U.S. flag seeks input for Gulf cleanup

U.S. flag seeks input for Gulf cleanup    The Offshore Marine Service Association has asked BP and the U.S. Coast Guard to create an efficient system to ensure vessel owners know what marine assets are needed to clean up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
   'Given the magnitude of the crisis we are addressing, it makes sense to set up direct communications between the industry as a group and the Incident Command, so that we can meet the needs of the spill head-on and in real time,' said Ken Wells, OMSA president, in a statement Saturday. 'Frankly, the Coast Guard should have done this weeks ago.'
   OMSA represents operators of U.S.-flag supply vessels for the offshore oil business.

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   Wells said that because of the moratorium on deepwater drilling and the effective moratorium on all new shallow water drilling, from 100 to 200 American offshore vessels may be without work soon, resulting in potential layoffs for thousands of mariners and shore-side personnel who support the offshore workboat industry.
   The Coast Guard recently indicated it has more than 400 vessels at work on the skimming operations, making it the largest number of skimming vessels ever put to work in the Gulf of Mexico at one time. The Coast Guard has also sent out requests to industry to locate every additional available skimming unit in the country and abroad.
   Skimmers come in many types. They may be an unmanned floating device, a 16-foot boat equipped with a boom or a small skimming unit, a fishing trawler or shrimp boat, a 180-foot offshore supply vessel, or a specialty-built oil spill response vessel, Wells explained.
   'Each type of vessel has its own application, and we suspect there are significant needs for each,' he said. 'But we will not know that unless and until BP and the Coast Guard indicate that.
   'To the extent that offshore supply vessels equipped with skimming units and storage tanks are needed, we want to make sure that as these skimming units are shipped here, there are American vessels ready to install them and get to work,' Wells added. ' Chris Gillis