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Texas Boom Company is a manufacturer of oil spill containment boom, silt curtains, turbidity barriers, secondary containment berms, and collapsible fabric bladder tanks.  In addition, Texas Boom Company offers custom fabrication of products constructed of industrial-grade fabrics.  These fabrics are typically vinyl-coated fabrics or urethane fabrics.  All manufacturing is performed in our Houston, Texas facility by our team highly skilled craftsmen.  TBC has been manufacturing these products since 1986, and we stand behind our work.  

Manufacturing these products requires a number of processes.  As an example, to manufacture oil spill containment boom, there are a number of steps involved to deliver a durable, well-built product.   High-quality closed-cell foam in sheet form is rolled into logs or cut to length from extruded foam logs.  PVC coated fabric is cut to width in roll form and either RF welded or heat sealed to form the appropriate foam chambers, seams, skirts, tension cable pockets, and ballast chain pockets.  Aluminum end connectors are cut to length, drilled with mounting holes and connector pinholes and assembled onto the booms with stainless steel nuts and bolts.  Coated tension cables are strung through pockets and secured with shackles to the end connector extrusions.  Ballast chains are added to pockets on the bottom of the containment boom skirts.  Adding brand labels to the containment boom is the final step before the sections are folded and bundled, and then palletized. 

When a call comes in as the result of an active spill, office hours don't much matter.  Texas Boom Company stands at the ready to equip companies to quickly and effectively respond to oil spills.  The most recent example occurred when a leaking wellhead was identified in Tabbs Bay near Baytown, TX.  The exact source of the leak was unknown, so each of the companies that potential own the wellhead responded quickly.  TBC was asked to provide conventional oil spill containment boom and sorbents and responded by getting a trailer loaded in short order.  Our company also worked to provide additional sorbent boom the following day and consulted on deployment as well.  The goal at TBC is to have inventory at the ready for just such a need and to provide the knowledge needed to effectively deploy the products.  

While we hate to hear of any spill, we take pride in knowing that our products are used to mitigate the damage that results from any spill.  Containment boom keeps the oil from spreading.  Sorbent boom adsorbs the oil without taking on the water.  Oil skimmers collect the oil without intaking the water.  These three primary components are all be used in conjunction to reduce the environmental impact until the oil can be recovered and the shoreline cleaned.  It's not a perfect system, but it serves a tried and true means to lessen the damage caused by any spill.  

On the early morning of September 8, the MV Golden Ray capsized off the coast of Brunswick, GA in St Simon Sound, approximately 80 miles south of Savannah.  The exact cause of the accident has not been finally determined.  Initially, four of the twenty-four individuals on board were trapped.  They were subsequently rescued safely.  However, the ongoing environmental hazards continue now over a month later. 

Fuel and oil continue to leak from the vessel.  When the accident occurred, the ship contained roughly 300,000 gallons within its tanks.  To date, 220,000 gallons have been successfully pumped off.  Unfortunately, there have been ongoing oil slicks located in the area, as well as oil coating the plant life along shorelines.  Thousands of feet of oil spill containment boom have been deployed in the area to control the spread of the hydrocarbons and protect the shorelines.

As the recovery in the Bahamas continues following the damage caused by Hurricane Dorian, it offers a lesson in the value of preparedness.  Companies and governments around the globe work to balance the expense and efforts to plan for all contingencies against the threat of a wide variety of disasters and the resulting damage.  With regard to oil spills, there is no doubt that the damage can vast and extensive.  It highlights the need to have oil spill response equipment on-site and ready for immediate deployment.  Waiting to bring oil spill containment boom, oil skimmers, and other equipment in after the fact, especially when infrastructure may be damaged and access severely limited can often compound an already serious problem.  The sooner the equipment is deployed after a spill, the more effective the containment and recovery efforts will be.   

Photo Credit:  Ramon Espinosa/AP