A 24-hour response system with a command centre has been proposed to deal with oil spills. The system is necessary to tackle oil spills caused by substandard vessels which traverse the Gulf waters transporting crude, according to experts.
Workers deploy orange booms and skimmers from a response vehicle to contain an oil spill. |
About 10,000 tankers, including some of the largest in the world, pass in and out of the Gulf each year to load from 39 terminals.
The key to combating oil spills, Gardner stressed, is fast location, coupled with quick response and containment.
To do this, Dulsco has recently formed ties with Fujairah-based Fender and Spill Response Services (FSRS) LLC and Agricair Pvt. Ltd, a Zimbabwe-based company specialising in aerial surveillance and spraying.
By combining their expertise, they have put together a response system with a proposed command centre that would work on 24-hour basis.
Surveillance will be aided by aircraft guided by Global Positioning System (GPS) that can track a tanker source of oil slicks up to seven hours after it has spilled oil.
Tony Isaac, general manager FSRS, said: "There's a whole cross section of life vulnerable to oil pollution besides marine life - mangroves, islands, the fishing industry, human health, tourism and shoreline real estate development. Moreover, most Gulf states depend on desalinated water."
Marine enzymes, tidal movement and weather changes contribute to breaking up hydrocarbons spilled into the sea, but it is a very long process, he said.
Gardner added: "As the UAE grows in prominence as a regional trading hub, there is a need to be increasingly vigilant about the attendant environmental risks - particularly oil spills, which can have a far-reaching impact."
Dulsco and FSRS have been involved in responding to oil spill clean-ups in the past as separate companies.
"You can't really call us radical greens. But I have a three-year-old daughter and would like her to see the pristine natural beauty which I've seen while growing up," said Isaac.
| EXPERTISE Dealing with oil slicks in the region |
| • 10,000 tankers ply the Gulf every year to load oil from 39 terminals. They include an undetermined number of substandard vessels. |
| • A three-in-one oil spill response company proposes to use aerial surveillance for continuous monitoring of the UAE coastline. |
| • Two AT802 turbo-prop aircraft will be equipped with real time video feed that records the coordinates of the oil spill, its size, time and date. |
| • Company also equipped with oil spill response vessels, containment oil booms, skimmers, suction tankers, absorbent materials that can absorb 25 times their own weight of oil. |
