Free Republic

NEW ORLEANS — The giant Taiwanese oil skimmer known as 'A Whale' is getting another chance to prove its value in the Gulf of Mexico. But the leader of the federal response, Thad Allen, doubts the effectiveness of the "A Whale." The ship is supposed to suck up to 21 million gallons of oily water per day. Allen said Thursday it seems more useful in a huge pool of oil than in thousands of smaller slicks. Bob Grantham, spokesman for TMT Shipping, says the U.S. Coast Guard has approved another week of testing. Grantham says the vessel has already made...

Tests on a supertanker adapted to skim large quantities of oily water from the surface of the Gulf of Mexico are inconclusive because of high seas, ship owner TMT Shipping Offshore said on Monday

Fox Station exclusive report on board "A Whale" that just arrived in the Gulf, the ship is capable of skimming 500k barrels of oil a day...(Video)

The A-Whale bills itself as the largest open-water oil skimmer in the world, and it’s at least very impressive. Originally an oil and ore tanker, the ship’s owners recently refitted the ship to do exactly the kind of work that the US so desperately needs in the Gulf of Mexico, and to do it on a vastly larger scale than current operations can handle. According to the ship’s project manager, the entire American effort in 66 days has skimmed off 600,000 barrels of oil. The ship’s owners claim that A-Whale can skim 500,000 barrels a day. So where is the...