Canada's New Oil Spill Response Barges Launched
Two new oil spill response barges were recently completed at ASL Shipyard in Singapore for Western Canada Marine Response Corporation (WCMRC).
The two 3,500 tonne barges, Sentinel 303 and Sentinel 304, will be delivered to WCMRC in October, with arrival in Canada by the end of 2022. The response barges will join WCMRC’s fleet of pollution response vessels stationed along the south coast of British Columbia.
These new barges represent a significant enhancement to the pollution response capabilities already in place and will benefit the entire local maritime industry, according to their designer Robert Allan Ltd.
Each 2,822 GT barge is 67 meters long with 20 meter beam and 4.6 meter maximum navigational draft. Each will have tank capacity for 3,785 cubic meters (m3) of recovered oil, 125 m3 fuel oil, 150 m3 potable water, 100 m3 sewage tank and 100 m3 grey water.
The response barges were constructed to ABS rules with the following notation: ✠ A1 OIL SPILL RECOVERY BARGE (OSR-S2), UWILD, UNRESTRICTED SERVICE.
Accommodations are outfitted to high, MLC compliant standards for a crew of up to 20 personnel. The 10 double crew cabins are located on the accommodation deck with, the galley, mess/lounge, and office/control room located on the fo’c’sle deck.
The electrical plant comprises four identical Caterpillar C4.4 diesel gensets each with a power output of 118 ekW.
The aft deck is the main working deck and contains all the oil spill response equipment. The spill containment systems consist of four unsheltered booms stored in containers with hydraulic reels, Current Buster No. 4 and Current Buster No. 6 stored in a single container with hydraulic reels, and four containers of general-purpose boom. There is ample storage for absorbents, mission-specific containers, general equipment, decontamination gear, dry storage, and a containerized workspace.
Two small vessel docks are stored onboard and can be deployed on port and starboard sides to allow other response vessel crews to embark/disembark to/from the response barges and facilitates the transfer of recovered oil from the response vessels to the response barge. A Desmi Terminator skimmer and hose reel allows the response barges to recover oil floating on the surface. Two mini storage barges are stowed on deck and can be deployed in the field to aid in the response.
A Norcrane fixed-boom crane with a SWL of 9 tonnes at 19 meters is fitted aft to handle the above-mentioned oil spill response gear and hoses.