OSR Systems Ltd. (OSR) was incorporated in April 1989, one month after the "Exxon Valdez" spill, to exploit the Clean Ocean Vessel (COV) technology and fill the need for an effective oil spill recovery vessel capable of operating in rough, debris-laden seas.
The COV technology had been developed by Captain James Steele, who had previously served in the British and Canadian Navies for over 30 years. He recognized that the challenge of recovering spilled oil in the rough waters off Canada's West Coast was being inadequately met by the type of equipment available in the mid 1970's. As a result, he successfully built and patented the 40 foot "Pacific Enterprise" (also known as OSCAR), which was launched in May 1975. OSR acquired the patent rights to this technology in 1996.
The design is a twin-hulled barge, providing great stability, between which are mounted two contra-rotating, horizontally mounted steel drums to recover a mixture of spill material and water. Scavenger blades extending the length of the drums direct the oil/water mixture from the surfaces of the rotating drums to troughs, where debris is screened out prior to the fluid passing into the uniquely designed reception tanks, without affecting the freeboard in any way.
Captain Steele began to develop the COV design concept while he was General Manager at Victoria Machinery Depot (VMD), the largest Canadian shipyard on the West Coast at the time. Part of the rationale was that the stability inherent in the flat bottomed barges which VMD built regularly would make an ideal platform for a recovery device.
This inherent stability has been further enhanced by integrating ballast tanks in the catamaran hulls.
As a result, he "Pacific Enterprise" proved effective over the three years it was in service by Clean Seas Canada Ltd. During this time, according to reports of Captain Joust, Managing Director of Clean Seas Canada Ltd., (formerly a division of Gulf of Georgia Towing) who operated the vessel, it successfully cleaned up a number of spills in the Vancouver area waters.
The "Pacific Enterprise" was a product ahead of its time. While it was an unqualified operational success, it was not viable as a business at the time, because clean water and care for the environment were not high enough priorities for companies to budget for. Consequently, the vessel was removed from service. Since then, the vessel concept has undergone significant redesign and was renamed the “Clean Ocean Vessel” COV.
During the first years of operation, funds were expended in establishing a corporate infrastructure, offices, travel and a presence in the market. This led to meetings with Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. of Tokyo, Japan. Recognizing the potential of the COV, Mitsui commenced negotiations with OSR to licence the technology. Mitsui, anticipating a decline in shipbuilding orders, were looking to enter the environmental industry with a “new” oil recovery product. A ten year non-exclusive agreement was executed for Mitsui to manufacture COVs in Japan and make them available to the South East Asia market. Any agreement between a Japanese and a non-Japanese company had to be approved by the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry.
Recognizing that the Mitsui Group overall revenues are some USD 124 billion per year, the value to OSR of the Mitsui agreement extends beyond the agreement itself; it validated OSR as a acceptable business partner, both in Japan and around the world.
OSR’s marketing efforts were focused on assisting Mitsui in their efforts to sell COVs, and establishing potential markets and manufacturers in the United States, recognizing the fact that under the provisions of the Jones Act, any COVs sold to the US, the largest potential market, would have to be built in the US.
The Issaquah, Washington based Committee for Oil Pollution Prevention (C.O.P.P.) Report was commissioned to evaluate the COV technology. It came out with the statement: “Furthermore, it is the finding of this Division that the COV exceeds present technology in such magnitude as to virtually render currently available spill recovery equipment obsolete.”
Recognizing that the US was the largest single market, the provisions of the Jones Act and the location of the Gulf of Mexico relative to production platforms in the Gulf, off loading operations at LOOP, offshore transhipments, and the proximity to oil producing regions in Mexico and Venezuela, OSR started identifying possible US Shipbuilders to manufactures COVs. A manufacturing agreement with a Wisconsin shipbuilder was signed, a 40 foot COV built and it was successfully tested at the US naval facility (OHMSETT) in New Jersey.
Meanwhile in 1993, Mitsui, in anticipation that the Japanese Government would mandate the re-equipping of the Marine Disaster Prevention Centres in the near future, designed and built 5 -10 foot “Container sizes COV's” (COV 3) for performance review and acceptance of the COV technology by the Japanese Government.
The COV was successfully tested, at the independent and prestigious Tsukuba Ship & Ocean Foundation outside Tokyo. Attached to the Tsukuba evaluation was a statement made by the Japanese Government official attending the tests which concluded: “It is therefore the evaluation of OSO (Oil Spill Research Office) that the COV performance proved to be superior and satisfied all aspects for oil spill recovery.”
The estimated cost of building the COV's and testing at Tsukuba was in access of USD ,000. After the performance evaluation, a demonstration was held resulting in Mitsui supplying four COV-3’s to South East Asia under the their OSPAR program: three to the Philippine Coast guard, and two to the Government Sea communications of Indonesia.
OSR Systems Ltd. became a wholly owned subsidiary of Calgary based MLB Industries Inc. (listed on CNQ: MLBQ) on January 4, 1996 by way of an exchange of shares. OSR is poised to achieve its goal of providing the best technologies, products, professional expertise, and support services for marine environment protection around the world.
