A UNITED States-contracted vessel arrived in Zambales last Tuesday and will join efforts to address the oil spill problem caused by the sinking of MT Princess Empress, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said (NDRRMC).
NDRRMC chairman and Defense officer-in-charge Senior Undersecretary Carlito Galvez said the Pacific Valkyrie, which is sailing under the flag of Singapore, will head to Oriental Mindoro to check the current situation of the ship wreck and its cargo using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) team from the US.
“We thank the US government for making these arrangements to support the Philippines’ continuing effort to control and resolve this environmental emergency,” said Galvez.
Galvez said data gathered by the vessel will be used to “determine the next appropriate course of action to control the oil leakage coming” from the ill-fated tanker.
An ROV deployed by Japanese dynamic positioning vessel Shin Nichi Maru located the vessel last week and reported that the sunken ship suffered “extensive damage.”
The Philippine Coast Guard, citing information gathered by the ROV, said all the eight cargo tanks of the vessel were leaking.
Shin Nichi Maru was contracted by P&I Club, the insurance firm of RDC Reield Marine Services, the owner of MT Princess Empress.
The NDRRMC said the ROV aboard Pacific Valkyrie will conduct a video and sonar survey of the sunken ship.
“The ROV can take still photographs, and carry a payload of 150 lbs. It has function manipulators capable of work at depth and auxiliary servos for hydraulic tool operations. It also has a salvage basket that can bear 4,000 lbs. The wreck survey will provide additional situational data on the ship wreck, which will assist in determining solutions to salvage the vessel and its content,” the NDRRMC said in a statement.
The NDRRMC added the US is also sending an 11,000 feet of 26-inch absorbent harbor boom. “These containment booms will be used to control the spread of oil and allow easy recovery,” it said.
The agency also said experts from the US Coast Guard, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and US Navy, along with personal protective equipment and support equipment, vehicles and vessels, will be sent by the US to Oriental Mindoro to support the ongoing oil spill response.
“We welcome this assistance coming from our US counterparts. We are confident that this initiative would greatly help our assessment efforts, thereby enabling us to implement the most effective containment and clean-up strategy,” said NDRRMC executive director Ariel Nepomuceno.
Nepomuceno said cleanup operations are continuing, adding 10,206 liters of oil-mixed water and 72,643 kilos of oil-contaminated debris have been collected so far.
“As we speak, the coordination between various government agencies continues and the conduct of cleanup operations in the coastal areas of the three most affected regions are in full gear,” said Nepomuceno.
