemist by background, is the most senior member of ITOPF’s spill response team, having attended some 100 spills around the world. His position as Technical Director reflects his achievement of maintaining and developing the strategic direction in ITOPF’s core activity of spill response.
On Mr Parker’s planned retirement from full-time employment in September 2009, the post of ITOPF Technical Director will pass to Mr Richard Johnson, who has been responsible for the delivery of expert technical services across the whole spectrum of ITOPF’s work in the field of oil and chemical pollution, with emphasis on spill response, damage assessment, contingency planning and provision of training. He is a marine biologist with a BSc Honours degree from Newcastle University (1987) and an MSc in Radiation & Environmental Protection. In his 14 years at ITOPF he has attended numerous spills, including leading the ITOPF spill team responding to the HEBEI SPIRIT incident in South Korea, the most significant response in the history of ITOPF.
Before joining ITOPF, Mr Johnson worked in a scientific and engineering consultancy group on a variety of government-sponsored programmes, including advising the UK government on the fate of radionuclide fall-out following the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine. In the course of his work Mr Johnson managed a number of scientific projects leading to the development of training manuals, codes of practice and other publications.
View Press Release (31Kb)
12th November 2008
New Technical Information Paper
“Recognition of Oil on Shorelines”, the fifth of ITOPF’s new series of Technical Information Papers, has just been published. Estimating the amount of stranded oil with accuracy is difficult and even identifying the type of oil can be a problem, particularly if the oil has weathered extensively. In cases of large spills, the source of stranded oil may be obvious, but the question of identification frequently arises when a small amount of oil is involved and compensation is sought for damage or clean-up costs. This paper aims to assist the reader in recognising both the type and quantity of oil on differing shorelines.
Single copies of the TIP are available free of charge from Terry Goodchild at ITOPF; multiple copies are charged at £1.00, reducing to 0.75p (excluding postage) for bulk orders. Copies can also be downloaded in PDF format from the Publications page.
28 October 2008
ITOPF Celebrates its 40th Anniversary
Over 200 friends, associates and ITOPF staff members assembled for a gala dinner on 2nd October 2008 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Federation. Established in 1968 in the wake of the TORREY CANYON disaster to administer a voluntary compensation regime, ITOPF has since evolved into the leading organisation for technical advice on marine pollution response. Tributes to ITOPF’s work in this field were paid by guest speaker Mr Jim Fitzpatrick MP, the UK Shipping Minister, who also stressed that industry must stay vigilant and be wary of complacence, to ensure that cargoes are transported safely and that accidents such as the SEA EMPRESS and BRAER remain rare occurrences. In his reply, Mr Bjorn Moller, ITOPF’s Chairman and CEO of Teekay Corporation, commented on the steady reduction in tanker spills over the past 20 years, but stressed that the overall demand for ITOPF’s services remained high as staff were called out to smaller but increasingly costly and complex incidents. He also acknowledged the many people who have been instrumental in ITOPF’s success and expressed appreciation for the excellent cooperation that ITOPF has enjoyed with its principal partners, the IMO, the IOPC Funds, OCIMF, IPIECA and many of the P& I Clubs. A copy of Mr Moller’s speech can be found at http://www.itopf.com/information-services/publications/papers/40thAnniversary.html. Admiral Efthimios Mitropoulos, Secretary General of IMO, rounded off proceedings by emphasising in his address the importance of attracting new blood to the shipping industry and of responding to environmental challenges such as climate change and global warming.
View a selection of photographs from the evening (261Kb)
8 October 2008
New Ocean Orbit Published
ITOPF has just published a new issue of its newsletter Ocean Orbit, which this year features an article on ITOPF’s role in the HEBEI SPIRIT incident in the Republic of Korea and a report on the ambitious rescue operation of oiled penguins following the TREASURE spill in South Africa in 2000. As ITOPF celebrates its 40th anniversary, we look back at four decades of tanker spills, drawing on ITOPF’s spill database to show some historical trends. We also highlight a project using GIS to help assess the risk of oil spills in China by reference to changing oil transport patterns and historical spill data. Copies of the newsletter are available free from ITOPF (contact Terry Goodchild) or can be downloaded in PDF format from the Publications page of our website.15 September 2008
Revised Dues Rate Split 2008/2009
At ITOPF’s Board Meeting, December 2007, the rationale and assumptions underlying the possible rates of Membership and Associate Dues for 2008/2009 were discussed. It had been noted that the balance between the income generated from Membership and Associate dues ought to be adjusted to reflect the greatly increased involvement in spills from non-tankers. Historically this has been a progressive trend. It was decided, therefore, that a 50/50 split would be more appropriate in the future than the previous 60/40 split.
The Board resolved that the subscription payable by each Member and each Associate of the Federation in respect of the subscription year commencing 20th February, 2008 be calculated, in the case of Members at the rate of 0.51 UK pence per gross ton of all the tankers of which such Member is the owner or bareboat charterer and in respect of which the Federation has been notified that such Member wishes to be entitled to the Federation's services and, in the case of Associates, at the rate of 0.31 UK pence per gross ton of all ships (other than tankers) of which such Associate is the owner or bareboat charterer. 30 June 2008
Updated Oil Movement Data on WebGIS
A comparison between the amount of oil transported during 2001 and 2005 is now available on the ITOPF WebGIS site, along with the 2001 and 2005 aggregated data. This is part of an ongoing process to continually update datasets in order to assist with planning and preparedness for oil spill events.
The GIS maps can be accessed here:
http://www.itopf.com/information-services/data-and-statistics/gis-map/
18 June 2008
International Oil Spill Conference & Exhibition, Savannah, Georgia, USA, 4-8 May 2008
Eight members of staff attended the 20th Triennial International Oil Spill Conference on Prevention, Preparedness, Response and Restoration in Savannah, Georgia, the premier event in the oil spill conference calendar. ITOPF made presentations at two short courses held before the main conference programme – the Basics of Oil Spill Response and Advanced Oil Spill Response – which together attracted over 100 delegates.
Technical papers were presented at the main conference by Hugh Parker ("Sunken Oil and the Removal of Oil from Sunken Wrecks") and Lisa Woolgar ("Assessing the Increasing Risk of Marine Oil Pollution Spills in China"). Kathi Stanzel also co-authored a paper with NOAA entitled "Impacts and Response Challenges of the Solar 1 Oil Spill, Guimaras, Philippines".
ITOPF brought together a panel of speakers for a “Hot Topics” Session on the HEBEI SPIRIT incident on the final afternoon of the conference. Chaired by Hugh Parker, presentations were given by the Korea Coast Guard, the Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute, Skuld P&I, the IOPC Funds, Oil Spill Response, and Andrew Tucker of ITOPF. The session looked at the circumstances of the spill, the response, the evaluation of damage, claims handling and the issue of dispersants, and was attended by over 100 people.
In addition to the conference input, ITOPF manned a stand in the exhibition area, providing delegates and other visitors the opportunity to meet staff and discuss technical issues.
14 May 2008
New Technical Adviser
Kelly Reynolds has recently joined ITOPF as a Technical Adviser. Kelly has a degree in Maritime Environmental Management and a Masters degree in Coastal Zone Management. Before joining ITOPF she spent 5 years working for the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency in the Counter Pollution Response Branch where she was involved, amongst other things, with the response to the beached container ship, MSC NAPOLI. Kelly’s appointment brings the total number of staff available to respond to spills to thirteen.
14 May 2008
EMSA Issues Tender for Stand-by Oil Spill Recovery Vessels
The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) is launching a new procurement procedure for stand-by oil spill recovery vessels in the Black Sea and North Sea areas.
The 2008 tender will establish three year renewable contracts with commercial ship-owners and/or operators and/or spill response organisations/manufacturers awarded through a public procurement procedure. The current system, and that which is sought by the Agency in 2008, is that vessels carry out their normal commercial activities until such time as the Agency receives a request for assistance from a coastal State or the Commission to respond to a marine oil spill. At this point, they will be rapidly transformed into oil recovery vessels and made available for at-sea oil recovery activities.
EMSA would like to encourage a comprehensive arrangement based around a “pool” of pre-fitted vessels, from which one or more could be mobilised. The number of vessels that could be mobilised would be pre-agreed in the relevant contract.
All relevant information, eg technical specifications, legal and financial documentation is available through the EMSA website under the "Procurement" section (www.emsa.europa.eu/end185d014d013d001.html). Any queries regarding this tender should be sent to the following email address: NEG32008@emsa.europa.eu.
Video (14 - 22 December) of HEBEI SPIRIT Oil Spill, South Korea
03 March 2008
The Enviromental Impact of the HEBEI SPIRIT Oil Spill
When the fully laden VLCC HEBEI SPIRIT was struck on her port side by a crane barge in poor weather conditions on 7th December off the coast of the Republic of Korea, it quickly became apparent that the incident would be serious. Indeed, together with the SOLAR 1 in the Philippines in 2006, the TASMAN SPIRIT in Pakistan in 2003 and the PRESTIGE off Galicia in 2002, the HEBEI SPIRIT ranks as one of the largest tanker spills of recent years. Despite the best efforts of the crew to minimise the loss, approximately 10,500 tonnes of a mix of Iranian Heavy, Upper Zakum and Kuwait Export crude oils were spilled and resulted in large scale impacts to coastal resources and clean-up operations extending over several months.
In the immediate aftermath of a large tanker spill such as this, the thoughts of most people turn to historical images of heavily polluted shorelines and wildlife suffering whilst smothered with oil. Often the perception is that widespread and permanent environmental damage is inevitable and that there will be a loss of marine resources for years to come. For many it is difficult to imagine how the impacted coastline and its ecology can possibly recover after a spill of this magnitude. Fortunately though, the experiences of previous large spills such as AMOCO CADIZ, EXXON VALDEZ, NAKHODKA, SEA EMPRESS, ERIKA and PRESTIGE, have demonstrated that whilst the acute damage may be severe, the affected environments and associated marine life recover remarkably quickly.
View the full version of the enviromental impact of the HEBEI SPIRIT PDF (104kb).
28 February 2008
New ITOPF Handbook
ITOPF has just published its latest annual Handbook, which contains 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 tanker spill statistics, spill compensation, and ITOPF staff. Information is also provided on the fate of oil spills and their effects on the marine environment, clean-up techniques and the organisation of spill response and planning.
Copies of the ITOPF Handbook are available 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 or download a PDF version from our Publications page.
25 February 2008
HEBEI SPIRIT, Oil Spill, South Korea, 7 December 2007
During the morning of Friday 7th December 2007, whilst at anchor off Taean, Republic of Korea (36°52.3N, 126°03.4E) awaiting discharge at Hyundai Oilbank refinery, the VLCC HEBEI SPIRIT (146,848GT, built 1993) was struck by the crane barge, SAMSUNG No.1. It was reported that the crane barge was being towed by two tugs when the tow line broke in poor weather conditions.
HEBEI SPIRIT was laden with 209,000 MT of four different Middle Eastern crude oils. As a result of the collision, No.1, No.3 and No.5 port cargo tanks were punctured and before the leak was completely stemmed,10,500 tonnes of oil (a mix of Iranian Heavy, Upper Zakum and Kuwait Export) had been spilt.
ITOPF was mobilised to attend the incident on site on behalf of Assuranceforeningen Skuld (Skuld P&I) and the IOPC Funds. ITOPF has had two to three technical advisers continuously on site since the beginning of the incident.
Movement of Spill and Extent of Contamination
The prevailing north-westerly winds and coastal current carried the oil onto shorelines southeast of the collision site. During the initial few days of the incident oil contamination was confined largely to Taean County, Chungcheongnam-Do Province. The area is characterised by a large tidal range with shallow shelving coastlines, which has resulted in oil stranding across intertidal areas of up to 200m wide. Long sand beaches of several kilometers, as well as pocket beaches of various substrates interspersed with extensive rocky headlands and man-made structures within numerous ports have all been oiled.
Over a period of several weeks, mainland shorelines and islands further south (in Jeollabuk-Do & Jeollanam-Do provinces) became contaminated by emulsified oil and tar balls. Oil finally reached Jeju Island (approximately 375km south of the spill site) in early January 2008. Much of Korea’s western coast has therefore been affected to varying degrees.
Response Activities
The Korea Coast Guard (formerly the National Maritime Police Agency – MPA), a department of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (MOMAF), has overall responsibility for marine pollution response in Republic of Korea waters. In accordance with the Korean Marine Pollution Prevention Act, the spiller is under obligation to respond to an oil spill incident, to undertake any clean-up and prevent the oil from spreading. For shore cleaning, reliance is placed on local labour with essential equipment and supervision coming from clean-up contractors. ITOPF has been offering advice by working within the Coast Guard command post and also extensively in the field.
At Sea Response
At sea response was led by the Coast Guard with support from the navy and Korean Marine Pollution Response Corporation (KMPRC). More than 100 vessels were used along with over 1,500 private fishing boats. Dispersants were initially applied to heavier concentrations of oil from vessels. Helicopters with spray booms were also later used along with small fixed-wing crop sprayers to target small areas of heavy oil concentrations. On 16th December the Korean government mobilised the ADDS Pack (Airborne Dispersant Delivery System) loaded onto an Oil Spill Response Hercules transport aircraft and a single sortie with a 5 tonne "test spray" was undertaken.
Tens of kilometres of containment boom have also been deployed either at sea, or close to sensitive coastal areas. The government-led at-sea response was completed within two weeks but a large fleet of fishing vessels continued to be deployed in towing small lengths of sorbent boom and/or collecting tar balls.
Shoreline Clean-Up
Following the spill, a major shoreline clean-up operation was launched, involving in excess of one million man-days within the first six weeks. Twenty three separate clean-up contractor companies have been involved, hiring many local villagers as labourers (up to 10,000 people a day). Significant numbers from the armed forces have also been deployed and there has been a huge volunteer effort (up to 50,000 a day).
The clean-up operations have been undertaken over three provinces, and over 300 kilometres of coastline and hundreds of islands. The geography of the western coastline of Korea has provided numerous logistical problems including: sea transport of personnel and equipment, strong currents, shallow waters, steep rocky shorelines and harsh winter weather. The primary clean-up technique has involved using the large workforce to manually remove the oil using buckets, shovels and sorbent pads. Wide-spread manual wiping of rocks and pebbles using sorbent materials and other textiles has also been carried out. Contractors used vacuum trucks, skimmers and mechanical means at selected sites. Removal of bulk oil is largely complete now and secondary clean up techniques, such as surf washing and flushing are now being utilised. Mechanical stone washing and hot water high pressure treatment is also being used, while in other place ITOPF’s recommendation for cleaning to be left to natural processes is being followed.
Waste Disposal
The shoreline clean-up operations have generated large quantities of oiled waste. Hyundai Oilbank has provided a storage facility for liquid oil, which now contains around 2,000 tonnes of an oil/water mixture. More than 20,000 tonnes of solid waste have also been generated to date, particularly oiled sorbents and PPE used to equip the workforce. Individual clean-up contractors have organised their own solid waste disposal through incineration at licensed facilities.
Pollution Damage
Fisheries and Mariculture
Fisheries and mariculture are a very important component of Korea’s national economy. Much of the west coast of Korea is used for such enterprises and these have been severely affected by the spill with serious socio-economic implications. A number of demonstrations have taken place and it has been reported that three fishermen have taken their own lives.
Vessel-based capture fisheries use net, long-line and pot fishing in coastal waters, whilst other capture fisheries involve thousands of individuals gleaning in the intertidal and shallow subtidal zones of the village fishing grounds (VFGs).
The shallow waters of Korea’s west coast provide an ideal environment for mariculture, typified by Jeollanam-Do Province which produces ~80% of the national production of seaweed, particularly Laver (Porphyra spp.). Oil has passed through thousands of hectares of such farms. Intertidal oyster cultivation is a second very important sector of the industry that has been affected. The mariculture industry is also supported by large-scale hatchery production facilities for laver, sea mustard, abalone, sea cucumbers, and finfish, all of which have been affected by the spill to some degree.
Surveying and providing assessment of these facilities is a large undertaking. ITOPF together with international experts are working with Korean marine surveying companies to provide advice to Skuld P&I Club and the IOPC Funds.
Tourism
The Taean peninsula is considered the third most important tourism area in Korea with almost 21 million visitors annually (98% Korean). The peninsula is a national park and the main attractions of the area are the beaches, coastal scenery and marine life. Areas such as Anmyeondo and Daecheon are also popular destinations. South of this, areas affected by the oil spill are less popular as tourism destinations, with the exception of Jeju Island, a favourite destination of honeymooners.
Environment
MOMAF have instructed Korea Ocean Research & Development Institute (KORDI) and Chungnam National University to embark upon a US$1.4 million environmental monitoring programme.
Compensation
The Republic of Korea is a signatory to the 1992 Civil Liability and Fund Conventions (CLC & FC) and under this regime approximately $320 million is available for compensation. Claims are anticipated for clean-up operations, fisheries & mariculture, tourism and environmental investigations.
Agreement has already been reached between the Skuld P&I Club and MOMAF for the settlement of hardship payments of ~US$12 million to local fishing communities engaged in the clean-up.
View a selection of photographs from the incident (PDF 421KB)
1 February 2008
Tanker Spill Statistics
ITOPF has just published its oil tanker spill statistics for 2007. Analysis of the data reveals that there were 3 major spills over 700 tonnes last year, down from 4 in 2006. The largest spill was from the HEBEI SPIRIT, which collided with crane barge SAMSUNG NO 1 in South Korea on 7th December, spilling some 10,500 tonnes of crude oil. This accounts for approximately 66% of the total volume of oil spilt from tanker incidents for the year (16,000 tonnes).
Further details on the number of spills and quantity of oil spilt as a result of tanker accidents are available in our "Spills Pack" at http://www.itopf.com/information-services/data-and-statistics/statistics/
1 February 2008