The Implementation of Comprehensive Training and Its Effects
Isemi Toyama
Yokkaichi Office, Cosmo Kaiun Co., Ltd.
1.

Introduction.

During October 12th to 14th 1999 a comprehensive training exercise in Oil
Spill Response was conducted at the Petroleum Association of Japan (PAJ)
No. 3 Ise Bay Stockpile Base involving the use of Oil Spill Response
Equipment. The purpose of this exercise was to help the participants
concerned to acquire the necessary skills to use the equipment effectively inthe case of an oil spill incident.
Twelve participants from the 6 Japanese Stockpile Bases participated in the
training exercise, which was conducted under the guidance of Cosmo Oil’s
Yokkaichi Refinery.

2.Number 3 Ise Bay Stockpile Base.
(i)Description
Firstly, I would like to describe the location of the Base. Number 3 Ise
Bay Stockpile Base was established in March 1993 on the premises of
Cosmo Oil Co Ltd. Which is located in Kasumi, Yokkaichi City. This was
the third Stockpile Base to be established in Japan after the Tokyo Bay and
Seto Inland Sea bases.
Cosmo Oil’s Yokkaichi Refinery is under contract with the Petroleum
Association of Japan to locate the Stockpile Base on it’s premises and the
Yokkaichi Office of Cosmo Kaiun Co Ltd. is responsible for maintaining
and managing the Stockpile Base and the equipment.
The number 3 Ise Bay Stockpile Base is located in the Cosmo Oil’s
Yokkaichi Refinery which is in the northern part of Ise Bay close to the
Yokkaichi industrial complex. The Aichi Refinery of Idemitsu Kosan and
the Chita Refinery of Japan Energy Corporation are located on the Chita
Peninsula which lies on the opposite side. Many wholesale oil storage- 1 -bases are established at Nagoya Port which is situated on the inner part ofIse Bay. The Owashi Plant of Toho Oil Co., Ltd. is located at Owashi on
the Sea of Kumano which is situated to the east of the Kii Peninsula. Thus,
the No. 3 Ise Bay Storage Base is located in one of the busiest commercial
and industrial regions in Japan.
Many companies engaged in the oil and petrochemical business are locatedin the Yokkaichi industrial complex, and most of the trucks and service
boats which are utilized for loading and unloading operations are based in
the neighborhood of Yokkaichi Port.
It is therefore quite easy to arrange for the trucks, vessels and work boats
that are necessary for the training exercise and operation of the Stockpile
Base. It is also convenient to recruit the staff necessary for our operations.
Due to the location of the number 3 Ise Bay Stockpile Base it is possible totransport equipment and materials rapidly to any location inside the Ise Bay.
The Stockpile Base is also close to the Yokkaichi-Higashi interchange on
the Tomeihan Motorway so it is also possible to transport equipment rapidly
to other locations via the Tomei, Meishin, and Hokuriku motorways etc.
Number 3 Ise Bay Stockpile Base is only one hour drive from Nagoya
Airport and Nagoya Seaport, so it is possible to rapidly airlift or ship
equipment and materials overseas.
(ii) Relationships with competent authorities.
Cosmo Oil Yokkaichi Refinery is a member of various associations and hastaken part in many maritime events so it enjoys a good relationship with thecompetent authorities.
The competent authorities regularly organise disaster drills for the
association members and Cosmo Oil’s Yokkaichi Refinery has actively
participated in these drills demonstrating the use of equipment and materials
which are kept at the number 3 Ise Bay Storage Base. Since Cosmo Oil’s
Yokkaichi Refinery has regularly participated in these disaster drills andother events including training organized by the Base, we are treatedfavorably by the competent authorities in terms of training permits,
designation of site, training dates, etc.

- 2 -

3. Comprehensive Training(i) Objectives of the comprehensive training.
The Petroleum Association of Japan has completed its efforts to stock Oil
Spill Recovery Equipment in accordance with the "Project to Improve theOrganization which Responds to Large-scale Oil Disasters". So in fiscal
1999 the Petroleum Association of Japan started comprehensive training
program for the personnel to ensure that staff responsible for domestic
storage bases were able to carry out efficient oil spill recovery operations in
the event that a large oil spill should take place. The first suchcomprehensive training was conducted at the number 3 Ise Bay StockpileBase.
(ii) Preparations for the comprehensive training.
To ensure the safety and success of the training exercise, we watched avideo of a previous training exercise which was conducted in 1998 andidentified some potential problems and other important points. Then, we
held a meeting with the participants prior to the exercise.
Three major rivers flow into the northern part of Ise Bay at variable rates so
the direction of the current is not predictable. It is therefore important toselect the most suitable location for training within the training area in fullknowledge of the weather and maritime conditions on the day of training.
To ensure safe training and smooth operations, it was agreed among
participants that one participant should act as the leader and the otherparticipants should follow his directions.
Since many vessels navigate close to the training area, a supervisor was
nominated to give a warning if the exercise went out of the prescribedtraining area.
On the day prior to the training, participants had a meeting with
Mr.Y.Henmi, Manager of the Oil Spill Response Department of thePetroleum Association of Japan, and Mr. Andrew M. Crawford, TechnicalAdvisor to Petroleum Association of Japan on detailed matters.

- 3 -(iii) Outline of the training.
The following four types of training exercise were conducted over a threeday period.
Maritime Training-1: this is an exercise to recover spilled oil by extending
an inflatable oil boom in the shape of a "J".
Maritime Training-2: this is an exercise to recover spilled oil by extendinga V Sweep oil boom to concentrate the oil, which is towed by a boat.
Maritime Training-3: this is an exercise to recover spilled oil by extending
both inflatable type and V sweep type oil booms.
Maritime Training-4: this is an exercise to clean the shoreline.
(iv) Detail of Maritime Training-1.
a. Assumptions of this exercise:Oil, which has been spilt in the sea covers a wide area, normally in windrows in the shape of a long belt. In the practice, two boats will surroundthe spilled oil and extend an inflatable oil boom in the shape of a "J", andthe spilled oil will be recovered by an oil skimmer.
b. Equipment for the exercise and their positions:
The 250-meter inflatable oil boom, Komara-12K oil skimmer and theskimmer power pack for the seashore oil boom are installed on the workboat, and the work boat is moored to boat-B.
The oil skimmer (GT-185) is mounted on boat-B.
The oil recovery barge (25 m3 ) is inflated and towed by the work boat.
c. Procedure of the practice:
Boat-A draws the oil boom from the work boat and sends air into the oilboom using the blower and surrounds the oil spill by extending the oil boomin the shape of a "J".
Boat-A and boat-B navigate at a speed of 1 knots or less to collect thespilled oil into the inner most part of the oil boom. The two boats must
pay attention to maintaining the "J" shape so that no spilled oil will escapefrom the oil boom.
- Boat-B lowers the oil skimmer onto the sea. The skimmer sends acontinuous stream of recovered oil to the oil recovery barge.

- 4 -d. Discharging the recovered oil and recovering the oil boom:- In the case of actual oil recovery operations, the recovered oil stored in thebarge is transported to the pier and transferred to an onshore tank or othercontainer using a transfer pumping system. In this exercise we only
recovered seawater so we discharged the recovered seawater using the water
pump from the beach protection oil boom.
Boat-A navigates so that the inflatable oil boom and the work boat are in astraight line. The work boat staff deflate the oil boom and reel up the
inflatable oil boom.
e. Essential points of the exercise:
We need a support boat which is high maneuverable when deploying the oilboom.
The oil skimmer should be located at the proper position in the apex of the"J" shaped oil boom.
We need a small boat to tow the oil recovery barge.
Since we have experience in the practice, we were able to complete theexercise without any problems.
(v)Details of Maritime Training-2.
a. Assumptions of the practice:
The conditions of the oil spill are the same as described above. In theexercise, spilled oil is recovered by the V Sweep type oil boom in the shapeof a “V" which is towed by a boat.
The oil boom entrance is extended using an outrigger which positions theoutboard end of the boom and tows the oil boom .
b. Equipment for the exercise and their positions:
The V Sweep type oil boom is installed on the work boat, and the outrigger
is also mounted on the work boat, which is fixed to boat-B.
The oil skimmer is mounted on boat-B.
The oil bag (used to store recovered oil: 50m3 ) is fixed to the work boat,
which is towed by boat-B.

- 5 -c. Procedure:
On the work boat, the outrigger with a length of 18m is assembled, and isfixed on the right side of boat-B. Since the outrigger is heavy, careful
operation is needed.
The outrigger is held in place by ropes attached to its outboard
The ropes which are fixed to both ends of the gathering V Sweep boom areconnected to the winch through the outrigger.
Air is charged into the oil boom on the work boat, and the oil boom isreeled out onto the sea.
After the V Sweep boom is reeled out onto the sea, the oil boom isseparated from the work boat; the outrigger, which is fixed to boat-B, isreleased out ; and the oil boom is extended in the shape of a "V".
Boat-B navigates at a speed of 1 knot or less to collect spilled oil into theinner most part of the oil boom.
Then, the oil skimmer (GT-185) is lowered onto the sea to collect the spilled
oil and pump it into the oil bag.
d. Discharging the recovered oil and recovering the oil boom:
The oil boom is released from the vessel. Boat-B takes up the rope at the
top end of the oil boom, and navigates so that the work boat and the oilboom are in a direct line. On the work boat, the oil boom is deflated andrecovered.
The oil skimmer (GT-185)is recovered from the sea. Recovered oil stored
in the oil bag, is then discharged by operating the pump installed in the oil
bag nose cone, with power from the skimmer power pack.
e. Characteristics:
Since only one boat tows the oil boom and operates the oil skimmer, theoperation of the boat is easy once the "V" shape has been formed. But weneed practice in this operation, because the outrigger is very heavy and mustbe handled in the narrow space available on the boat.
Main operations include the assembly and deployment of the outrigger. It
is necessary to secure space for this work, and equipment to hoist theoutrigger up is required.
It is necessary to study how to lighten the outrigger. After practicing
operating the outrigger two or three times, an operator can operate it
without too much difficulty, but it still takes a long time.

- 6 -(vi)Maritime training-3. This training is a mixture of training-1 andtraining-2. The characteristic of this training is that spilled oil can berecovered from a wider area than with training-1 or training-2.
a. Assumptions of the practice:
Inflatable and V Sweep type oil booms are connected together onboard theboat. The connected oil booms are deployed and towed by two boats.
Spilled oil is collected in the inner part of the V Sweep oil boom andrecovered using the oil skimmer.
b. Equipment for the practice and their positions:
The inflatable oil boom with a length of 250m and the V Sweep oil boom
are loaded on board the work boat. The work boat is fixed to boat-B.
The oil skimmer and the oil bag (50m3 ) are loaded on board boat-B.
c. Procedure:
The air inflatable oil boom is inflated and deployed on to the sea.
The air inflatable oil boom has a length of 250m which is composed of fivesections (each section has a length of 50m). The oil boom is separated
when the extended length reaches 100m.
The separated inflatable oil boom is connected to the V Sweep oil boom,
and the V Sweep boom inflated.
Boat-A tows the top end of the inflatable oil boom and boat-B tows the top
end of the V Sweep oil boom forming a "V" shape.
The inflatable oil boom and the V Sweep oil boom are controlled by anadjustment rope called a "three-point bridle rope" which is adjusted so thatthe oil booms will form a direct line.
As in other cases, the oil skimmer is lowered onto the sea to collect spilled
oil into the oil bag (50m3 ).
d. Recovering the oil boom and discharging the recovered oil:
The same procedure as in training-1 and training-2 is followed.
e. Essential points of the practice:
Concerning how to keep the inflatable oil boom and the V Sweep oil boom
in a straight line, we learned from experience that a good balance can beachieved if the three-point bridle rope is attached to the whole section
length (50m) of the second span of the inflatable oil boom.
- 7 -We learned from the exercise that a prior briefing to all participants is quite
important so as everybody understands what each rope does as there are a
lot of ropes involved in the system.
The operation of this boom system seems complicated but if you pay
attention to the above two points, you can deploy and recover the system
without difficulty once you have practiced the operation twice.
There is a net which is attached to the bottom of the V Sweep oil boom sothat the "V" shape can be maintained, we must be very careful to avoid
tangling the net with the propeller of the vessel before the "V" shape ismade.
The most important points to remember are not to get the many ropes andnet tangled together or in the propeller and the close communication
between the two vessels when the oil booms are deployed.
(vii) Maritime Training-4 for cleaning the seashore.
a. Assumptions of the practice:This exercise is for the protection of the shoreline and recovery of spilled
oil which was one of the most important objectives of the comprehensive
training.
Large quantities of spilled oil can be expected to be washed up on the coast
due to the effects of current and the wind direction. Therefore, efforts
need to be made to protect sensitive areas of the coast from being polluted
by spilled oil and this oil needs to be collected, recovered and transported toother locations.
In this exercise, all participants were divided into two groups. Each group
started their operation after studying the equipment available, transportation
available to move the equipment and the method of deploying the booms
and their locations.
b. Procedure:
The shore protection boom (Shore guardian and Sea Sentinel) was deployed
to protect the beach.
Spilled oil was recovered using the beach cleaner and recovered oil wastentatively stored in a Fastank5.

- 8 -The recovered oil was transported to the onshore permanent location using
the transfer pumping system, the oil skimmer and the Komara-12K power
pack. Then, the arrangement was made for inland transportation of the oil tothe oil treatment center.
c. Results of the practice:
Since we did not have enough time to examine the training beach andoperations in advance, it took time to decide the locations of equipment andmaterials.
We learned that it is extremely effective to hold training sessions in which
all participants practice the operations for themselves.

4. The effects of the comprehensive training
As I explained before, the comprehensive training was conducted in apractical manner using the various equipment and materials that wecurrently use.
To our regret, we could not locate a suitable beach on which to practicecleaning the seashore. To avoid spilled oil from being washed up on shore,
all the participants studied, for the first time in training in Japan, theselection of equipment that was available to them. They also had to study
the location and method of deploying the booms, the recovery of the spilledoil, treatment of recovered oil, etc., for themselves based on the given
information,and all participants practiced these operations. I believe that
this experience will be really helpful for all participants in the event of areal oil spill taking place in the future as well as the first step toward
improving their equipment operation skills.
We really felt that if the assumptions of the comprehensive training arereexamined and practical training is conducted repeatedly, the oil spill
response skills and capabilities of the parties concerned at the storage bases
will be further improved.
In the meantime, we found some aspects to be improved in the future
training. I would like to mention the essential points and methods for
future training.

- 9 -(1) Prior meeting.
The purpose of the comprehensive training is to give all participants anopportunity to practice actual operations. Therefore, it is necessary tohave a meeting with all participants for each training item based on theschedule and equipment for detailed operations.
For the comprehensive training, prior meetings were held and explanations
were given for each aspect but I think that explanatory material wasinsufficient and, as a result, the actions of the participants were restricted.
In the past, explanatory materials for training were prepared by each storage
base but I would suggest that in the future it is necessary to compile acommon manual of explanatory material based on the experience andcomments of past training exercises.
(2) Skill Level in operating equipment.
Some of the twelve participants in the comprehensive training had lessexperience than others, so it was sometimes difficult for me to determine
how much I should explain.
Of course, participants could learn new skills depending on their ability,
irrespective of their degree of experience.
To improve equipment operation skills and capabilities of the emergency
response members through operational training and oil spill response
training, I believe that it is more effective to divide participants into groups
depending on their skill level and capabilities.
For example, participants are given the following ranks based upon theirpast experience.
Rank-0: Participant has no experience in operating the equipment.
Rank-1: Participant can manage one item of equipment.
Rank-2: Participant can manage more than one item of equipment at a time.
Rank-3: Participant can manage and operate any item of equipment
depending on the conditions.
To make the training more effective, I felt that it is also important to screen
participants for a particular training exercise, depending on their skill.

- 10 -

(3) Leader's capability
In the comprehensive training exercise, I acted as the leader and I believethat the training was successful thanks to the cooperation of all participants,
although I found many things to be improved.
At the time of an actual oil spill response operations, the leader must
demonstrate the following three capabilities which should be developed
through future training and exercises.
a. Skill in operating equipment.
It is essential for the leader to be fully experienced in operating equipment
and I believe that that people responsible for the maintenance andmanagement of equipment will acquire this skill without difficulty, if they
participate in training at home and/or overseas.
b. LeadershipIf a person enhances his experience in operations, he will naturally acquireleadership qualities. If the leader gives all participants full explanations on
operating methods, etc., they will have no problem with operations.
If an oil spill occurs, a leader must be able to make decisions under all
conditions of tidal current, wind velocity, wind direction, quantity of spilledoil, equipment etc., andavalible and be totally aware of the chain ofcommand below him. If the leader only possesses knowledge about
operating the equipment, he may not give effective directions to all parties
concerned.
I participated in the operations to recover the oil spilled from the M/V"Nakhodka".
This experience was very helpful for me in thecomprehensive training, and when I think of the next generation of leaders,
I believe that this will be of great importance in their training in the future.
c. Boat maneuvering skill
Maneuvering a boat in spilled oil recovery operations may be the mostdifficult task a leader may face.
A person who has no practical experience in maneuvering a boat may notunderstand the delicate moves of a boat. As a result, the person cannot
communicate well with the captain of the boat. Thus, the person may
distrust the captain and the training may result in failure.
In my opinion, it is necessary to have a meeting between the leader and the- 11 -

captain to be used for spilled oil recovery operations. Then, the leader canlearn how to give directions with the correct timing and what terms should
be used for directions.
5. Concluding Remarks
I understand that training is conducted once a year at six domestic storage
bases. This training is the only opportunity for the staff responsible formaintaining and managing the equipment to demonstrate their operation
skills and learn other operational skills and techniques from other people.
Therefore, it will be much more effective if a thorough review meeting isheld after training is completed.
Training is a good opportunity for persons to acquire practical operatingskills in all weathers and maritime conditions. If people gain experiencein practical operation using various equipment they can improve their skills,
which will enable them to respond to real oil recovery operation in a more
efficient way. In view of this, I believe this training is of great significance.
To help improve operational skills, I would like to propose that training be
conducted more frequently in the future.
With the understanding and direction of the parties concerned, we aredetermined to improve our oil spill response skills in order to respondaccurately and promptly in case there is an accident, although we hope there
will no be any.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to present my comments.

- 12 -