Local Spill Response Vessels

I wanted to call this local exotic vessels, exotic because they are seldom seen here.  And, you don’t want to see them . . . actually, you don’t want the emergency that brings them out.

Take NRC Guardian.  I’ve seen it docked for several years, but this is the first time I saw them underway.   I know there are drill runs to make sure the team and the equipment are ready to go; still ths is the first time I’ve seen it move.

She was unlocked and loaded the other day.

When this small boat went by, I knew another local exotic might be moving.  Click here and here for more info on NRC.   Since NRC Guardian was built in 1980, likely before NRC, I’d love to know what she was called earlier.

I believe this is one of the smallboats that rides

New Jersey Responder.  MSRC expands to “marine spill response corporation,” somewhat like an ambulance or a firetruck, loaded with all manner of equipment to (one hopes) quickly contain a petroleum spill in the sixth boro.  The New Jersey boat is one a set scattered around US waters.  The link in the previous sentence is dated; I know that Maine Responder was sold out of MSRC last year and is being converted into a Sandy Hook Pilots vessel.

Although I’ve never been aboard either Guardian or Responder, I’m guessing they carry roughly the same type of equipment, differing only in the quantity of such.  For example, oneach of the spill boats I see the orange skimmer.

 

And as the NJ Responder departs the Kills, another pollution response vessel enters, but that’s a different story.

All photos, WVD.