Lookout! – Issue 15
21 December 2009
Guidance notice – Issue 17:
Long-range identification and tracking (LRIT) equipment testing
21 December 2009
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On 3 September, four National Response Team (NRT) members and a Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) nautical expert flew by Hercules C 140 to Samoa to respond to an oil spill threat in Apia Harbour.
The container vessel Forum Samoa II was grounded on a reef at the entrance to the harbour with 356 metric tonnes of intermediate fuel oil and 38 metric tonnes of diesel on board. Reports indicated the vessel was damaged, with the threat of a large-scale oil spill very real.
The team gets cosy with the oil spill response equipment
Following a request for assistance from the Samoan Government, MNZ activated its Maritime Incident Response Team, called out MPRS, and within hours a Hercules was airborne with people and equipment onboard.
On board were MPRS operations manager Neil Rowarth, response planning officer Dayne Maxwell, equipment technician Mark Cavanagh, MNZ environmental advisor Alison Lane and MNZ principal auditor Paul Hudson.
The Hercules was also carrying 11 tonnes of oil spill response equipment. This included booms, skimmers, temporary storage and sorbent material (to help control and recover any released oil), and two viscous oil transfer pumps.
This was enough to get the team started, although it was recognised that should there be a large release of oil then more equipment would be required.
Royal New Zealand Air Force Hercules – not luxury travel
Neil says the team’s involvement escalated rapidly from being an interested party to an active player.
“Many agencies came together quickly on the Wednesday afternoon (2 September), and at 8.00pm we were promised a Hercules C 140 for the next morning,” he says.
By 8.30am on the morning of 3 September, just over 12 hours after the initial call, the group had cleared customs and was ready to go.
“A Hercules is not luxury travel, but where else do you get to stand in the cockpit behind the pilot while taking off just to have a look! But the novelty faded as the noise and vibration took over from the adrenalin.”
The group was briefed on arrival in Apia by the New Zealand High Commission and the agent from the shipping company that owns the vessel. The agent was not hopeful of a quick resolution to the problem and promised a detailed brief from the salvage company Svitzers the next morning. The vessel had been stuck on the reef for 6 days at this point, with several attempts to shift her proving unsuccessful.
Forum Samoa II aground on the reef
However, the next morning revealed a welcome, albeit surprising sight – the Forum Samoa II was off the reef.
“It seemed that the movement of the vessel on the reef had ground down the reef enough so she came off at the high tide,” says Neil.
Damage to the vessel at that stage was to three fuel tanks and the duct keel.
There was also internal damage – pressing on two water ballast tanks resulted in heavy fuel oil shot out of the breathers and into the sea.
It is thought that more fuel came out this way, via the ballast tanks, than out of the splits in the bottom of the tanks.
“This first morning was very productive, and when she came alongside we were able to position our boom all the way around the vessel and so catch any fuel that came out.
“There was an oil sheen visible inside the boom but this was from the oil on the decks washing off in the rain,” says Neil.
Meanwhile, Alison had worked with a team from the Secretariat for the Pacific Regional Environment Program to survey the reefs and lagoon in the vicinity of the grounded ship for signs of oil or other debris from the grounded vessel.
As soon as the ship arrived in port Alison was also able to conduct tests on the oil type in the tanks to determine whether it would be possible to use chemical dispersants if there was a large release of oil from the ship.
Boom laid out in readiness for booming around the vessel
Alison says the reef was already fairly degraded as a result of cyclones and human impacts.
"This means it is very vulnerable to further disturbance and intense pollution would potentially have been very damaging. The ability of the reef to recover would have been less than for a healthy reef system."
The reef was very heavily used for subsistence fishing by the local population. Other sensitive areas nearby included eastern Polynesia’s largest mangrove area and a small coral lagoon promoted as a tourist attraction.
Over the next few days, as Svitzers started to get a better idea of the damage and where the remaining fuel oil was on board, the need for the team’s presence slowly got less, and so after a few days numbers were slowly reduced, with Paul and Alison away first, then Dayne and Mark, and Neil finally flying home after 10 nights away (Air New Zealand this time!).
“While we were away support from New Zealand was great, as was support from the locals in Apia. And the enthusiasm and professionalism of our team on the ground was great, tolerating long hours in the alternating heat and torrential rain without complaint. Thanks very much to all involved,” says Neil.
* The latest news from the agent in Samoa is that Svitzers have removed all the oil that they can find from the damaged tanks. A Classification Society has recommended a short duration tow to a dry dock.