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  • 2007 May 21

    Tatiana Presnyakova: ecological services should be comprehensive

    Start of summer transit navigation at Volga-Baltic waterway entails considerable growth in a number of vessels handled at the port of St. Petersburg. Hence the possibility of oil spills in the port’s harbor waters is growing as well. Such emergency situations may occur in the course of oil products transshipment at sea terminals or when bunkering vessels. Tatiana Presnyakova, Director General of Marine Ecology LLC, one of the leaders at the market of environmental services of Russia’s North-West region, has told PortNews IAA about oil spill response operations. 

    - Tatiana Aleksandrovna, could you, please, tell about how ecological aspects are considered in operations of companies handling hazardous cargo in the port of St. Petersburg? What is the role of an ecological company here? 

    - First of all, any oil terminal operating oil-storage tanks as well as any bunker company should have a preliminary developed plan of oil spill response activities (OSRA plan). In the port of St. Petersburg, no company may start operations with oil products without such a document. It is the competence of the seaport Administration. OSRA should obligatory specify which company is responsible for emergency alert at this or that facility. Besides, there is an OSRA plan adopted for the port as a whole. Operations on transshipment of oil products and dredging works require preliminary booming (placement of special booms – PortNews IAA remark) of a potentially dangerous sector, berth or vessel.

    Our company specializes in oil spill response activities and in emergency alert under OSRA plans. We have signed an agreement with St. Petersburg branch of Rosmorport FSUE for clearing of the port’s harbor waters. The customers of Marine Ecology LLC include Petersburg Oil Terminal CJSC and Transbunker GC. We have arranged round-the-clock posts at these terminals of the port of St. Petersburg. We are responsible for placement of booms when arranging any handling operation. Our services include sanitation of harbor waters, berths and even a coastline: collecting of floating rubbish and oil film brought by water as well as removal of oil-contaminated rubbish.

     - How do you arrange oil response activities? What equipment is usually used? What problems do you encounter when carrying out such operations? 

    - Our 10-year experience of operation at the market environmental services enables us to master any problem arising in this sphere. For example, floating rubbish hinders collecting of oil as it may paralyze operation of any oil collecting equipment. Thus, our first activities are aimed at collecting of oil contaminated rubbish – fragments of boards and ropes, polyethylene etc. Only then oil-collecting vessel enters the area of oil spill. Another problem is thickened heavy fuel oil. We have learnt to work with such a product through heating heavy fuel oil with application of high-pressure hot-flush devices.Our vessels project 62-600 designed for collecting of oil and placing of booms are fitted with threshold devices and 1.5m3 reservoirs. This project is a success. Such vessels may collect both light and thickened oil products from the water surface. Percentage of water is very low in oily mixture collected – it does not exceed 15%. For quick discharge of oil products from oil-collecting vessel we apply accepting vessels fitted with vacuum units as well as vacuum truck-tankers operating from the berths. We have developed our own system of prompt collecting of oil and discharge of oil products from oil-collecting vessel. It enables us to fulfill oil spill response activities very quickly.As a rule, our cleanup activities also include cleaning of a coastline, washing of berths and vessel’s sides. For that purpose we have acquired special washing equipment. We also have 3,200 meters of booms, automotive equipment and high-pressure hot-flush devices. Now we start construction of a new series of oil-collecting vessels, which are to be put into operation by next navigation period.   

    - What methods do you use when carrying out oil spill response activities in winter? 

    - We have an experience of oil spill response activities in winter, though not large, fortunately. For example, in February 2006, we had to work under -20ºC at the port of St. Petersburg.   Hose break-off at the Latana motor vessel caused spill of heavy fuel oil onto the vessel’s side and ice. It took us 12 hours to clean the vessel and to collect oil products from ice. The deck and the side of the tanker were washed with hot water supplied by a special high-pressure device. As for ice, the fuel was collected with application a vacuum machine.The last case of winter oil spill was on January 4 of the current year at one of the berths of Severnaya Verf shipyard. Heavy fuel oil was spilled between the side of a storage tanker and the berth. Our specialists pulled the tanker off the berth to collect oil, which thickened under -3ºC. The tanker was then unloaded with application of a vacuum truck-tanker. Washing machine was also used for cleaning of the berth and the vessel’s side. Sometimes we also had to transport oil-collecting equipment by trucks and place it into water opening under -10ºC. Such operations were carried out at Pervomaiskaya TPP.      

    - Do you have enough facilities to ensure response under OSRA plans of all of your customers? 

    - As of today, the company does not deploy all of its vessels. A number of them are given on lease to construction companies operating in the port of Ust-Luga.  Besides, our agreements with terminals imply the possibility to redirect oil-collecting vessels deployed for emergency alert in order to concentrate considerable part of our facilities at any specific oil spill area. We also have a number of partners ready to help us with their facilities.   

    - Is it possible for such a company as Marine Ecology to manage oil spill of a regional scale?  

    - None of companies is able to collect over a thousand of tons alone! In such a situation all the sources available at the port will be attracted. It is not right to speak about facilities of any company to be sufficient for oil spill response of such a scale. As for local spills, we have enough facilities to respond to a spill, the scale of which does not exceed one thousand of tons. Besides, we have agreements with a number of sub-contracting companies, which are to help us in case of any large-scale emergency situation.  

    - FSUE Baltic Basin Response Department (BBRD) usually plays the key role in ecological training activities in the port. What is the role of Marine Ecology in large operations? 

    - We understand that BBRD operating rescue tugs could help a vessel in emergency situation, seal a hull breach, arrange pumping of fuel or oil cargo from a vessel. But it takes BBRD quite a long time to start response activities so in case of a large-scale emergency situation much time may be lost. According to calculations made by Central Scientific Institute of Marine Fleet Ministry, oil patch may reach shallow water in two hours. BBRD operates mainly at the depth of about three meters. It is well known that oil spills, which occur in the open sea, finally come to the shore. We can work at the shallowest areas up to the water edge or even from the shore. So we think our role in such operations is to supplement the activities of BBRD. Only well coordinated activities of a number of companies may master a large-scale oil spill. 

     - Operation of estuary ports like the port of St. Petersburg is closely connected with functioning of inland navigational waterways, Volga-Baltic waterway, in particular. Who is responsible for ecological safety of a water system along the whole way of tankers with export cargo on board? Are you ready to respond to oil spills at inland waterways? 

    - Unfortunately, today the state does not pay proper attention to ecological safety of oil products transportation along Russian rivers and lakes. Russian federal budget does not provision any resources for OSRA-alert at inland waterways. In such a situation, unique ecological system of Russia may be destroyed for many years if only a large oil spill occurs. For example, Ivinski area of the Svir river is crossed by the Volga-Baltic waterway and if oil contaminates this swampy area it would be almost impossible to carry out cleanup activities as equipment cannot be delivered there. So it is important to prevent ecological emergency situations.Today we can send a special emergency team to such an area. It is to be equipped with basic storage vessel, oil collecting vessel able to place booms as well as booms themselves. The team will include experienced personnel familiar with inland waterways of the north-West region of Russia. Vacuum truck tanker may be immediately sent to the site to start operation from the shore.  

    - Operation of your company is not limited to the activities at the harbor waters of the ports. Could you, please, tell about your experience in on-shore oil spill response activities 

    - Starting from the previous year we extended the range of our services. Now we are ready to be on alert under on-shore OSRA plans. In this sector our customers are TEC St. Petersburg SUE and Tvernefteproduct company.All on-shore facilities with oil storage tanks (oil bases, fuel stations and boiler stations) should meet special requirements of governmental supervisory authorities: asphalted grounds and emergency drainage, special reservoirs. Sawdust and sand is often used natural sorbent materials. We wash everything possible from the surface and then pump out oily mixture. In order to develop our operation aimed at on-shore alert and response activities we continue to purchase new equipment. For our on-shore activities we usually use vacuum machines and high-pressure washing machines. Marine Ecology has partnership agreements with companies able to carry out land reclamation, if necessary. Besides, we apply sorbents, which are not usually used on water. Light fractions of oil products are much more dangerous compared to heavy fuel oil or diesel fuel, so application of sorbents is obligatory. Sorbents used for light products are different from those used for dark oil products or crude.  When working within the harbor waters we don’t apply sorbents. Even diesel fuel is efficiently collected by oil collecting vessels. For example, when liquidating diesel fuel spill in the harbor waters of Severnaya Verf shipyard, we collected 14 tons of light product. It was quite a dense film of fuel on the surface of water but we managed not to let go outside the yard’s harbor waters. 

     - Marine Ecology participates in international seminars in Europe. What do foreign experts think about your company? 

    - We have recently familiarized ourselves with methods and technologies used for oil spill response activities in Sweden. They arrange this work in a different way. The task of the Swedish coast guard is liquidation of oil spills in the open sea. The coast guard is financed mainly by government and is not engaged in commercial activities. Oil spill response activities at the areas close to the coast and within the closed water areas of the ports are within the competence of municipal authorities. They attract fire departments or private companies.  

    We studied the activities of one of such companies in the port of Goteborg. They proved to apply the same methods as we do. Actually our equipment and technologies are similar to those of Swedish companies.

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