U.S. OIL SPILL RESPONSE UNIT TAKING SHAPE

A U.S. industry oil spill response unit has ordered more than $216 million in vessels and equipment.

The Marine Spill Response Corp. (MSRC), financed by major oil companies, has let contracts for construction of sixteen 210 ft marine response vessels and an array of cleanup equipment.

The purchases represent about half of the capital investment that is needed to place MSRC into operation by its target date of February 1993 (OGJ, Sept. 10, 1990, p. 40).

John Costello, MSRC president, said the $185 million outlay for the vessels is the largest private shipbuilding contract in the U.S. for the past several years.

WHAT'S BEEN DONE

MSRC has hired five regional general managers to direct oil spill cleanups and about 200 other employees. Training of personnel has begun in all five regions.

Sites have been chosen for regional bases in Port Hueneme, Calif., Lake Charles, La., and Miami. Construction will begin soon at the California site.

Costello said a contractor is developing a computer assisted spill management system for MSRC "that we believe will make a major improvement in the way major spills are fought in the future."

Seventeen coastal states have granted private oil spill cleanup organizations such as MSRC limited immunity from lawsuits.

The organization has formed a research and development advisory board and in the recent spill off Neah Bay, Wash., MSRC carried out field tests evaluating remote airborne sensing devices.

MSRC will station the 16 oil spill response vessels at locations around the continental U.S., Hawaii, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, to serve as the backbone of its spill cleanup efforts.

WHO LANDED ORDERS

Halter Marine Inc., Gulfport, Miss., will build 12 of the vessels, and Bender Shipbuilding & Repair, Mobile, Ala., will build four. The vessels, to be similar to supply boats, will have substantial deck space for deploying equipment.

MSRC also is buying more than $28 million of high capacity offshore containment and cleanup equipment.

For use on each of the vessels, MSRC ordered 2,200 bbl/hr "over the side" skimmers from Frank Mohn Houston Inc. and an "oil trawl" boom system from All-Maritime Contractors AS of Bergen, Norway.