Risk Assessment of Oil Spills at Alexandria Port, Alexandria, Egypt

Abstract

Alexandria Port is the main port in Egypt, handling over three quarters of the foreign trade. Daily operations involving vessel berthing and maneuvering of ships that are transferring oil and its derivatives has the potential to cause oil spills. Oil spill mathematical model was used to predict the trajectory and the fate of oil spills in Alexandria Port in order to assess the risks associated with oil spills at this area and to highlight the vulnerable areas to be a support tool for decision making in future emergencies. Two simulations were performed for each month as regular-case and worst-case scenarios depending on the amount of oil spilled and the meteorological environmental conditions based on real time data. Weathering processes of spreading, evaporation, natural dispersion and emulsification were studied at regular intervals and compared for the regular-case and the worst-case scenarios illustrating the difference in behavior of the oil spill. Results of the modeling were compared with samples allocated from the area under study to indicate the points of intersection between expected route of the oil spill with concentrations of PAHs, n-Alkanes and TOC%. Relatively high concentrations of n-alkanes were detected at the offshore sediments near the SPM station. PAHs in the surficial sediments of El-Max Bay show pyrogenic origins. From the study, El-Max Bay was found a vulnerable area in case of oil spill in the area under study.