FIREBOATS
BIG
CITY
Fireboats By Tom Ewing
O
n March 3, the Coast Guard published a notice that Martin Midstream Partners (MMP), a petrochemical transport and storage company, was seeking approval to modify terminal operations in Beaumont, Texas, along the Sabine-Neches Waterway. If approved, MMP would expand its liquefied hazardous gas (LHG) operations, both in volume and products. Instead of just handling ammonia the change would allow shipments of butane, propane, ethane, ethylene and propylene. Critically, MMP’s expansion would increase LHG vessel transit from 24 ships to as many as 350 per year. That’s more than a 14-fold increase, for just one company. The SabineNeches is additionally expected to become the largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter in the U.S. as American energy exports muscle up for delivery to worldwide markets. Obviously, expansion at this scale raises questions about port safety and emergency response. Coast Guard Captains
20 MN
of the Port (COTP) are required to develop safety contingency plans, addressing issues from fires to hazardous materials spills. For Marine Safety Unit Port Arthur, the “Southeast Texas And Southwest Louisiana Area Contingency Plan” is a 1,000+ page document, last updated in July 2019, filled with information about municipal fire departments, hazmat first responders, staging areas and emergency response equipment. Surprisingly, there is just one fireboat mentioned in the entire regional plan. And other than its location, in the Port of Lake Charles, the fireboat – its firefighting capabilities, for example – isn’t mentioned again. The plan does tell that most local fire departments have limited response capabilities for shipboard fires, small watercraft for search and rescue and spill response. The plan explains that “offshore ship fires are a rescue priority. Land-based fire departments will have involvement at their chief ’s discretion”. [The Coast Guard does not take the lead in fighting port fires nor in hazmat reApril 2020
