The Coast Guard announced on Tuesday they would reopen the Houston Ship Channel to prioritized traffic.
The Galveston Bay oil spill earlier this weekend has taken a toll on local wildlife, and temporarily suspended transportation operations through the Houston Ship Channel. The Coast Guard announced that they would be reopening the Houston Ship Channel to limited transportation vessels on Tuesday, in an effort to end the bottleneck of nearly 100 vessels waiting for clearance to proceed.
Response to a catastrophic oil spill is only as effective as the methods used to report the oil spill and monitor the containment.
Over 168,000 gallons of bunker fuel oil leaked into the Galveston Bay over the weekend as a result of the collision between a barge and another vessel. Although this was a relatively small spill, the response to contain the spilled bunker fuel oil was intense. Fifty-four boats skimmed the water, capturing much of the oil still on the surface. In addition to the emergency vessels, over 500 response workers answered the call to assist in containing the spill, laying tens of thousands of feet of containment booms.
Oil and gas firms require solutions that enable their teams to share information on spills or potential hazards effecting their operations quickly. Then they need the capability to prioritize the information in order to create a reaction plan that makes sense. Mobile reporting is one of the many ways to improve operational safety and response time. By collecting information directly from employees and teams in the field, and then enabling management to immediately coordinate resources in response to potential hazards, oil and gas firms are able to better control incidents like the Galveston Bay oil spill.
Mobile reporting solutions enable oil and gas firms to respond effectively to hazardous emergencies, and better handle maintenance to prevent incidents from occurring.
SEE Forge offers a mobile reporting and information sharing ecosystem that enables oil and gas firms to take on these challenges successfully. Beyond the standard reporting, JSA / JHA templates, and other tools that have been taken mobile by SEE Forge’s system’s, field operators are able to communicate essential information regarding equipment status and operational details in real time. By incorporating the electronic devices (i.e. phones and tablets) that your field operators already use in their daily lives, SEE Forge has fully synchronized the corporate office and the field operators in ways that increase productivity and enhance information security.
Sources for this article include:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/03/25/galveston-bay-oil-spill-houston/6870601/