Asia/Pacific News
Delayed Bunker Cleanup Starts in Philippines
After three weeks of delays, crews have begun siphoning bunker fuel spilled from a power barge in the Philippines during typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) last month, local news site The Daily Guardian reports.
"At least it has started," said Commodore Athelo Ybañez of the Philippine Coast Guard.
"Progress has been made, but a lot still needs to be done."
The barge has already leaked about 900,000 liters of oil out of a total of 1.4 million liters it had on board.
Ybañez said the barge must still be refloated and moved to dry dock, fuel and oil spill debris must be removed from the coastline, and authorities must consider findings of a Japanese Coast Guard team regarding the spread of the oil sheen into the open sea.
Ybañez also said the remaining tasks cannot be handled by the current contractor, Kuan Yu Global Technologies Inc. (Kuan Yu).
Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM), which owns the damaged barge, awarded the contract to Kuan Yu on November 21, with cleanup operations scheduled to start around November 23, but technical and equipment problems delayed the operations for three weeks.
PSALM has not yet hired another contract despite previous suggestion by authorities that it do so.
The barge was damaged during the typhoon on November 8, and by November 18 about 150,000 liters of fuel had already washed ashore.
