NEW ORLEANS – With hurricane-whipped waves pushing more oil onto the Gulf of Mexico’s once-white beaches, the government pinned its latest cleanup hopes Wednesday on a huge new piece of equipment: the world’s largest oil-skimming vessel.
The Taiwanese-flagged former tanker named the “A Whale” is the length of 3½ football fields and stands 10 stories high. It just emerged from an extensive retrofitting to prepare it specifically for the Gulf, where officials hope it will be able to suck up as much as 21 million gallons of oil-fouled water per day.
“It is absolutely gigantic. It’s unbelievable,” said Louisiana State University environmental sciences professor Ed Overton, who saw the ship last week in Norfolk, Va.
As the monstrous vessel made its way toward the Gulf Coast, large waves churned up by distant Hurricane Alex left Alabama beaches splattered with oil and tar balls the size of apples. The rough seas forced most smaller skimming boats into port for a second consecutive day, putting many cleanup crews at a standstill.
The ship looks like a typical tanker, but it takes in contaminated water through 12 vents on either side of the bow. The oil is then supposed to be separated from the water and transferred to another vessel. The water is channeled back into the sea.