A Whale

This article is about the oil skimming vessel. For the marine mammal, see Whale.
A Whale conducting a test run of its oil skimming capabilities as part of the Deepwater Horizon response July 4, 2010.
History
Name: A Whale
Owner: A Whale Corp., Liberia
Operator:
Port of registry:  Liberia, Monrovia
Builder:
Yard number: 2045
Launched: 25 Sep 2009
In service: 6 Jan 2010
Identification:
Status: Active as of 2012
Notes: [1]
General characteristics
Class and type: Lloyds Register: 100A1
Type: Ore-oil carrier
Tonnage: 319,869 DWT, 172,146 GT
Length: 340 m (1,120 ft)
Beam: 60 m (200 ft)
Draught: 22.3 m (73 ft)
Speed: 13.7 kn (25.4 km/h; 15.8 mph)
Notes: [1][2]

A Whale is a Liberian-flagged ore-oil carrier built in 2010 by Hyundai Heavy Industries, Ulsan, South Korea for TMT Co. Ltd. (formerly Taiwan Maritime Transport Co. Ltd.) from the Republic of China (Taiwan). She has seven other sister ships in the fleet, built in 2010-2011 and named in succession: B Whale, C Whale etc., to H Whale.[3]

Oil skimming experiments

She was refitted and converted in Portugal into a skimmer to assist in the cleanup of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in Gulf of Mexico, near the Mississippi River Delta, Louisiana. The ship's owners stated that A Whale is capable of separating 300,000 to 500,000 US gallons (1,000 to 2,000 m3) of oil per day, while storing the crude and returning the processed sea water to the sea.[4]

A Whale arrived in the Gulf of Mexico on 30 June 2010, while financial agreements were yet pending.[5] However, in two weeks of testing A Whale collected virtually no oil. TMT stated that the ship's poor performance was due to the dispersion of oil in the Gulf.[6]

On July 16, the Coast Guard announced it would not be authorized to join the containment process because tests had shown that its oil skimming capabilities were "negligible" in comparison to the other more nimble and much smaller skimmers in the containment.[7]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Vessel's Details and Current Position: A WHALE - 9424209". MarineTraffic. 2010. Archived from the original on 3 July 2010. Retrieved 3 July 2010.
  2. ↑ "A Whale". Auke Visser's International Super Tankers. 1 July 2010. Archived from the original on 7 July 2010. Retrieved 3 July 2010.
  3. ↑ "Our Fleet". NOS Management. 18 June 2010. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
  4. ↑ McClay, Rebecca L. (4 July 2010). "BP tests Taiwanese oil-skimming ship". MarketWatch. Retrieved 9 September 2010.
  5. ↑ Froomkin, Dan (29 June 2010). "Gulf Oil Spill: 'A Whale' Of A Skimmer Offers Up Its Services". The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on 3 July 2010. Retrieved 3 July 2010.
  6. ↑ "Giant 'super skimmer' no help with Gulf oil spill". Reuters. 16 July 2010. Retrieved 9 September 2010.
  7. ↑ ""A Whale" Operational Review Completed". Restore the Gulf. Deepwater Horizon Incident Joint Information Center. 17 July 2010. Retrieved 5 April 2012.

External links

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