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New Orleans, Louisiana (CNN) – A ship described as the world’s largest oil-skimming ship has arrived in the Gulf of Mexico, but was awaiting approval to begin work in cleaning up the oil disaster, according to a spokesman for the Taiwanese company that owns. A Whale arrived in the Gulf on Wednesday, the Coast Guard said. It was anchored in Boothville, Louisiana, about an hour south of New Orleans.

“While the ship is ready to work, still not allowed to participate in the effort have,” said Frank Maisano, spokesman for the TMT-Shipping, the owner and operator, in a statement.

Officials of the company are meeting with BP and the U.S. Coast Guard Thursday morning, he told CNN. “We do not know what will happen,” he said, but added it is expected that the parameters for a test of the ship will be discussed – they give us a lot and we will test the technology. ”

“The government is eager to get aboard the super skimmer A whale in the region and see whether (IT) is effective in oil skimming,” the Coast Guard said in a statement. Currently the weather associated with Hurricane Alex – Thursday downgraded to a tropical storm after making landfall on the Mexican coast – has led to the suspension of skimming activity, the statement said, but “we will liaise closely with the owners of to maintain the ship to proceed as soon as weather permits. ”

A team has been formulated to the A Whale’s ability to oil and other factors are identified, assess, and its ability to maneuver at low speeds, the coastguard said. Changes to the ship – originally built to carry cargo – for oil collection was completed in mid June.

The vessel must have a contract with BP before starting to work. If the federal on scene coordinator determines a whale would be useful, it will begin contract negotiations, subject to the approval of the coordinator of the financing, said the coastguard.

Meanwhile, forecasters and officials said Alex was the oil clean up efforts for days influence, though it was 600 miles away from the huge leak.

Heavy seas caused by containment booms Alex have been disrupted aimed at reducing the quantity of oil reaching shore, Rear Adm. Paul Zukunft told reporters Wednesday. More than 500 oil-skimming vessels had to return to shore and efforts to the oil burning on the surface to break down through dispersants were put on hold, he said, with efforts at the third position of the vessel for oil to get to the leak site.

Coast Guard officials will be an aerial survey to assess the impact of storm Thursday behavior, said Zukunft.

“Until the decrease again, all we can do everything ready for the attack and remove the oil once we have the weather is favorable,” Zukunft said Wednesday.

Residual effects of the storm, the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, could prevent skimming and combustion of oil in the Gulf at least until Saturday or Sunday, said CNN meteorologist Chad Myers. Winds, 15 to 20 mph at the cleanup site on Wednesday and producing waves 6 to 8 feet high, he said.

“If you seas over 3 meters high, the skimmers become ineffective. Liquidating They collect water and oil,” said Zukunft.

One thing that has not been affected – BP’s attempt to sources of illumination to the area where oil leaking. The weather would have to be very serious consequences, according Zukunft, and at this point, BP said it is on track to reach the area in August.

The storm also has a huge impact on where the spill flows. Previously, what oil was to reach Pensacola Beach in Florida, but the storm of the prevailing winds have made southeast of the lake towards the ecologically fragile Mississippi and Chand Leur sounds, off the coast of Mississippi and Louisiana, Zukunft said.

Myers said that’s because the storm winds moving counterclockwise in a large arc. The strong winds are expected to blow for about three days, push the oil back to shore in the area where there have been dramatic images of oil-soaked birds.

In other efforts, the U.S. Navy said Thursday it was sending a silver balloon to help the oil disaster efforts. The balloon, known as the MZ-3A, will fly slowly over the area to the area where the oil flows and how it has come ashore view, and skimming the oil can direct action. It was en route to the Gulf region since Thursday in Arizona, the navy said.

However, a whale “immediate deployment in the Gulf provides the best solution to the Gulf of Mexico spill crisis,” the statement TMT.

Built this year, a whale was initially designed to be one of the largest cargo ships afloat, and was completed in a South Korean shipyard for the transport of crude oil and iron ore. However, Maisano said in the statement, as the disaster unfolded, TMT modified the vessel to be “the world’s first large skimmer, which can literally swallow millions of barrels of oil slick in the Gulf.”

The capacity is skimming “at least 250 times” that the modified fishing boats currently skimming operations, the statement said. It can draw as much as 500,000 barrels (21 million liters) of oil-contaminated water in an eight-to-10 hour cycle.

TMT is an attempt to fill similar vessels to help with the Gulf disaster, “said Maisano.

Authorities on the ground are busy preparing for future storms as Alex the threat decreases.

Planners with the Office of the Governor of Louisiana Homeland Security and emergency preparedness this week made a hurricane evacuation plan with BP, said the office director, Mark Cooper.

The plan, which covers the entire hurricane season – which ends November 30 – call for BP’s thousands of workers to leave the Louisiana coast at least 16 hours for officials to begin evacuating residents.

“We can not stop our roads BP with equipment and personnel,” said Cooper.

The plan calls for BP to be back on the scene to combat the spill within 72 hours after a hurricane, “said Cooper.

Researchers have estimated that between 35,000 barrels (approximately 1.5 million liters) and 60,000 barrels (approximately 2.5 million liters) of oil are flowing into the Gulf each day since April 20 when the rig Deepwater Horizon exploded and sank off the coast of Louisiana.

source:CNN

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