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.

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 operationfollowing 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 locatedpermanently on site as part of our existing Stena Line contract.

An Ali workboat high-suction DISAB

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.

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.

THE OUTCOME

Despite a second severe storm, the three-month recovery project delivered measurable results within the immediate containment area and the wider Anglesey community. Our swift, targeted response reduced costs and downtime for Stena Line and Holyhead harbour, while returning the environment to a better condition than before the crisis. In total, the operation recovered:

3,000 litres of oil and fuel

1,000m3 of polystyrene from the sea and surrounding beaches

28 vessels from the shore and seabed

Adler and Allan dedicated 13,000 workinghours to the Holyhead project, followingup their focused relief effort with forwardlookingguidance to tackle future incidents.A comprehensive drone survey and fulldebrief exercise identified recurring themesand areas for improvement, as well as keymilestones and successes.

In turn, a series of recommendations –across co-ordination, insurance, planning,pollution control and waste management– were communicated to all stakeholdersand the programme was later studied bythe United Nations as a blueprint for bestpractice.

COMMENTS

From day one, agencies have been working tirelessly on the cleanup operation and I want to thank them for their hard work and efforts.

Lesley Griffiths, Welsh Government minister and Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs

The Holyhead operation was a textbook emergency response to a potentially disastrous marine fuel spill. Our Marine Response teams are in a state of permanent readiness so they can react immediately to this sort of situation. It was a great relief to get the fuel out before it was too late.

Andy Billington, Group Operations Manager, Adler and Allan

A really good view of the extent of damage the storm caused is on this drone video link below: https://youtu.be/Lm9w0dllYfM and from this link https://youtu.be/1m-UD7y2j7k

THE ADLER AND ALLAN DIFFERENCE

Adler and Allan is recognised by theInternational Spill Accreditation Scheme(ISAS) as an accredited Tier 2 Oil SpillResponse Organisation (OSRO) forsheltered / enclosed waters, coastal& large estuary and shoreline cleanupdemonstrating our preparednessto respond to marine spill events withmultiple deployments.Our breadth of expertise, nationwidepresence and fleet of specialist equipment– from rapid responder vehicles to a fullyfitted boat – allows us to mobilise at amoment’s notice to minimise environmentaldamage, economic impact, and corporateliability claims.

500+ dedicated professionals

Uniquely validated pollution servicesto 50+ ports, harbours and oilterminals

Experienced on-scene experts, allfully trained and qualified in everypollution response discipline

As the UK’s leading marine spill contractualresponder, we’re trusted by more than250 organisations to safeguard life andlivelihoods in pollution emergencies on anyscale, anywhere in the country.