Post OPA-90 vessel oil spill differentials: transfers versus vessel accidents

This study investigates vessel oil spill differentials for transfer and vessel-accident spills for the post Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA-90) period. In-water and out-of-water transfer/vessel-accident oil spill equations are estimated, utilizing tobit regression analysis and data of individual vessel oil spills (of oil-cargo and non-oil-cargo vessels) investigated by the US Coast Guard for the 1991-1995 period. In the data, 47.5% (94.1%) of in-water (out-of-water) gallons of oil spilled were transfer spills; non-oil-cargo vessels accounted for 44.2% of all gallons spilled. The estimation results suggest that out-of-water transfer spills are larger in size than vessel-accident spills, but are similar in size for in-water spills. Transfer/vessel-accident spill differentials exist (do not exist) among determinants of in-water (out-of-water) spills. The policy implication of the results is that a vessel oil spill-reduction differentiation regulatory regime is needed that differentiates between transfer and vessel-accident spills and in-water and out-of-water spills for reducing vessel oil spills.     

落实科学发展观 提高辽宁辖区船舶溢油应急处置能力

船舶数量的增多和船舶大型化，使海上因船舶交通事故引发的船舶溢油风险概率大增。一直以来。由于我国对船舶溢油应急处置能力建设的滞后，有效应对海上溢油尤其是突发性重大溢油事故的能力还很弱，因此，尽快提高溢油应急处置能力具有重大的现实意义。文中从提高对船舶溢油应急处置能力重要性的认识出发。科学分析了造成应急处置能力低的根源，并从落实科学发展观的角度，具体提出了有效提高海上溢油应急处置能力的方法和途径。     

论船舶溢油污染及应急反应

近年来油船的数量和吨位越来越大,油船进出港口次数日渐增加,船舶发生海损事故的几率也随之增加。由于船舶碰撞等海难事故而发生的溢油,也成为海域污染的主要污染源之一。目前我国的海上溢油应急防治能力还是较低的,与国际上相关先进成果相比,理论和实用性方面均有一定差距,提高海上溢油应急反应能力刻不容缓。     

Evaluation of consequence assessment methods for pool fires on water involving large spills from liquefied natural gas carriers

This article concerns thermal radiation hazards associated with unconfined liquefied natural gas (LNG) spills on water. Consequence assessment methods were compared to clarify their model characteristics in large-scale LNG spills from an LNG carrier (LNGC). The consequences of LNG release, pool spread, and pool fire hazards were estimated using the following practical methods: the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) method, the Sandia National Laboratories’ method, and the Fay method. The sensitivity of consequence analysis results to the breach size of a tank was examined under the assumption that LNG is released from a common type LNGC of 125000 m³ cargo capacity. Consequently, it was found that the FERC method is useful from the practical viewpoint of being applicable to any breach size. Finally, thermal radiation hazards from pool fires involving spills from one of the latest and largest LNGCs (250 000 m³ cargo capacity), which are currently considered for construction, were investigated using the recommended FERC method, and the results are discussed in comparison with those for common type LNGCs. As a result, it was found that the maximum thermal hazard distance is longer by only about 24% compared with the common type LNGC, whereas the spill volume is twice as much.     

加强科技人员培训,为企业自主创新提供智力支持

天津港集团要建成世界一流企业,必须加强科技人员自主创新的培训。强调了要牢固树立＂科技人员是天津港集团第一资源＂意识。阐述了开展科技人员自主创新能力培训的必要性。提出了建设和完善天津港集团科技人员培训体系的一些做法。     

论我国港口溢油应急能力标准化建设

文章针对我国港口溢油应急能力及其建设中存在的问题,提出港口溢油应急能力标准化建设的思路,从应急设备配备的技术标准和执行标准两方面全面阐述了标准化建设的内涵,并为具体的建设和营运构建了切实可行的运作模式,力求切实提高国内港口溢油应急处置能力。     

Compensation issues under the Bunkers Convention

Oil tankers are not the only vessels that cause oil pollution damage at sea. Numerous spills at sea have been of heavy fuel oil from non-tankers. The international system of civil liability and compensation established after the Torrey Canyon incident covers only oil pollution damage caused by oil tankers. There was thus a need to bring the law on marine oil pollution up-to-date by extending liability and compensation to all sea-going vessels. In March 2001, the Bunkers Convention was adopted at a Diplomatic Conference at the IMO; it has not yet come into force. This paper focuses on the discussion of compensation issues under the Bunkers Convention. It analyses the relevant provisions, the impacts of components such as compulsory insurance on the availability of compensation under the Bunkers Convention. Suggestions on other compensation sources are also given in this paper.     

A human factors systems approach to examining oil spills in tankbarge operations: analysis and reappraisal of management policies

An important problem in the US maritime industry is the large number of oil spills that occur as a result of oil transfer operations involving tankbarges. Recently, the US Coast Guard initiated a new programme entitled Prevention Through People that represents a concerted effort towards preventing human errors leading to casualities and oil spills. The purpose of the study reported in this paper was to explore tankbarge oil transfer operations from the standpoint of regulatory, management, and operational perspectives in order to determine the likelihood that this new initiative will indeed result in a better understanding of the causal basis for human error in these operations and, more generally, in the maritime industry. The results of this novel study are discussed and summarized in terms of four broad classes of recommendations.     

浅议船舶防抗台风

热带气旋(包括台风)是一种破坏力巨大的自然灾害,每年发生在全球各海区70～80个左右,严重地威胁着海上船舶的安全。如何做好预防工作,做到“以防为主、防抗结合、适时早避、留有余地”,对保证船舶安全,减少海损事故发生具有现实意义。在船舶防抗台风过程中,需要船公司的技术指导,需要船公司与船舶的良好沟通,更需要船舶的充分准备和采取各种有效措施,才能防止和避免台风所带来的灾害。     

Total oil spill costs and compensations

Although counteracting environmental programmes and policies have been strengthened, large oil spills still occur at irregular intervals. The total oil spill costs and their compensations have attracted much interest from various parties, such as local stakeholders, and state and federal governments. This paper addresses five major cost categories whose aggregations are expected to cover the overall direct and indirect costs after the release of an oil spill. Among them, research costs should not be neglected, since they tend to be high if public attention has been drawn to the case. Through an examination of the relationship between the total oil spill costs and their admissible claims, we found that:

1. admissible claims do not cover the overall costs of the oil spill, and
2. admissible claims cannot be compensated in full in the case of large spills.

Clearly, a sound oil spill contingency management aims to minimize both the environmental impacts of areas most at risk and the total oil spill costs. In this paper an economic model for measuring environmental damages following an oil spill is addressed and applied to the Prestige case which happened to be the worst oil pollution in the history of Spain. The model indicates how an ideally a priori economic evaluation may intuitively help managers to make informed as well as fast decisions in contingency cases.     

Consensus Building in Oil Spill Response Planning Using a Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation

Major accidental oil spills still affect ecologically and economically sensitive marine areas and shorelines, even though environmental programs and policies have led to an increase of ship safety measures. The aim of decision making during oil spill response management is to minimize pollution effects on coastal areas, once spills occur. However, limited equipments or options prevent such a globally satisfying combat strategy. Thus, often preferences between different coastal areas or uses, respectively, have to be made in an operational way. Such a management issue is here taken as a multigroup multicriteria decision-making problem involving a variety of stakeholders and natural dynamic environments. For solving such a complex problem, this article proposes a second order fuzzy comprehensive evaluation (FCE) model, which takes the influence of multiple criteria and the knowledge of different interested groups into account and further provides a basis for simulating a voting-based decision process. With the combination of oil fate simulations and FCE technique, managers are able to realize an integrated management for oil spill. Through a case study of the Prestige accident off the Spanish coast in 2002, it is demonstrated that the model provides a simple, effective and adaptable method to solve operational management problems related to complex human nature interactions as realized during oil spill management. Moreover, a series of analyses and comparisons are focused on to explore potentials and limitations of the FCE for further applications in the field of multigroup multicriteria decision making.     

A comparative analysis of the European and North-American approaches to dealing with major oil spills

Background  

The question of what should be the right level of preparedness to react to a major oil spill (i.e. the EXXON VALDEZ spill, the ERIKA spill, and the PRESTIGE spill) is highly debated, especially in the aftermath of such spills. Little research, however, has been conducted with the aim to identify and compare governments’ best practices not only to fund preparedness measures but also to assess the countries’ ability to respond effectively to catastrophic oil spills. It is the author’s belief that important lessons can be learnt from a comparative analysis of countries’ best practices.     

深水防波堤设计方法初探

根据世界各国港口建设向深水区域发展的趋势,在自然条件更为恶劣的海域建造防波堤势在必行。综述国内外有关深水防波堤新结构和新技术的研究及应用概况,并结合近年来国内有关研究成果,对波浪作用下深水斜坡堤和深水直立堤在结构选型,以及设计原则、方法和构造要求等某些关键性技术问题提出建议,以供设计参考。     

Liability for oil spill damages: Issues,methods, and examples

Liability is an important incentive‐based instrument for preventing oil spills and provides a sustainable approach for restoring coastal resources injured by spills. However, the use of liability for environmental damages raises many challenges, including quantification of money measures of damages. In this article, case studies are used to illustrate the issues, methods, and challenges associated with assessing a range of damages, from those that can be measured relatively easily using market information to more “esoteric,”; and much more difficult, cases involving non‐market‐valued losses. Also discussed are issues raised by the new national and international regulatory focus on restoration and by the simplified, compensatory formula used by some states.     

澳大利亚抵御海上油类和其他有毒有害物质污染对策

介绍了澳大利亚防止海上油类和其他有毒有害物质污染的应急计划及其具体反应措施,以及对我国在保护海洋环境和人民生命财产安全方面的启示。     

Total oil spill costs and compensations

Although counteracting environmental programmes and policies have been strengthened, large oil spills still occur at irregular intervals. The total oil spill costs and their compensations have attracted much interest from various parties, such as local stakeholders, and state and federal governments. This paper addresses five major cost categories whose aggregations are expected to cover the overall direct and indirect costs after the release of an oil spill. Among them, research costs should not be neglected, since they tend to be high if public attention has been drawn to the case. Through an examination of the relationship between the total oil spill costs and their admissible claims, we found that:

1. admissible claims do not cover the overall costs of the oil spill, and

2. admissible claims cannot be compensated in full in the case of large spills.

Clearly, a sound oil spill contingency management aims to minimize both the environmental impacts of areas most at risk and the total oil spill costs. In this paper an economic model for measuring environmental damages following an oil spill is addressed and applied to the Prestige case which happened to be the worst oil pollution in the history of Spain. The model indicates how an ideally a priori economic evaluation may intuitively help managers to make informed as well as fast decisions in contingency cases.     

风场作用下趸船区域溢油动态模拟研究

以舟山定海港区某油库码头为背景建立了风场作用下的趸船区域溢油动态模型。针对趸船区域可能产生油品溢漏的位置,对趸船区域的溢油运动情况进行了模拟分析。模拟结果显示,当泄漏油品为柴油(850kg/m3,0.003825Pa·s)、泄漏点宽度为0.5m、油品泄漏速度为1m/s时,受风场作用,发生在趸船附近的溢油事故,其溢漏油品不仅随潮水运动流动,还会大量的在码头与岸线之间的区域及码头两端部附近产生积聚。在进行溢油事故快速控制和污油回收时,需要重点针对该区域进行监控防治。     

Emission reduction in international shipping—the hidden side effects

In order to curb the trend toward global warming, many technical, operational, and policy options have been proposed to help reduce the emissions from international shipping—the carrier for 80% of the world’s trade. However, these options might not only reduce emissions from shipping activities, but could also have a ripple effect on the whole supply chain of traded goods, as well as on those serving shipping activities. These effects could have both positive and negative impacts, not only on emission reduction, but also on world trade, economic efficiency, and the local environment. While most studies have examined the feasibility of the various options and their potential contribution to emission reduction, their secondary impacts have not been studied. However, failing to take them into account could very well obstruct the implementation of the options. Through a review of existing studies, this article aims to identify and explain some of these previously unexamined secondary effects that are associated with emission reduction in international shipping, point out the problems that will arise if they are ignored, and provide a basis for further detailed research in this area.     

Modeling oil spills in a river—lake system

A general model shell, ROSS3, is developed for simulating oil spills in complex river systems using techniques which have not been previously exploited in oil spill models. ROSS3's new approach has several advantages over the approach to model oil spills in the past: (a) The use of a time-varying boundary-fitted coordinate system that allows accurate accounting for complex river/lake boundary as well as the river boundary changes as its water levels fluctuate; (b) The ability to confine two-dimensional hydrodynamic computations to a limited river reach; (c) The ability to interactively layout the channel networks for setting up the model, define extra cross sections to increase the accuracy if needed, in addition to the traditional data entry and visualization interfaces.ROSS3 is a two-layer two-dimensional oip spill model that can simulate the mechanism of advection, horizontal diffusion, mechanical spreading, shoreline deposition, evaporation, dissolution, vertical mixing, resurfacing and sinking. In ROSS3 spilled oil may be a surface slick or suspended oil droplets, or a combination of both. Both free surface and ice cover conditions can be simulated. The flow of conditions can be varied and the unsteady flow model can be run within ROSS3 to simulate the flow conditions in both the river and the lake. The ice conditions can be added or removed from the model input using easy interactive procedures.