 A Whale conducting a test run of its oil skimming capabilities as part of theDeepwater Horizon response July 4, 2010. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | Cosmo Ace |
| Owner | Oriental Fleet Tanker 19, Ltd. |
| Operator |
|
| Port of registry |  Liberia,Monrovia |
| Builder | |
| Yard number | 2045 |
| Launched | 25 Sep 2009 |
| In service | 6 Jan 2010 |
| Renamed |
|
| Identification | |
| Status | Active as of 2020 |
| Notes | [1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Lloyds Register: 100A1 |
| Type | Ore-oil carrier |
| Tonnage | 319,869 DWT, 172,146 GT |
| Length | 340 m (1,120 ft) |
| Beam | 60 m (200 ft) |
| Draught | 22.3 m (73 ft) |
| Speed | 13.7 kn (25.4 km/h; 15.8 mph) |
| Notes | [1][2] |
Cosmo Ace, formerlyA Whale andMadison Orca,[3] is aLiberian-flaggedore-oil carrier built in 2010 byHyundai Heavy Industries,Ulsan,South Korea for TMT Co. Ltd. (formerlyTaiwan Maritime Transport Co. Ltd.) from theRepublic of China (Taiwan). She has seven othersister ships in the fleet, built in 2010-2011 and named in succession:B Whale,C Whale etc., toH Whale.[4]
She was refitted and converted inPortugal into askimmer to assist in the cleanup of theBPDeepwater Horizon oil spill inGulf of Mexico, near theMississippi River Delta,Louisiana. The ship's owners stated thatA Whale is capable of separating 300,000 to 500,000 US gallons (1,000 to 2,000 m3) ofoil per day, while storing the crude and returning the processedsea water to thesea.[5]
A Whale arrived in theGulf of Mexico on 30 June 2010, while financial agreements were yet pending.[6] However, in two weeks of testingA Whale collected virtually no oil. TMT stated that the ship's poor performance was due to the dispersion of oil in the Gulf.[7]
On July 16, the Coast Guard announced it would not be authorized to join the containment process because tests had shown that its oil skimming capabilities were "negligible" in comparison to the other more nimble and much smaller skimmers in the containment.[8]
In early 2013, theA Whale became stranded due to a technical problem offSuez. The ship's crew remained stranded for six months without pay, exacerbated by owner TMT's bankruptcy filing in June, before eventually receiving supplies and some of their backpay in July.[9] That August the ship was allegedly fired on byLibyan Marine Special Forces, according to a video posted on their Facebook page, as it attempted to enter theEs Sider terminal.[10]
In 2014 the ship was renamed toMadison Orca and transferred to Monarch Vessel Holdings Corporation. As of December 2020, operated by Suntech Maritime, she is in active service as theCosmo Ace.[11]
| Events | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Companies and organisations |
| ||||||||
| People |
| ||||||||
| Places | |||||||||
| Vessels |
| ||||||||
| Reactions and impact |
| ||||||||
| Other | |||||||||
