TEICHMAN NEWS

Gas Plant Fire

The fire occurred in west Texas at a gas plant on Thursday. T&T responded and safely brought the fire under control within 24 hours with no further injuries. The cause of the explosion is still under investigation.

North Padre Fire

During PNA Operations (Plug and Abandon) the top deck of a platform caught fire Thanksgiving Day. T&T was quick to respond to the fire. No injuries were reported.

Propeller Search/Survey - Texas City

A multibeam and side scan survey of the harbor section of the Port of Texas City where a propeller was reported to have been lost by a tug boat. The objective of the survey was to locate the propeller and part of the drive shaft that had become detached from a tug boat. The propeller was 60" in diameter and made of stainless steel with an approximate weight of 4,000lbs. A line plane was developed and the propeller was quickly located and salvaged.

T&T Attends/Presents at 2015 Clean Gulf Conference

The Clean Gulf Conference covers spill preparedness and response topics for the exploration & production, transportation, and storage of oil & hazardous materials. It provides a forum for responders, operators, regulators, equipment providers and environmental groups to openly discuss best practices and lessons-learned. T&T hosted a booth at the Conference while Jim Elliott (VP) and Jim Calhoun (Regulatory Affairs Manager) spoke on ensuring safety during marine salvage operations. Safety standards for heavy lift, emergency lightering, diving and other salvage operations were presented and the controversial topic of safety standardization within the marine salvage industry was explored.

Vice President Jim Elliott Receives OSPRA Award

Jim was awarded this honor for his extensive work in oil spill, emergency, and hurricane response efforts as well as for removal of abandoned vessels. He was thanked for his exceptional commitment to the Texas coastal environment. The OSPRA Awards are chosen by a panel appointed by the Texas General Land Office and the recipients are mentioned on the GLO website as well as in the quarterly newsletter, The Responder.

Shipwrecked 1930's barge leaking oil into Lake Erie

T&T Visits Partner Braveheart Marine In The Netherlands

Senior Hydrographic Surveyor Erin Diurba and Vice President Jim Elliott traveled overseas to share and learn about international hydrographic survey jobs from T&T's partner company Braveheart Marine. With 11 ships in its fleet and an impressive list of high profile jobs in progress all over the world, Braveheart Marine has certainly proved itself to be an impressive company. T&T looks forward to working with Braveheart Marine on future projects.

American Salvage Association (ASA) Names New Officers

From Marinelink - The ASA has elected a new slate of officers at its fall meeting on September 21 in Stamford, Conn. Todd Schauer, Resolve Marine Group was elected President, succeeding Paul Hankins, Donjon Marine Co., Inc., who served as President from 2013-2015. Jim Elliott, T&T Marine Salvage, Inc., was elected Vice President, and David DeVilbiss, Global Diving & Salvage, Inc., was named Secretary/Treasurer. In addition, James Calhoun (T&T Salvage, Inc.), Samina Mahmood (Ardent), and George Wittich (American Marine Corporation), were elected to ASA’s Executive Committee as General Member Representatives. John Cameron (Southeast Ocean Response Services, Inc.) was reelected chairman of the Associate Membership Committee, and will serve on the Executive Committee in that capacity.

T&T Brings New, Innovative, Fire Fighting Equipment Onboard

“Throughout my career, from fighting marina and boat fires while in charge of a Coast Guard response boat in the mid-1980s to routinely managing commercial vessel firefighting operations today, I have attended a number of firefighting courses over the years; tactical training has evolved based on lessons learned from actual fighting shipboard fires,” said Jim Elliott, Vice President, T&T Salvage. “Technology – such as infrared, advances in firefighting systems, and improved firefighting extinguishing agents – have enhanced shipboard firefighting operations further. Advances in personal protective equipment and breathing apparatus/cylinder capacity have also gone a long way in improving safety.” T&T Salvage’s investment in technology includes the latest in infrared technology: “We even have an infrared system on our Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) to respond to vessel fires,” said Elliott.

Morely said that technology has increased in importance, particularly in light of the move toward larger ships and smaller crews. “Technology, such as thermal imaging units and advances in suppression equipment, has become a vital component of fire fighting,” said Capt. Morley.

Effort Underway to Upright Capsized Tug

By Mary Meaux - The U.S. Coast Guard received a call of a capsized vessel at about 5:35 p.m. Aug. 21. Four persons were on board at the time and a Good Samaritan rescued all four. No injuries were reported. Work began on Monday to upright a capsized tugboat in the Intracoastal Waterway.

A team with T&T Marine Salvage arrived on Sunday with a spud barge — a special barge with four posts on each corner that are lowered to secure the vessel and a crane. A diver was seen surfacing from near the wrecked inland river tug around 11:30 a.m. Aug. 24 as crews with OMI Environmental Solutions manned a boom and perimeter around the wreckage.

A portion of the seawall was roped off and Port Arthur Police Department officers made routine passes to make sure motorists kept their distance. The Louise is located in about 15 foot of water but not far from a 30-foot drop-off, U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Adolfo Viezca said. He explained the plan was to lift the vessel and drain all of the water before towing could be done.

T&T is on Fire!

T&T was called on to conduct an in-situ burn of an oil spill caused by a pipeline rupture in South Louisiana. In-situ burning of oil spills can be more effective than traditional mechanical oil recovery methods, minimizing long-term environmental impacts to sensitive marshes and wetlands. T&T Salvage also successfully completed an in-situ burn in 2014 at the Delta National Wildlife Refuge that was praised by the U.S. Coast Guard. Working within a Unified Command led by the Coast Guard again this year, T&T Salvage firefighters safely ignited the oil spill and provided contingency fire suppression services to ensure another safe and effective response operation.

Jim Elliott, Vice President of T&T Salvage, noted “We consistently strive to be the fastest, safest and best in marine emergency response operations. These recent firefighting responses are a testament of T&T’s ability to quickly respond to a major marine casualty and effectively save property, protect the environment and prevent crew injuries.”

Naphtha Barge and Ship Collision - Galveston Channel

From Phil Archer at Click2Houston - A barge carrying about a million gallons of petroleum was engulfed in flames after two tug boats collided off Point Bolivar according to the U.S. Coast Guard. The Intercoastal Waterway from marker #348 to the Houston Ship Channel reopened at 9:15 p.m. that Monday. The collision happened near where the Intercoastal Waterway intersects Houston Ship Channel Traffic. Each of the tugs had two barges in tow. They collided after the captain of the tug boat“Shorty C” reported losing power around 1:30 a.m. His lead barge collided with one of those being towed by the tug “Jackie,” filled with about one million gallons of highly flammable naphtha. Naphtha is used as a fuel additive and in solvents.

Nickel Ore Liquefaction Causes Bulker Grounding in Philippines

By Mike Schuler - A vessel was reported to be carrying a cargo of nickel ore from Surigao City in the Philippines to China when it encountered huge swells, which drenched the ship’s cargo and caused the vessel to lose stability.

The captain gave the order to abandon ship and all 21 crew members were picked up by an escort tug.

A statement from the company said that “As a result of heavy weather conditions and adverse swell, the cargo in holds No 1 & 2 shifted, resulting in the vessel listing by 14 degrees starboard.

Humble Rotary Awards Highest Recognition to T&T Salvage

Gulf of Mexico Platform Fire

Photo Credit: US Coast Guard/Associated Press.

Another example of T&T’s rapid response capability came in the early hours of May 22, 2015 when T&T was activated to respond to a fire on a Gulf of Mexico Platform. All 28 workers aboard were taken from the platform, located about 20 miles (32 km) east of the boot tip of Louisiana, onto a nearby supply vessel and taken ashore. No one was hurt, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

T&T quickly mobilized personnel and equipment to a Louisiana dock where it was loaded on a fast supply vessel and transported to the scene. The assets were then transferred to a lift boat and the fire team proceeded to cool the adjacent areas and extinguish the fire later that evening. Once extinguished the team boarded the platform and confirmed it was safe for boarding.

T&T Salvage Successfully Completes OPA 90 Response

From the Maritime Executive - T&T Salvage was activated under their Salvage and Marine Firefighting Agreement to respond to a 600 foot laker that went aground on the St Mary’s River near DeTour Village, MI. “The vessel was hard aground but stable,” said Jim Elliott, T&T’s Vice President, “We immediately dispatched a team from our Great Lakes Response Center and mobilized prepositioned response equipment in the region.”

T&T Salvage’s naval architects and salvage master then developed a comprehensive salvage and lightering plan to ensure the safety of the ship, crew and responders, while protecting the environment. Once the salvage plan was approved by the Coast Guard and with T&T salvage personnel overseeing operations onboard the ship, cargo lightering commenced using the ship’s self-unloading conveyor and a subcontracted Inland Lakes receiving vessel. Successfully refloating as planned without pulling force from tugs, the ship was redelivered to owners the same afternoon and, once cleared by class surveyors, the cargo was reloaded, and the vessel proceeded on her voyage.

T&T Protects the Galapagos Islands

From the Maritime Executive - On April 4, 2015, T&T Salvage successfully refloated a grounded cargo ship in San Cristobal, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. Leading operations in the Galapagos Islands World Heritage Site, T&T Salvage ensured all fuel, oil and other pollutants were successfully removed prior to refloating the ship wreck that lie sunk on a rocky volcanic shoreline for over two months. The salvage team’s efforts were credited with protecting the historic and environmentally sensitive island where the HMS Beagle first landed in 1835 with naturalist Charles Darwin.

The T&T Salvage team included Salvage Master Ted Hosking, with over 50 years of experience salvaging ships around the world, Jim Elliott former USCG COTP and Certified Type-1 Incident Commander, plus seasoned project managers, naval architects, salvage engineers, and technicians. Throughout the salvage operation, T&T Salvage worked closely with the governments of the Galapagos and Ecuador to achieve both safety and environmental objectives.

The wreck removal included repairing the hull, sealing the damaged engine room and ballast tanks, and removing cargo from the flooded holds. All pollutants were removed, including draining all fuel and hydraulic lines, prior to pumping water from the flooded ship to a receiving barge to ensure no environmental damage. T&T Salvage then towed the wreck outside the boundaries of the Galapagos Marine Reserve where it was subsequently scuttled in over 3,000 meters of water on April 6, 2015 under the direction of the government to prevent future environmental impacts to the World Heritage Site.

GAC partners with T&T Salvage to debut eco-friendly hull cleaning solution in Singapore

GAC EnvironHull's Eco-friendly, diver-free hull cleaning technology makes its Asian debut at this year's Sea Asia exhibition, marking its introduction at one of the world'd busiest ports, Singapore.

The innovative HullWiper Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) system was launched in late 2013 in the United Arab Emirates and has since been rolled out to other countries in the Middle East, and in Sweden. It is now being offered to vessels in Singapore, through GAC EnvironHull’s local partner, T&T Salvage Asia Pte Ltd (T&T). T&T will be the exclusive service provider for the promotion and supply of hull cleaning services using the HullWiper in Singapore and Malaysia.

A clean hull significantly enhances vessel speed and performance by reducing resistance, thus decreasing carbon emissions and fuel consumption. However, traditional hull cleaning methods using divers with brushes can present a risk to the delicate eco-system and damage expensive anti-fouling hull coatings.

Marine Salvage & Oil Spill Response Insights