Royal HaskoningDHV and Dillon Consulting to assess oil spills in Canadian waters
Royal HaskoningDHV and Dillon Consulting, together with Marin and RPS ASA, have been selected by Transport Canada to develop a methodology to assess the risks of ship-sourced oil spills in Canadian waters.
The aim of the study is to develop a geographically focused process that allows Transport Canada to determine to most vulnerable Canadian waters and the need for additional measures to reduce the risks of a ship-sourced oil spill.
An oil spill from a bunker ship in Vancouver on 8 April trigged a public debate on a better preparedness for marine oil spills in Canada.
Risk assessment of shipping at sea
Dutch consutlancy firm Royal HaskoningDHV will perform the risk assessments, using the Bowtie analysis method. Based on the risk assessment, a number of scenarios will be chosen as input to the oil spill modelling and response.
The Samsom safety assessment model for shipping at sea, developed by Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (Marin), will provide the input for the assessment with regards to the probability of ship related accidents, damage to the cargo tanks / fuel tanks and the outflow of oil.
The environmental and human sensitivity of the Canadian coastal areas will be assessed by Canadian consultancy firm Dillon Consulting and the oil spill modelling will be performed by RPS ASA.
Dillon Consulting is also responsible for the overall project management and stakeholder engagement, and will additionally coordinate the peer review procedure.
Output of the Samsom model that indicates the vulnerability - high in dark blue - for heavy fuel oil spill in the Dutch section of the North Sea.
Nation wide protection
"This is a unique project for Transport Canada and one that allows them to adopt global best practices in both assessing the risk of accidents and incidents, and the effectiveness of planned mitigation measures to ensure safe transport", said Malcolm Marston, Dillon Consulting’s project manager. "Our team is excited to be working on this assignment as we will be working in partnership with Transport Canada to develop a process that will be adopted across Canada and will help to ensure the safe transport of oil in our waters and further protecting the environment for years to come."
Much expertise project partners
Lodewijk Meijlink, Royal HaskoningDHV’s project manager, said: "This project offers both Dillon Consulting and Royal HaskoningDHV the opportunity to apply the expertise from their organisations as well from their international knowledge networks. The teamwork of Dillon Consulting and Royal HaskoningDHV will enable the connection of unique in-depth expertise of Marin and RPS ASA, necessary for the development of a risk assessment framework that meets the project goals of Transport Canada. The contract award confirmed our feeling that together we formed the best team for the project."
This news item was originally published on the website of Royal HaskoningDHV.
More information
Royal HaskoningDHV
Amersfoort, the Netherlands
+31 88 348 20 00
www.royalhaskoningdhv.com
Dillon Consulting Limited
Toronto, Canada
+1 416 229 4646
www.dillon.ca
Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (Marin)
Wageningen, the Netherlands
+31 317 47 99 11
www.marin.nl