Greens Port Participates in Oil Spill Safety Exercise

The team at Watco’s Greens Port facility on the Houston Ship Channel recently participated in a drill conducted by Gulf Freight Management (GFM), a 20-year tenant and service partner, to cap a leaking or blown-out offshore oil well. Representatives from GFM, multiple Gulf Coast drilling companies, the Coast Guard, and other partners were on hand last month as Watco riggers simulated lifting and transferring a 27-foot tall, 95-ton “capping stack” device.

The 27-foot tall, 95-ton capping stack device is transported along the Greens Port dock before being rigged and lifted to a vessel.

This simulation was one phase of a safety drill for an oil spill response consortium and member companies. The oil spill response consortium contracted with GFM and Watco Greens Port due to their expertise and location on the Houston Ship Channel. In the event of an actual emergency, a Watco crane would load the capping stack onto an offshore supply vessel.

“James Goodyear, our Rigging Supervisor, explained our technical experience to our visitors,” said Greens Port Operations Director Andy Gossett. “There aren’t many people still working on the waterfront that have the oil and gas heavy-lift experience that some of the team members in the Watco stevedore group have. It’s a feather in our cap that we were chosen to be part of this and that we have the facility that has the equipment, space, technical support, and skillset to guide this.”

Both Goodyear and Gossett have extensive background in the niche market. Gossett got his start about 30 years ago on docks located where Greens Port docks are today. He said the Greens Port team is at home with the specific requirements in rigging for offshore work.

“This stevedore skillset was developed here in Houston because it was the only place in the world that exported oil and gas equipment on a constant basis. This happened in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s by working this kind of heavy-lift, expensive cargo that’s challenging to handle, load, and secure safely on a vessel. Houston was the epicenter, and Greens Port was a big piece of that.”

Watco will periodically participate in emergency drills. In an actual deepwater well emergency, an offshore supply vessel would go to Greens Port to retrieve the capping stack and take it to the accident site to be lowered on top of a blowout preventer (BOP) to contain the leak. The stack is housed in one of the warehouses that GFM leases from Watco in Greens Port. GFM coordinates the transfer from their warehouse to the dock area using a double-wide eight-axle hydraulic transporter and a team of four bucket trucks to manage the power lines. Before the capping stack is transferred to the dock, it undergoes an extensive pressure-testing program to ensure operational readiness.

A failed BOP on a Gulf of Mexico oil well was involved in the Deepwater Horizon explosion in 2010. The drilling rig was located about 41 miles off the coast o f Louisiana. Considered the worst marine disaster in history, the explosion killed 11 people and released 134 million gallons of oil into the ocean.