Would half a million gallons of crude oil have spilled into the Mississippi River if the Westchester was double-hulled?
That's one of the questions raised in the wake of the largest tanker spill in U.S. waters since the Exxon Valdez disaster.
The single-hulled Westchester lost power and ran aground on Nov. 28, spilling around 567,000 gallons of crude oil into the lower Mississippi. Prompt response, good teamwork and favorable winds kept environmental damage to a minimum, and no one was injured in the accident.
But the Shipbuilders Council of America said the spill illustrates the need for the speedy phase out of single-hulled tankers and tank-barges.
These single hulls are being phased out under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. It's not happening quickly enough, though, according to SCA president Allen Walker.
"The sooner all companies convert to operating double-hulled, environmentally sound vessels, the less likely spills such as the Westchester will occur," he said. "We believe if the vessel was double-hulled, it would not have spilled a drop."
Roland Guidry, Louisiana's oil spill coordinator, tends to agree. His opinion is based on the size of the fractures. Asked whether oil would have spilled from double-hulled Westchester, Guidry said simply: "I don't think so."
According to the U.S. Coast Guard, the 19-year-old tanker was due to become double-hulled in 2004.
SCA president Allen Walker acknowledged his organization has a vested interest in phasing out single-hulled tank vessels. After all, the country's shipyards will be kept busy building or converting U.S.-flagged tank vessels. However, Walker said people under-estimate the importance that shipyard owners and workers attach to having unpolluted waters and environmentally-friendly shipyards. "These people love the water," he pointed out.
He is also concerned that new double-hulled tank vessels, especially tank barges, are not being built quickly enough. This could cause problems for U.S. shipyards down the line.
Walker estimated between 50 and 80 single hull ocean-going tank barges over 5,000 gross tons will be phased out. He reconed 35 to 45 of those will need replacing, but so far only a handful need replacing, but so far only a handful have been built.
The final deadline for eliminating all single hulls trading in U.S. waters is not until 2015. Walker pointed out, though, that under the phase-out schedule a large group of tank vessels are due to be retired in 2005. "There's plenty of capacity at the shipyards now, but not if everyone waits until the last minute," he warned. |