Access areas such as ice, wetlands, reed beds without causing further damageAccess shallow water oil spills, wetlands oil spills, mudflat oil spills, delta oil spills, ice oil spills and environmentally sensitive areas without the need of shore based response systems.
The self propelled Hoverbarge is ideal for oil spill response in environmentally sensitive areas, shallow water, wetlands, mudflats and tidal zones.
Hovercraft have been previously used in oil spill response, however the Hovercraft is normally manufactured from aluminium or composite materials, which can be damaged by heavy industrial equipment, in comparison the Hoverbarge is manufactured from steel. Often the Hovercraft has a well deck which makes deployment of oil spill equipment from the Hovercraft more difficult, compared to the flat deck structure of a Hoverbarge.
The 50 tonne payload self propelled Hoverbarge is capable of 5 knots/ph, allowing oil spill boom deployment and containment. The high payload ensures all vital equipment can be carried on the Hoverbarge to enable recovery of the oil in any water depth.
The flat open deck of the Hoverbarge provides easy access to deploy oil spill recovery equipment over the side. The Hoverbarge is constructed of steel, therefore, heavy equipment and containers will not cause damage to the deck. The modular Hoverbarge can be trucked and assembled on site, enabling easy storage and quick response in times of an emergency.
The Hoverbarge only exerts 1 psi ground pressure when on hover, (a humans foot print is 8 psi), reducing potential further environmental damage that could be caused during clean up of an oil spill.
The Hoverbarge could be the answer for areas such as the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana wetlands oil spill, Caspian Sea oil spill, Arctic oil spill, Northern Canada oil spill, and South America’s swamps oil spills.
Hoverbarge Benefits:
- Access sensitive areas, without the need of shore based systems
- Containment & recovery
- High payload compared to Hovercraft
- Open flat deck
- Modular system for easy transportation and fast response
- Steel construction
- Designed for industrial use
(Hovertrans Solutions, Edited by Topco)