Bunker Spill Exercise Held by Hong Kong Marine Department

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Tuesday November 15, 2016

Hong Kong's Marine Department in late October, under the Maritime Oil Spill Response Plan, organised a marine oil spill response exercise, code-named Oilex 2016, Global Trade Magazine reports.

The exercise, which is noted to have been run in conjunction with the Maritime Hazardous and Noxious Substances (HNS) Exercise 2016, was run off the shore of Tuen Mun, and centered on a situation where fuel oil was found leaking after an oil tanker collided with a container vessel.

The joint event had groups respond to contain and clean up the fuel oil spill, as well as to five containers of phosphoric acid solution that fell from the container vessel.

During the simulation, oil spill response teams deployed booms, utilised oil skimmers, and simulated the use oil dispersant to contain the fuel oil leak around the tanker while salvage teams stopped the leakage, transferred the fuel, and repaired the breach in the vessel.

Simultaneously, a shoreline cleansing team is said to have been working to complete a clean up drill at a beach close to Tsing Lung Garden.

The event is said to have drawn the participation of a number oil companies, government agencies, and Hong Kong Response Limited.

Also in October, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) announced that it had participated in a multi-agency joint oil and chemical spill exercise in order to test new spill procedures - specifically, the use of a new system known as NeatSweep for spill containment.