The Mississippi River remains open to maritime traffic, and no vessels entering or exiting the river have required cleaning because of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. No ship calls have been delayed or cancelled because of the spill.
As a precaution, several cleaning stations have been established. In the interest of ensuring that vessels can be cleaned without restricting the flow of maritime commerce, the Coast Guard and the maritime industry have refined the cleaning protocol for vessels entering and exiting the Mississippi River.
"The Coast Guard's motto is Semper Paratus, always prepared, and it has really lived up to that standard when it comes to protecting the Mississippi River from any adverse impact from the oil spill. It's good to see that the plan for cleaning vessels is evolving as many experienced stakeholders in the New Orleans maritime community contribute their ideas," said Gary P. LaGrange, President and CEO of the Port of New Orleans. "We hope we never have to use these cleaning stations, but if we do, we are confident they will work effectively and efficiently."
The plan for cleaning vessels in the Port of New Orleans and surrounding area is as follows:
•· Inbound vessels needing or desiring cleaning would be cleaned in Southwest Pass while they are in transit. Two crew boats are stationed in that area and they will navigate on either side of the vessel and pressure wash it while it is underway at a slow speed.
•· Inbound vessels with a heavy oil sheen would first go to an offshore cleaning station about six miles southwest of Southwest Pass. That station would knock off any heavy material, and the ship's hull could be further cleaned in Southwest Pass if necessary.
•· An outbound offshore cleaning station in the vicinity of 28 degrees, 17 minutes (28‐17N) North and 088 degrees, 42 minutes (088‐42W) West was established Saturday morning. It is be located near the shipping lane outside of the oil spill area and would also use pressurized water to clean ship hulls.
•· On the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, a cleaning station at mile marker 33 has been established in case a shallow draft vessels transiting the waterway need to be cleaned.
A test run of a clean vessel was conducted at Southwest Pass to test the in-transit cleaning processes. The vessel was cleaned by two boats simultaneously while underway under safe conditions in about an hour. The timeframe for cleaning ships is expected to vary depending on weather, the size of the ship and the amount of oil.