11 October 2011

MV Reefed ~ NZ Maritime Disaster Unfolding...

gCaptain spotlights the MV Rena grounding, quoting the WSJ...
"...the worst environmental maritime disaster in New Zealand. [...] the containers on board, including the ones holding dangerous goods, are all intact on the vessel and [Maritime NZ] is monitoring the dangerous-goods containers. The vessel is carrying four containers of ferrosilicon, a solid matter that can give off hydrogen and cause a fire risk if it comes into contact with water."
Yikes! The BBC's Enviro Correspondent Richard Black writes...
"The authorities are asking questions of the Rena's captain as to how he came to crash into a well-known reef. In time, they may raise familiar questions over the flags of convenience system that effectively allows international shipping to operate without a host government having to take responsibility."
Makes me wonder: We have bigcos Schlumberger and Halliburton for oil exploration & energy development services, but who's the equivalently important & effective champion provider of emergency response & environmental remediation services? Here's the MV Rena owner apologizing...

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