Luận văn Recommendations to enhance preparedness and response for ship-Source oil spill in Haiphong Port Waters

Nội dung text: Luận văn Recommendations to enhance preparedness and response for ship-Source oil spill in Haiphong Port Waters

1. Recommendations to enhance preparedness and response for ship-source oil spill in Haiphong Port Waters PREFACE Being situated on the coast of the South China Sea, Haiphong is the most crucial commercial and transportation hub of the North and the Nation, connecting the Northern provinces with the world market through its seaport, and lies at the important point of “Two economic corridors – One economic ring”. Nowadays, thanks to the favorable conditions for port activities, there are over 40 ports operating along the Cam – Bach Dang River. Over the last several years, along with Vietnam’s impressive and consistent economic growth, there has been a significant increase in exporting and importing cargoes throughout Haiphong ports. There is no denying that this tendency has contributed dramatically to maritime sector development in Haiphong city, nonetheless, it would pose immense threats to the environment. Although large spills from vessels or barges have become less frequent in the last few decades, accidents with medium spills still happen in Haiphong Port Waters. Such incidents have serious effects on marine ecosystems and can cost over millions of dollars in oil-spill cleanup. According to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, “Prevention is not only more humane than cure; it is also much cheaper”. Therefore, good practice in emergency preparedness and response is able to minimize potential danger to human health and the environment by ensuring a timely and coordinated response. In this research paper, some recommendations are offered to enhance preparedness and response for ship- source oil spill in Haiphong Port Waters. To sum up, I declare that this report is my own unaided work. It has not been submitted before. If violated, I am solely responsible for and bear the punishments of the Institution and University. Student Name and Signature TRAN THI THU HA Tran Thi Thu Ha – GMA 02 Page i
2. Recommendations to enhance preparedness and response for ship-source oil spill in Haiphong Port Waters ACKNOWLEGEMENT Foremost, I would like to especially express my sincere gratitude to my lecturer Mr. Tran Hai Viet for the excellent supervision, continuous support and collaboration during the entire period of my dissertation. He always spent his time on answering all of my questions concerning with this research paper. He also helped with grammatical corrections, documentation and coached me a lot by giving me feedback and tips on how to handle and approach situations, how to use English writing, how to build up and arrange ideas for its. My special thanks also go to Vu Ba Cong – being the Deputy Director at Department of Natural Resources and Environment, for offering me the internship opportunities in Department of Natural Resources and Environment. I also owe many thanks to Mr. Nguyen Van Can (being a manager of Sea & Island Branch, belonging to the department of natural resource and environment) and Mr. Mai Duc Long (being a Head of Sea & Island Branch, belonging to the department of natural resource and environment), who were very helpful and always willing to give me lots of advice, feedback, materials. The face-to-face conversations and conversations through email with them are also important learning moment for me during my internship. Last but not least, I would like to thank my family for their support during four and one-half years of my studies. I would especially thank my father, Mr. Tran Minh Tan, who has inspired me through years and my mother, Ms. Nguyen Thi Minh Nguyet, who has helped me immensely during my studies. Tran Thi Thu Ha – GMA 02 Page ii
3. Recommendations to enhance preparedness and response for ship-source oil spill in Haiphong Port Waters TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE i ACKNOWLEGEMENT ii ABBREVIATIONS v LIST OF TABLES vi LIST OF FIGURES vii INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1 4 LITERATURE REVIEW 4 1.1 Oil spill 4 1.1.1 Definition of Oil 4 1.1.2 Oil pollution 4 1.1.3 Definition of oil spill and Types of oil spill 4 1.1.4 Ship-source oil spill 4 1.1.5 Causes of oil spill accident from vessels 4 1.1.6 Impacts of oil spill 5 1.2 Legal basis 7 1.2.1 International conventions 7 1.2.2 Vietnamese laws, circular, decree, decision, branch standard 9 CHAPTER II 20 INTRODUCTION OF SEA AND ISLAND BRANCH AND OVERVIEW OIL SPILL SITUATION AND EVALUATION OF CURRENT STATUS OF OIL SPILL PREPAREDENESS AND RESPONSE IN HAIPHONG PORT WATERS 20 2.1Introduction of Sea and Island Branch 20 2.1.1 Geographical location & History 20 2.1.2 Position &Function and Duties & Powers of Sea and Island Branch 20 2.1.3 Organizational structure of Sea and Island Branch 21 2.1.4 Personnel 22 2.2 Haiphong Port Waters 22 2.3 Overview oil spill situation 22 2.3.1 International oil spill situation 22 2.3.2 Vietnamese and Haiphong oil spill situation 24 2.4 Evaluation of current status of oil spill preparedness and response in Haiphong Port Waters 26 Tran Thi Thu Ha – GMA 02 Page iii
4. Recommendations to enhance preparedness and response for ship-source oil spill in Haiphong Port Waters 2.4.1 Oil Spill Response Organizational Structure in Haiphong 26 2.4.2 Responsibilities of stakeholders in Oil Spill Response Organizational Structure 28 2.4.3. Evaluation of current status of oil spill preparation in Haiphong Port Waters31 2.4.4 Evaluation of current status of oil spill response in Haiphong Port Waters 40 CHAPTER III 45 RECOMMENDATIONS TO ENHANCE PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE FOR SHIP-SOURCE OIL SPILL IN HAIPHONG PORT WATERS 45 3.1 Recommendations to Department of Natural Resource and Environment – Sea and Island Branch 45 3.2 Recommendations to Oil Spill Response Companies 48 3.3 Recommendations to Manufacturers of oil spill containment booms 49 3.4 Recommendations to Organizations who are obligatory to have OSCP 50 3.5 Recommendations to Local Authorities 51 3.6 Recommendations to Vietnam Maritime Administration – Department of Legal Affairs 52 CONCLUSION 53 Appendices 54 Reference: 75 Tran Thi Thu Ha – GMA 02 Page iv
5. Recommendations to enhance preparedness and response for ship-source oil spill in Haiphong Port Waters ABBREVIATIONS Oil Spill Contingency Plan OSCP Floating Oil FO Diesel Oil DO Linear Alkyl Benzene LAB Tran Thi Thu Ha – GMA 02 Page v
6. Recommendations to enhance preparedness and response for ship-source oil spill in Haiphong Port Waters LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1: International conventions 7 TABLE 2: List of oil spill accidents in Haiphong Port Waters from 2004 to 2014 24 TABLE 3: Oil concentration of Vietnamese ports 26 TABLE 4: Four main clean-up methods 35 TABLE 5: Oil spill response equipment in Northern Oil Spill Response Center 37 TABLE 6: Oil spill response equipment in Northeastern Oil Spill Response Company 38 TABLE 7: Oil spill response equipment in Hoa Anh Joint Stock Company 39 TABLE 8: Oil spill response time of ship-source oil spill in Haiphong Port Waters 40 TABLE 9: List of companies being approved oil spill contingency plan since 2013 60 TABLE 10: List of international and domestic shipping companies being approved oil spill contingency plan since 2013 62 Tran Thi Thu Ha – GMA 02 Page vi
7. Recommendations to enhance preparedness and response for ship-source oil spill in Haiphong Port Waters LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1: Organizational Structure Diagram of Sea and Island Branch 21 FIGURE 2: Number of Oil Spills between 1970 and 2014 in the world 22 FIGURE 3: Oil Spill Response Organizational Structure .26 Tran Thi Thu Ha – GMA 02 Page vii
8. Recommendations to enhance preparedness and response for ship-source oil spill in Haiphong Port Waters INTRODUCTION Necessitation The development of maritime transport industry poses immense threats to environment in Haiphong which is one of largest seaports in Vietnam and especially lies at the important point of “Two economic corridors – One economic ring”. Currently, there are over 40 ports operating along the Cam- Bach Dang River in Haiphong. Due to large scale shipping activities, Haiphong Port Waters is at high risk for oil spills effecting significantly to environment, economy, tourism industry, and human health. Although there have been few ship-source oil spill accidents in Haiphong Port Waters over the last several years, such accidents still happen primarily due to human activities approximately 90 per cent. Until now, petrol companies, ports, shipping companies and local authorities as well have been good practices in oil spill preparedness and response such as building up oil spill contingency plans, organizing training courses, conducting oil spill drills which assist oil spill response rapidly and effectively. Nonetheless, in the case of actual accidents, some companies still become relatively unconfident perhaps because of subjective thinking. In addition, because the methods for responding to oil spills are constantly evolving and each oil spill provides an opportunity to learn how to better prepare for future incidents, the preparedness and response are also constantly evolving and improving – ensuring increased protection for human health and environment from these accidents. For such reasons, this research paper becomes necessary for organizations with regard to oil spill response. Research Object The objects of the research paper are preparedness and response for ship- source oil spill in Haiphong Port Waters. The objective of this study is to provide global oil spill situation; current status of oil spill preparedness and response and to propose some recommendations to improve preparedness and response in Haiphong Port Waters. Furthermore, unlike most emergencies that occur with little warnings but are over in a relatively short period of time, an oil spill incident can also occur with little warning but may extend for weeks, months or even years. Hence, best practice in preparedness provides opportunities for the response community to work together as a team and Tran Thi Thu Ha – GMA 02 Page 1
9. Recommendations to enhance preparedness and response for ship-source oil spill in Haiphong Port Waters develop the interpersonal relationship that can mean so much to the smooth functioning of a response. It is hope that with the application of this, the impact and damages on the marine environment caused by an oil spill will be very much minimized if not totally avoided. Research Scope Oil spills take place for variety of reasons, some arise from non-operational sources such as urban runoff and natural seepage; from nature and human activity on land; or drilling works carried out in sea. However, this study focuses deeply on accidental spills of oil from vessels or barges in Haiphong Port Waters like a collision; grounding of vessels carrying crude oil and product in local ports and faulty equipment since 2004 and offers some recommendations to enhance preparedness and response for oil spill accident based on their evaluations since 2013. Though the oil spill preparedness and response is divided into 3 tiers: Tier 1- Grassroots spills and provincial spills, tier 2- regional spills and tier 3- national spills, this writing paper only concentrates on Tier 1 response: Provincial spills (means beyond capability of Grassroots spills). Research Method Both Descriptive - quantitative and qualitative methods were used in this study to gain unique and important insights into the research problem. In particular, this research provides descriptions of preparedness and response for ship-source oil spill by using direct observations, document review, face to face conversations with Sea and Island Branch. Moreover, numerical descriptions also were offered clearly in this dissertation such as figures for oil spill accidents in Haiphong Port Waters as well as in the world. Research Findings This research provides readers with a whole picture of ship-source oil spills in Haiphong Port Waters. Particularly, oil spill accidents, which have occurred irregularly in Haiphong Port Waters over the last several years and the majority of oil spills is only medium oil spills, which has total amount of spilled oil from 20 to 500 tones pursuant to the Decision No. 02/2013/QĐ-TTg dated January 14, 2013 of the Prime Minister to promulgate the regulation on oil spill response; caused by broken equipment, collision, shipwreck and grounding. In addition, the similar Tran Thi Thu Ha – GMA 02 Page 2
10. Recommendations to enhance preparedness and response for ship-source oil spill in Haiphong Port Waters pattern is repeated in global oil spill but such incidents still happen and eventually lead to dramatic dangers to marine environment as well as human health. With regard to oil spill preparedness and response, most of organizations being shipping companies, ports, petrol companies and others had their own oil spill contingency plans; conduct oil spill response drills and organize training courses on oil spill response. However there have been some issues which need to handle them as soon as possible with the sake of minimizing impacts and damages caused by oil spill accident. These issues will be mentioned more detailed in chapter 2. Tran Thi Thu Ha – GMA 02 Page 3