Implementation
andEffect of Major Oil Recovery System Exercises

by Svein Edward Kjellsen
Senior Executive Officer
Norwegian Pollution Control Authority
Commercial Services Unit

Implementation and Effect of Major
Oil Recovery System Exercises
Introduction
When an oil spill has occurred in a country the Response Organization has used the lessons
learned to make the response operation more effective. To build up and maintain a Response
Organisation is rather expensive. Unfortunately in most countries the flow of funding tomaintain the Response Organisation has a tendency to decrease proportional with the years goneby since the last major oil spill.
An other way of thinking is - the longer time since the accident happened, the closer we are to thenext.
After a major accident, most organisations responsible for oil spill response operations will makean effort to make the response more efficient. That is often done by increasing the amount ofequipment. That is often necessary and important. Equally important is to have sufficienttrained personnel to operate the equipment. To achieve that more training and exercises arenecessary.
In Norway about 5000 people has received some kind of training related to oil spill response
operations on various levels. Most of the personnel have work related to the sea, but personnel,
who have general response experience, like the fire brigades and civil defence has also
participated in the training programme.
The Response Organisation in a country is normally the body responsible for training andexercises and should as such put together a comprehensive training and exercise program everyyear.
One type of exercise is Basic Training Programme for Major Oil Recovery Systems that wasimplemented in Japan in 1999.

PROGRAMME (Frame)
10th May MONDAY (classroom and on board)
Information about the tactical training and:• Boom Configuration• Communication• Co-operation• Safety at site
• Presentation of boom
• Presentation of bag• Presentation of skimmer
11th of May TUESDAY (classroom and at sea)
•Boom Configuration
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•
•
•

On deck instruction and training
Deployment of boom
Retrieval

12th of May WEDNESDAY (all day at sea)
•system presentation of bag•••

System presentation of skimmer
Installation of boom
Installation of bag•••

Deployment of Uniboom
Basic J-ConfigurationDeployment of skimmer

•••
•••
•
•

Retrieval
Lunch
Deployment of boom
Basic J-Configuration
Turning of J-Configuration (180 ﾟ)
Deployment of skimmer
Turning of J-Configuration
Retrieval

13th May THURSDAY (all day at sea)
• Deployment of equipment• Tactical training of the combat unit
• Lunch• Tactical performance of the combat unit

Basic Equipment Training (classroom) before the exercise
Equipment
The personnel who operate the equipment, must be prepared for the operation and must have aknowledge of:• The main operating function.
• The safety instructions.
The personnel who will operate the skimmer and the boom must approve the they
can operate the equipment before the exercise at sea takes part.
The theoretical training can be done in the classroom, and hands-on training onboard.

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Oil Recovery Vessel (ORV)
ORV will always be the main vessel in the unit, and the team-leaders platform. all equipmentthat shall be temporary stored on board must be prepared for the operation before the sea exercise
start. The oil recovery equipment is operated from this vessel. The ship have to have tankcapacity. permanent or temporarily.
Oil recovery vessels with permanent stored equipment board may do so-called single shiptraining. All that is needed is a workingboat of some size(24 feet and 120 hp). Most supply
vessels are normally equipped with such boats. In wave high more than 2 m this training is notrecommended.
Teamleader
The team leader can be the captain or another skilled person who has background from seaoperations. The person will have the operational command of the unit, and must have a good
have to have close communication with the captain of the towing vessel, and give him short orders
about speed and courses.
Offshore Oil Recovery Operation
The emergency preparedness relation to acute oil pollution shall ensure that the oil is effectively
collected near the source of discharge as quickly as possible, but in a safe distance to avoid thedanger of fire or explosion.
J- Configuration is a two vessels recovery system under the command of teamleader (leader of theunit), The oil recovery vessel (ORV) is always towing the short end of the boom.
Basic training for major oil recovery systems at sea

BEFORE EXERCISES COMMENCEThis exercise manual is a basic training manual for personnel with experience in manoeuvringvessels. The objective is to train those who have an obligation to be teamleaders during tacticaloil pollution operations.

COMMUNICATION•The commanding officer is responsible for the communication plan, and all key personnel
with communication responsibilities have to have a good knowledge of the plan.

••
•
•
•

The communication between all key personnel must be checked before the operations starts.
In case of break down an alternative channel must be switched on.
Communication discipline.
Record all orders and operations.
VHF channel 16 should never be used during exercises.

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4Communication Plan Suggestion
Main Comm. Channel ･･･････････････････Alt. Comm. Channel ･･･････････････････
We need 4 VHF had set for the operation. Main and alternative communication channel has tobe decided with the harbour caption

TEAMLEADER
Recovery Vessel

BoomandWinch for Cross
Bridle Rope

TowingVessel

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Skimmer

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EXERCISE 1

BASIC J-CONFIGURATION
Deploy the boom, and turn the system against the resultant between wind and current, If thewind is strong it will have the dominant influence on the boom.
'The rule of thumb says that oil on water surface is generally moving in the direction and speed of
the current and only 3-5% in the direction and speed of the wind.).

Start the run and increase the speed to 1 knots. Reduce the speed to0,6 knots. (All speeds are relative to the water)
1.1

The Teamleader on board on the skimming vessel will give various orders to the towing
vessel about changing of courses. Beware that the cross bridle has to be 90 ﾟ on theskimming vessel course.

1.2

Increase the opening between the two vessels to maximum (collecting configuration).
Beware the course of the towing vessel and give necessary slack to the cross bridle.

1.3

Deploy the skimmer. Start skimming when the skimmer is in position at the bottom of theboom-system

1.4

Reduce the opening between the two vessels (skimming configuration.
Tight up the cross bridle to skimming position.

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EXERCISE 2STRIKE THE BUOY
Deploy the boom in a position approx. 0,5 N.M. from where the buoy is to be dropped. If thevisibility is low, the buoy has to be equipped with radar decoy. Beware wind and current.

When the boom is deployed and the boom-system is ready in Jconfiguration:
2.1

Drop the buoy in the water.

2.2

Find the buoy on the radar screen

2.3

Set the course to the buoy.

2.4

Set speed to 1 knot.

2.5

The distance between the vessels has to be at a maximum (in collecting configuration).

2.6

When the distance to the buoy is 0,1 N.M., reduce the speed to 0,6 kn.

2.7

Manoeuvre the boom-system so that the buoy strikes in the middle between the towing
vessel and the cross bridle connection point on the boom.

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EXERCISE 3

THE LONG SLOW TURN (180°)(Not recommended in heavy wind and current)

When the boom is deployed and the boom-system is ready in Jconfiguration:
3.1

Start towing against the resultant between current and wind.

3.2

Notice the course.

3.3

Set the speed to 1 knot.

3.4

Hold the bearing-angle to the towing vessel constant (adjust speed as necessary)

3.5

Start the turn, slowly.

3.6

Beware of your configuration.

3.7

Keep the cross bridle at a 90° angle on the course of the recovery vessel.

3.8

When the turn is completed make a speed correction for wind and current.

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EXERCISE 4

NOTICE BEFORE OPERATION•••

Check communication before turning.
Stop skimming.
Mann the cross-bridle winch.

•High tension at the cross bridle may cause danger of breakdown.

QUICK-TURN TO STARBOARD
4.1

Start skimming in J-Configuration.

4.2

Towing vessel turns quickly to starboard.

4.3

The distance between the towing vessel and the boom has to be 10 0- 15 meters.

4.4

The recovery vessel starts an slow turn to starboard.

4.5

When the boom has passed the recovery vessel, the recovery vessel will cross the course of
the towing vessel.

4.6

The Teamleader gives the new course.

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9Advanced Training for Major Recovery System
Advanced exercises for major recovery systems is basically co-operations with other units under
the command of a groupleader. As many as 5 units can be involved in a group. There are often
both the U-configurations and J-configuration in the same group. Generally the mostexperienced teamleader is selected as a Groupleader, and it is the Response Organisation thatwill point him out. Basically all of the teamleaders shall be given the possibility to begroupleader in exercises, and they have to be prepared and trained for this important task.
Effect of training and exercises
The criterias that are used for testing the efficiency of oil spill recovery units, are similar to what
are used for testing the efficiency of an oil spill response organisation.
1. Time of response
2. Handling capacity
3. Professional skill
Response Time
To be measured separately in 2 parts
1. The time it takes from the vessel is notified; to the time she is loaded with all necessary
equipment for the oil recovery operation and is ready to leave the port.
2. The time it takes from the start of boom-deployment, to the first oil or water is pumped
into a tank.
A part of the exercise is also to prepare the depot personnel and crew of the ship to handle andload equipment on board. The vessel has to be prepared for placing the equipment on the deck.
Handling capacity
A measure of how much oil the equipment can deal with per time unit under different
environmental conditions. Boom and skimmers can now be tested and evaluated in testbasins ina realistic environment, with oil on water and exposed to waves and current.
Professional skill
The level of competence and availability of competent personnel to run an oil spill operation is thekey here. The level of competence many be defined through what kind of training that has been
given. The availability of competent personnel is depending on how many people with sufficienttraining and background the organisation can mobilize in an emergency situation.
A requirement for getting approval of a contingency plan, may according to this criterion be that aparticular number of personnel may have to go through a certain training programme on oil spill
response. By operational training and exercises of the recovery unit the handling capacity willincrease.

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The benefits of exercises at sea will be:• A trained unit will have a knowledge of the operational challenges.
• The crew and operators. will road the vessel faster.
• The boom will be deployed faster and safer.
• The operators will do the manoeuvring of the skimmer smoother and safer.
• The teamleader will do the manoeuvring of the unit in a more efficient way.
• The unit will co-operate more easily with other units in a joint response operation.
Over the last years response organisations consider it important to tell the public that if an oil
spill occurs close to the shore, then oil will reach the coast. It is not realistic to expect that all theoil may be recovered at the sea, despite the fact that we posses good equipment. Bad weather
with strong wind and high waves are conditions where even the most advanced oil spill response
systems have to capitulate.

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11EXERCISE 1

A = TOWING VESSELB = SKIMMING VESSELPAJ foredrag.doc

12EXERCISE 2
A = TOWING VESSELB = SKIMMING VESSELC = BUOY

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13EXERCISE 3

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14EXERCISE 4

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15(Fig)

Advanced Training for Major Recovery System

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16(Fig)

Advanced Training for Major Recovery System

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