CASE STUDY
MARINE EMERGENCY RESPONSE HOLYHEAD MARINA THE CHALLENGE When Storm Emma crashed into the Welsh coastline in March 2018, Holyhead Marina suffered unprecedented devastation. The community looked to Adler and Allan to oversee a far-reaching incident response, clean up, containment and recovery operation to protect and restore Anglesey’s fragile marine environment – and vital maritime-based economy. Following days of hurricane force winds, more than 3,000 litres of fuel from 80 stricken or sunken vessels clogged the
marina. Nearby waters and beaches were littered with wreckage, refuse, and over 30 tonnes of polystyrene debris from damaged pontoons. Continuing storms threatened to circulate the pollutants over a wider area and further endanger coastal residents and wildlife. The Adler and Allan team faced an urgent, complex and hazardous challenge to stem the spread of two major contaminants – amid some of the most testing weather conditions our country has ever experienced. Copyright Yachting Monthly
vacuum tanker, dedicated marine lighting, and high-capacity booms provided additional reinforcements, helping to efficiently capture pollutants close to their source, both under and over the water.
Aerial view of the extent of the damage, the marina destroyed and the boats within it driven onto the shore, barely afloat or sunk
Our response Within hours of the first alert call from a Wind Farm Support Vessel Company, Adler and Allan’s Marine Response team were actively uplifting fuel and oil from incapacitated boats. Initial containment efforts quickly evolved into a wide-scale, round-the-clock recovery operation following additional support requests from Holyhead Marina and Stena Line Group, a long-standing Adler and Allan client.
With a Tier 2 oil spill emergency now declared, the team tapped into Adler and Allan’s nationwide fleet of specialist leading-edge equipment. Two marine Rapid Response Vehicles (RRVs), carrying hundreds of metres of oil absorbent and fence booms, were deployed to work alongside the Tier 1 trailer located permanently on site as part of our existing Stena Line contract. An Ali workboat high-suction DISAB
The co-ordinated land clean-up procedure also ranged from the hi-tech to the handson, with field teams washing individual pieces of seaweed by hand and using rakes, shovels and modified leaf blowers to clear polystyrene and other debris from affected shorelines at a rate of 60m3 per day.
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