Member Article

McAusland Turner in Container Sea Rescue

Specialists from Hull’s oldest marine surveying and consulting firm McAusland Turner managed to narrowly avoid damage to marine life and coastal structures after a container ship lost some of its cargo containing hazardous oil substances.

Known the world over for their marine capabilities as well as their reputation for vessel safety and incident investigation, McAusland Turner’s Marine Surveyor Lee Myers was called in to salvage a number of containers lost overboard in stormy weather conditions.

In his role as investigator, on behalf of the vessel’s charterers, it was Lee’s job not only to answer such calls, but also to very quickly assess potential hazards in that particular area of sea.

A lot of the time the containers are swallowed up by the choppy North Sea but to his credit, Lee continued to survey the area and it was four days later he followed up a call to say that one of the containers, containing several hazardous substances, was bobbing dangerously close to the Rough Sea Oil Platform.

Lee explains what happened next:

“Platform staff had managed to set the container loose and it continued to drift along the East Coast of the UK, threatening the Spurn Deep Water anchorage and the many offshore wind Turbine farms as well as shipping in the area and local wildlife with its cargo of oil.

“We were duly authorized to enact a recovery operation of the container. We contacted local firm Dalby Offshore, specialists in this operation and a plan of action was hatched. Together with the aid of E.ON energy a tug was dispatched from Grimsby to safely gather the unit and remove it from harm’s way. Under the watchful eyes of the RNLI Lifeboat the container was lifted from the North Sea and safely returned to the Royal Dock at Grimsby where it was placed ashore for assessment.”

Thanks to McAusland Turner’s swift action and knowledge of the area and necessary procedures carried out, no oil was lost and no further damage was caused.

Happily, the hazardous container was removed from the ocean with no damage to wildlife, the sea or its surrounding structures.

This is just one aspect of what McAusland Turner do and it’s been 125 years since their very first sea operation was undertaken, but as any marine expert will tell you, never underestimate the power of the sea.

When you consider that over 2,500 containers are lost at sea every year in UK waters and the North Sea is more than 970 kilometers (600 miles) long and 580 kilometers (360 miles) wide, with an area of around 750,000 square kilometers (290,000 square miles) that’s no mean feat when McAusland & Turner’s investigators are asked to locate and gather information on incidents that occur every week.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by FDPR .