A Whale
The A Whale in tests 4 July 2010
Lloyd 's Register of Shipping
IMO 9424209
The A Whale is a tank - bulk carriers of Taiwanese shipping company TMT Group.
History
The ship was built in 2010 as the lead ship of a series of Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan, South Korea for the TMT Group of the entrepreneur Nobu Su, it sailed under the flag of Liberia. The ship was originally designed for the transport of oil and iron ore, and was converted in Portugal Ölabsaugfahrzeug to combat the effects of the oil spill caused by the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico. The ship was 80 million liters ( 80,000 m³) of polluted seawater free of oil daily.
The "A" in the name of the ship is a sequential, alphabetical designation. The ship has seven sister ships, the term is therefore to "H". Except for the A Whale 's sister ships B and C Whale Whale were still converted to Ölabsaugfahrzeugen and should also be used in the Gulf of Mexico.
In the first half of 2013 the ship was having technical problems before Suez at anchor. End of June, the owner, whose manning had paid no wages to the 21- member crew since the beginning of the year to file for bankruptcy. Then asked the crew, including 14 Indians, at a sailor organization in Chennai for help, since both the fuel reserves as well as the food came to an end. A U.S. court ruled in late June that Taiwanese banks have to give money for the care of the ship with fuel and food. The ship's master, Jubair Khan Niaz, was honored for his role in the affair with the Lloyds List Award as Seafarer of the Year.
Operation
The polluted sea water is drawn in through twelve openings on both sides of the hull and is pumped into the interior of the vessel. Here it goes through several tank systems, there can be skimmed off ( principle of the oil separator ) that collects most of the components of the oil by its lower density at the surface and. The remaining water finally reaches back into the sea.
Inserts
After the explosion of the oil rig Deepwater Horizon on April 20, 2010 and the subsequent oil spill, the A Whale was converted to Ölabsaugfahrzeug and could only be tested on site under real conditions. The ship reached the Gulf of Mexico on 30 June 2010. Since the very first trial applications were accompanied by adverse weather conditions and heavy seas, no objective assessment of the effectiveness of the A Whale was possible. Had the tests have shown positive results, the ship longer period should be used in and around the disaster site. According to BP is the blended oil with the water " not thick enough " so that it could be in the boat cleanly separated. The tanker was therefore piloted by the U.S. Coast Guard in a region in which the oil concentration is higher. The test phase was extended until July 8, 2010.
Admiral Paul F. future, who had been entrusted with the cleansing work with A Whale, a ship designated later, however, as " not suitable ". There was therefore no longer used. The effectiveness against smaller ships was " negligible ".