Diesel Spill Caused By Failure In Fueling Line

October 23, 2013

The cause of last night’s [Oct 22] diesel spill into Hamilton Harbor was a failure in the fueling line while ferry boats were being being fuelled, the Government said this morning.

Clean up will continue today, with more absorbent boom and pads being deployed near the Blue Water Anglers Club and other areas.

As Bernews previously reported, the spill occurred at approximately 10pm last night, with the Government saying it happened while the ferry boats were being fuelled in the vicinity of RenRe and East Broadway.

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A statement from Government this morning said, “The Department of Marine and Ports immediately sent 12 personnel to the site who deployed absorbent boom around the ferry dock area. The absorbent boom is successfully containing much of the spill.

“As of 9am this morning, the old absorbent pads from last night have been removed and will be replaced later this morning with new ones.

“More absorbent boom and pads are being brought up from Penno’s Wharf to deploy near the Blue Water Anglers Club and other areas. The new pads and boom will be used to address areas of sheen that are visible in the vicinity.”

“The precise volume of diesel that was released into the Harbor will be known at a later date when the Department of Environmental Protection has simulated the fault that occurred.”

You can view our coverage from last night here, and the full statement from Government is below:

At approximately 10pm yesterday night a spill of Diesel occurred while the ferry boats were being fuelled in the vicinity of RenRe and East Broadway.

The Department of Marine and Ports immediately sent 12 personnel to the site who deployed absorbent boom around the ferry dock area. The absorbent boom is successfully containing much of the spill.

As of 9am this morning, the old absorbent pads from last night have been removed and will be replaced later this morning with new ones.

More absorbent boom and pads are being brought up from Penno’s Wharf to deploy near the Blue Water Anglers Club and other areas. The new pads and boom will be used to address areas of sheen that are visible in the vicinity.

Currently, the oil slick within the boomed area of the ferry dock is now only noticeable hard up against the eastern edge of the concrete dock that juts out into the harbor.

The Departments of Environmental Protection and Marine and Ports are currently at the site today to assist where necessary.

It was decided this morning that there is not sufficient quantity to make any retrieval of diesel via a skimmer worthwhile.

The cause of the spill was a failure in the fueling line, which was thought to have been leaking for approximately 20 minutes during fueling.

The precise volume of diesel that was released into the Harbor will be known at a later date when the Department of Environmental Protection has simulated the fault that occurred.

Volatile Organic Carbons (VOC’s) measured in the air were low (<10ppm) which is expected for a Diesel fuel.

Environmental Health and Occupational Health will conduct a full review of the incident.

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Category: Accidents and fires, All, News

Comments (8)

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Articles that link to this one:

  1. Photos: Fuel/Oil Spill In Water On East Broadway | Bernews.com | January 21, 2014
  1. somuchless says:

    Well if you get any fish from any from the harbor you won’t have to deep fry them cause they’re already filled with oil.

  2. Vice Commodore of BBIRYC Ret. Admiral Seven7Niner says:

    Some SEPs with absorbant sponges and some soap could clean this up very quickly.

  3. I am ashamed that such a thing could occur in my waterways. Perhaps M&P could borrow my clubs manual and SEPs for dealing with such issues. Over the past decade we have had an impeccable record and pride ourselves on clean yachting. With plenty of SEPs such occurances would never happen. The pipes and hoses are always clean and clear.

    • Jeep says:

      Your waters? Who do you think you are. Who died and made you think your the greatest

      • -1001 says:

        Well we are all paying taxes which make it each one of our waterways….jeep please be a bit nicer.

  4. ouahd says:

    “As of 9am this morning, the old absorbent pads from last night have been removed and will be replaced later this morning with new ones.”

    Am I reading this correctly? Instead of having replacement pads ready to be swapped out they let the contamination flow freely about until someone showed up with the replacements?

    • Come Correct says:

      No they had booms out to stop it from flowing freely. Since water and gas don’t mix and water is more dense the gas sits on the surface, so by having the floating booms (the fire hose looking thingys) it contains the fuel in that area.