Victoria’s Carmanah Technologies Corp. is providing several hundred solar LED marine lanterns to mark oil spill containment booms deployed in the Gulf of Mexico.
The lanterns will guide marine traffic while containment and cleanup work continues in the area.
It was announced Tuesday morning that the lanterns are being manufactured and sold through a partnership Carmanah solidified with Finland-based marine lighting firm Sabik Oy in March 2010.
Several hundred white and yellow Carmanah/Sabik lanterns have been deployed to mark containment booms in open bays and waterways for boats through a marine distributor in Texas.
Carmanah, which manufactures solar LED lights for airports and construction crews, is working with a Houston-based manufacturing partner to fast-track production and deliver several hundred additional lights to the area in the coming days.
“Our customer had tried and abandoned a battery-powered marking light due to performance issues and ongoing maintenance requirements,” said Jeff Sandel, vice-president of Texas’ Channel Safety and Marine Supply, which distributes Carmanah products.
Carmanah CEO Ted Lattimore said: “With all available resources in the Gulf focused on containment and cleanup, this is no time to worry about whether or not the lights are working, or to be expending valuable manpower to change bulbs or batteries.”
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Carmanah supplied self-contained, self-powered solar LED lights to illuminate roads and air and marine traffic along the Gulf Coast during rebuilding efforts.