'A Whale': Largest Oil Skimmer Arrives In Gulf (VIDEO)

In this video from CNN, hop on board the world's largest oil skimmer, "A Whale", to get a firsthand look at the massive ship that is awaiting approval from the Coast Guard to begin contributing to the Gulf oil spill cleanup operations. ABC World News reports that the retrofitted cargo vessel can capture 300,000 to 400,000 barrels of oil per day, effectively accomplishing in two weeks what 500 skimming boats have done in two months.

"A Whale" is 10 stories tall, the width of a football field, and as long as almost four football fields. It's large size would require it to have a half-mile clearance on all sides. It is equipped with large slits, called "Jaws", that pull oily sea water into the ships hull, where it filters out the oil and disperses the water back into the ocean.

The large skimmer is awaiting approval before commencing cleanup operations in the Gulf for a variety of reasons, including questions about safety and environmental concerns.

WATCH on board the world's largest oil skimmer:

Comments

[Karina Delafuente]

08:28 AM on 07/07/2010

from reading the comments to these posts day in day out its clear to me were not all on the same team that team being our needs help and we need to something about it because obviously republicans and democrats regardless of which party they can't get it right we've relied way to much on them to do something for America that we as people as a nation should be doing for our selves...

[BoTurney]

02:07 PM on 07/05/2010

"Environmental concerns"??? So, if it sucks up oily water, and spits out 95% clean water, it won't get approved because the water it spits back out still has 5% of the contaminates in it...therefore it is polluting. I'm assuming that is what they are getting at.

Unbelievable.

We have GOT to bypass some of this red tape given that time is of the essence. Get one person in friggin charge of this cleanup and get things rolling. Eliminate some of this agency bureaucratic nonsense.

[mountainweb]

04:57 PM on 07/05/2010

Man, if you eliminated the bureaucratic nonsense you would lay off thousands of democrats that flocked to Washington to get on the gravy train, surely you jest.......

[BoTurney]

05:19 PM on 07/05/2010

LOL, not sure where to start with that one, but fanned because it's awesome. :-)

[ontariogirl]

12:26 PM on 07/05/2010

If it can suck up that much oil why the wait?

[holyghostie]

08:23 AM on 07/05/2010

How stupid that this ship has to await "approvals". Wasting time...killing sea life.

[hellboundtrain]

07:03 AM on 07/05/2010

I, too, am hopeful that the Whale will be a valuable too to clean the water, but am questioning if it can do its job of separating the oil from the water in their settling tanks, since the use of the dispersents would seem to keep the oil suspended in the water so that there would be no separating.

[hellboundtrain]

07:15 AM on 07/05/2010

So if any of my concern is true they must stop using dispersants immediately so that the fluids CAN be separated. They should NEVER have started with the Corexit in the first place it has made a difficult problem worse.

[BoTurney]

02:03 PM on 07/05/2010

Precisely. Fanned.

[Das Hirschenhofer 11]

03:37 PM on 07/04/2010

We as a world can blow up our planet "I don't know how many times" with nuclear warheads, we can create (in a controlled environment), anti matter, we can even put a man on the moon, but we can't plug a whole one mile down in the Gulf of Mexico? What's wrong with this picture?..money is the only answer, they (BP) would rather wait this out and save money? Isn't this closely becoming a crime against humanity and our biosphere? BP is harming us more in the long run than Al Quida could ever dreamed of doing.

Which is more frightening? Having minds in our world that can create such wonders, that Governments never seem to fail not to get their hands on and mutate it into something horrific, or, all these highly educated minds...not knowing how to plug up a hole? Sounds like a sick joke about "How many scientist does it take"....and so on..how sad.

[Carl Kelley]

03:34 PM on 07/04/2010

I agree skibum49. I am still wondering why that big "Whale" isn't already skimming. Safety concerns my butt. The people on the skimmer are ready to go and their technology is very simple.
That oil will go into tanks where it will come to the top of the water and be pulled off the top. Very simple and even an idiot could do it. The idiots are the ones that require a permit for it to happen.
Akin to having to get a permit to put water on a burning building with people trapped on the top floor .Dang... We might flood the basement. Come on Obama and stop the drama...you ain't gonna be a hero on this. Let's let anyhbody that owns any method of reclaiming that oil launch his boat. Thars gold on them thar waters and the guy with the big whale boat was willing to spend millions to get it. I'm sure he won't care if they ever get that leak stopped. And Bp actually doesn't want to stop it either while they are still getting a lot of that oil. They will cork the top when the other well is finished. Its actually pretty simple to stop that leak and the only idea I've seen tried is their own which allows them to keep getting oil. They dont' give a rats behind as demonstrated by the CEO's attittude. Wake up Obama or is that campaign contribution still on your mind? sign Jed Clampett

[skibum49]

03:45 AM on 07/04/2010

Actually the guy who owns this vessel is not doing this for free.
The guy who owns the A Whale apparantly is crazy like a fox. Turns out that per maritime salvage law whatever they "salvage" in the way of crude oil from the gulf becomes their property. So if this ship really can separate 500000 barrels of oil a day that turns out to be a nice little $35 Million dollars gross revenue in crude oil at current market prices per day. That combined with whatever they can get BP to pay them per day for being a 'big a**" cleanup ship and this could be one very profitable piece of environmental altruism. Leave it to the Taiwanese to come up with such a beautiful little plan.

[ConcernedAboutRFuture]

09:53 AM on 07/04/2010

I don't care.... I just want help for the dying Gulf. You still think they deserve "profit" after the destruction they brought upon the earth.

[rbenjamin]

01:53 PM on 07/04/2010

That's pretty much how I read it. The 500,000 BPD of oil is an upper limit based on the A Whale's stated daily processing rate of 21,000,000 gallons of oil/water mixture. Which explains why TMT wants to get close to the well head, where the slick should be thick and relatively water free. From the all film I've seen the slick slick if more like a ribbon than a thick film near the well, so I'm skeptical the whale will prove practical even if it grazes in primo territory. As I've said earlier, it seems makes more sense to use the Whale as a processing ship and have more nimble vessels offload to it. Or hook it to the top hat riser. Perhaps processing is the hidden business agenda, the skimming mission is just a foot in the door fronted by an appealing "clean up the gulf" pitch.

[GoodwithWood]

02:50 AM on 07/04/2010

Is this a joke?

[tc399]

10:29 PM on 07/03/2010

It isn't being used because of safety and environmental concerns? Let's see if we can understand what that means. It means "It isn't being used because BP won't agree to pay for it".

[Aerows]

10:51 AM on 07/04/2010

And because BP doesn't want someone else getting the oil via salvage rights, I'd bet.

[Das Hirschenhofer 11]

07:42 PM on 07/03/2010

I have read many post here...and I truly feel for each of you, Like many things, their is a first step or process if you will...you all know this. I read a lot of folks wanting to put some ones head on a block as if that will fix anything. The damage is done, and those directly responsible have to live with the enormacy at what they have inadvertently accomplished. I guess it's human nature to play the blame game, in the mean time the problem get's worse.

I have heard of a lot of really great suggestions and some actually being put into action with some successful, and others..well..not so.This idea...is a good idea, and should be put into action, the other issue about subsurface oil, needs to be addressed A.S.A.P. Below Poster "Kevin Atlanta" raises a really good point, and it needs to be addressed.

Those of you who are going about blaming Obama for everything except being the one armed man who killed some one, are looking for a scape goat..I don't get it..yet I do. I truly feel this "I want it now culture" will do more harm than good in our world. It took several decades to get where we are, is it even remotely reasonable to expect anyone from recorded history to fix all the damage that has been done over night?

[thole489]

11:16 PM on 07/03/2010

Excellent point. Thank you. Fanned and Fav'd

[PEM1019]

12:28 AM on 07/04/2010

Fanned Das Hirschenhoffer! I am so tired of the blame Obama for everything in the world" game. The right wingers have perfected the method of using lies and ugly rhetoric, talking points which they repeat over and over and over and yelling louder than anyone around them and fearmongering and conspiracy theories coming from every angry right wing mouth....have you ever heard any more wild accusation and the soaring paronoid delusions coming from the fevered popolist group of Faux, Beck, Limbaugh, Palin...do people actually believe when these nut cases scream Obama is setting up NAZI detention camps???....IT'S Insanity!!!. Please someone talk me down here....when will some sense of sane, intellectual depth and calm prevail over these nuts and stop this preaching of hate and fear of each other...I fear it's gone too far and we may see horrible things in November as these lunacy explodes...

[snowejob]

05:37 PM on 07/03/2010

Let's give it a try. Last time I checked the gulf was pretty big and I'm sure that a 1/2 mile will not be to much of a problem. What about the discharged water? Is it environmentally friendly. Probably not, but if it has less oil in it than when it went in... I think it's good to go. Give it a shot. It can't harm the gulf more than it already is. www.dailyreusables.com

[mrJJ]

05:40 PM on 07/03/2010

Its already going through actual testing... Disperssant may be problematic..

[mrJJ]

05:28 PM on 07/03/2010

cambo 5 hours ago (12:45 PM) 8 Fans
Become a fan Unfan
Wow, so if we had this ship and Kevin`s equipment filtering from the very start, there would be no oil on the shores and marshes. Way to go bp and the obama admin for your lack of preventive measures.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Whale wasnt even built or concieved until after the GOM blow up..

Solving the problem of cleaning up the waters in the Gulf of Mexico may depend not on government, nor on the corporate giant BP, but on innovation and commitment to free enterprise. One promising and persistent example is Mr. Nobu Su of Taiwan, CEO of TMT Corporation.

snip

Su said he still does not know how many millions he spent to sail the ship from near Shanghai to a Portugal shipyard, there to have its unique oil-skimming system installed, and then dispatch the ship to the U.S. He says he made the decision to act about May 1st and the ship arrived in the U.S. by June 25—a timetable that U.S. officials had considered impossible to achieve.

Su believes so firmly in its potential that he already has retrofitting underway in Portugal on the B Whale, a sister ship that he says could arrive in the Gulf of Mexico by mid-July. And the C Whale not too long afterward.

http://blog.heritage.org/2010/06/30/free-enterprise-crashes-the-oil-cleanup-party/

[shamanbart]

06:28 PM on 07/03/2010

Thanks for the additional facts. It's disappointing when HuffPo often fails to link to or write an article that is missing most of the interesting and pertinent facts.

Taiwanese/Portugese technology to the rescue.

[PatA]

10:44 PM on 07/04/2010

Yes, thank you for those facts. Glad you are here.

[kgb999]

04:33 PM on 07/03/2010

Is water oily?

[VeganSue]

04:25 PM on 07/03/2010

I am offering the REPUBLICANS MY VOTE if they act to get the JOB DONE that THIS PRESIDENT refuses to do.

EXCUSES and SCAPEGOATING have become the MANTRA for this President and I will not award my vote to WILLFUL and INTENTIONAL negligience of people's safety and the protection of all life.

THIS President, NOT Bush, rubber-stamped the Deepwater Horizon.

THIS President, NOT Bush, assigned Salazar to 'REFORM" the MMS.

THIS President did not meet with his cabinet member, the Interior Secretary, in ONE AND ONE HALF YEARS?????

The OBAMA PR PATROL is out but are FAILING MISERABLY.

Either GET THE JOB DONE or you guys are out. I'm VOTING REPUBLICAN in all upcoming elections and I WAS A REGISTERED DEMOCRAT.

Rahm and Obama and Nancy, YOU HAVE LOST YOUR BASE.

Enjoy your GOLFING while the rest of the country is losing jobs, healthcare, the environment and the wildlife we hold dear ON YOUR WATCH.

[kgb999]

04:35 PM on 07/03/2010

Too much allcaps makes one come off like a teabagger.

But yeah. Not impressed with Obama much either.

[Birdman]

08:02 PM on 07/03/2010

You have some serious shall we say Lush Limbaugh and Fox news facts here maybe you should seek out the truth.. For one it was the regulations put in place by Bush and the rest of the people he put in place to run various organizations that allowed this, but you go ahead rewrite history everyone in the GOP treats the Bush years as if they did not happen and that everything we are looking at the War in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, the economic melt down, and the lack of regulation in everything from food to oil drilling is all Obama's fault. I'm sorry you have not swayed me one bit. It took us 8 years of Bush to get where we are at as a country, it will take 20 years to recover.

[Kevin Atlanta]

08:23 PM on 07/03/2010

ROTFLMAO! The Holy Republican Cults of Jesus Inc spent 8 years blaming it on Clinton. There is no excuse save pure willful ignorance for some of the comments on here and the reality of the Cheney behind Closed-Door meetings and the capture of MMS during Bush with a 2 to 3 year permitting process is eloquent demonstration of the absolute failure of the Republicans then and now.