U.S. Navy Ship Salvage Manual Volume 6 - Oil Spill Response

S0300-A6-MAN-060Since all spill response costs, including SUPSALV costs, are borne by the spilling activity, theuse of Navy staging area facilities would generally be most cost effective. However, the potentialdisruption of Navy local operations by the long-term requirement for a staging area during majorspill control operations must be considered. The use of commercial staging area facilities may bemore cost effective during such prolonged spill response operations.C-2.2.2 Material-Handling Equipment (MHE). MHE will be needed for offloading/onloadingtrucks and vessels on short notice. Also, MHE may have to be placed on board large support vesselsto launch recovery equipment. Flatbed trucks and tractors are needed for moving equipmentfrom the staging area to the pier if the two are not adjacent. MHE may be leased by the SUPSALVresponse team from commercial sources if government-owned equipment is not readily available.Sources must be identified in the contingency plan.A large mobile crane is usually adequate to support staging area operations. The 10-ton SUP-SALV skimmer vessel will generally be the largest single spill response equipment item to behandled. However, it may be necessary to offload the skimmer from the center of the support vessel.This would necessitate a 10-ton lift at a 35- to 40-foot reach, requiring a large mobile crane. Inaddition, a 5- or 6-ton forklift is needed at the staging area and at any other equipment-handlinglocations. During peak activity periods, several forklift trucks may be required.C-2.2.3 Support Vessels• V-Boom Towboats. Sources of locally available towboats should be identified in thecontingency plan. The ESSM inventory does not include enough towboats to supportits entire inventory of skimmers and boom. Additional boats will be required to supportmajor deployments of SUPSALV equipment. Towboats must be suitable for local conditions.They must be sufficiently seaworthy to ride out rough weather and prevailingsea conditions or they must be recoverable onto the deck of a large support vessel. TheSUPSALV towboats, for example, are intended to recover oil in sea state 3 and survivesea state 5 and can be recovered onto the support vessel if necessary.Locally available boats must have a substantial tow point forward of the rudder(s) toensure high maneuverability while towing. They must have a bollard pull of at least3,000 pounds and must be capable of prolonged towing at approximately one knot withas little as 500 pounds drag from one-half of a towed boom, skimmer, bladder configuration.They must have a minimum 10-hour endurance at operating speeds betweenrefueling.Most offshore tugs and supply boats would make good recovery system towboats. But,unless these vessels are equipped with variable-pitch propellers, they generally cannotsustain the low speed (one to two knots) required for spilled oil recovery operations.Local fishing vessels may be excellent recovery system towboats.All vessels must be equipped with marine radios. A VHF marine radio with appropriateoperating frequencies is a minimum requirement.C-6