The sinking of the oil-leaking tanker off the coast of Spain was another in a series of major tanker disasters which seem to occur every year or so. This latest shoreline tragedy has stirred action among the European Union which will likely lead to tighter restrictions on ocean transport of petroleum.
Over the six day period from 13 November to 19 November 2002, the Tanker Prestige leaked oil and floundered off the Spanish coast. Abandoned on the 15th of November but still carrying over 50,000 tonnes of heavy refinery residual oil, the Prestige broke in two and sank on 19 November 2002. The sinking occurred 240 km off the coast of Spain near the northern border of Portugal—an area known as Galicia.
Built in 1976, the Prestige was owned by a Liberian company; registered in the Bahamas; managed by a Greek company; and operated by a Greek crew. From available reports, it was carrying some 72,000-to-77,000 tonnes of refinery residual oil from Latvia to Singapore. The shipper is a Russian owned oil-trading company based in Switzerland and has several British business execs among its Directors.
The Prestige captain claims that they had struck a floating cargo container six days earlier which had torn a long 50-meter gash in their single hull. Reportedly, the uneven loss of buoyancy coupled with high seas stressed the ship's structure causing the hull to crack and eventually fail.
Oil escaping from the damaged hull formed an oil slick estimated to be about 15 km long and 8 km wide. A Dutch salvage company, Smit was contacted and sent a ship and crews to avert further disaster. However, storms plus high seas were making any salvage operations or oil containment/recovery operations next to impossible. The Prestige was then less than 100 km off the coast and, over the next several days, upwards of 20,000 tonnes of the goopy oil spilled.
The Prestige Captain agreed with Smit to attempt to reach protected waters where meaningful containment and unloading operations could be undertaken. However, Spain, Portugal, France, and Britain denied permission to allow the leaking tanker to enter their coastal waters. One report has a Portuguese warship forcing a turn around of the damaged tanker in 8-meter waves.
Smit was ordered to take the Prestige farther out to sea and four Spanish tugs were sent to aid in the tow. On Friday the 15th, the operators feared that the ship was in immediate peril of breaking apart and elected to evacuate the crew and salvage team while daylight persisted. Their fears were realized on the 19th when the tanker broke in two about 240 km offshore and sank in waters about 3000 meters deep.
The original 15 km long by 8 km wide oil slick was broken apart by the stormy seas and oil has fouled several hundred km of the Galicia shoreline—over 90 beaches. Initially, the shoreline cleanup was restricted to authorized persons to maintain proper methods but the extent of the fouling and slow governmental response has brought sharp criticism to Spain's King and Prime Minister.
Since the sinking and a calming of the seas, support and cleanup assistance has come from a number of European countries and thousands of coastal citizens plus conservation-minded volunteers. Spanish authorities hoped that the remaining bow and stern compartments would stay intact; that the cold seafloor water would congeal the oil to prevent further leakage.
However, the French deep submergence vessel Nautile made a half dozen dives and confirmed upwards of 20 thin stream leaks from the two halves of the Prestige. It was estimated that the hulk could leak for years. A Norwegian oil rig has also reached the site but it isn't clear whether or not an attempt will be made to directly connect to the sunken oil-filled compartments.
British, Dutch, Belgium and French oil recovery vessels along with a multitude of small Spanish and Portuguese boats are collecting oil at sea and in estuaries hoping to prevent further damage to the area's coastal resources. As of mid-December, it was estimated that about 7000 tonnes have been recovered at sea and 2700 tons from the shoreline.
The International Dilemma
This latest tanker disaster has many European leaders plus millions of concerned citizens insisting that the petroleum industry seriously address the problem and accept realistic responsibility. As it currently stands under the International Maritime Organization's (IMO's) 1975 Civil Liberty Convention Rules; a ship owner is strictly liable for a spill cleanup costs—but up to a maximum of $80 million. At that point a second fund—The Int'l Oil Pollution Compensation Fund—kicks in but only to a total of $180 million. This latter fund is financed by countries that receive oil deliveries.
Within the first two days of the spill, shoreline damage was estimated at upwards of $50 million and the affected regional fishing industry is valued at about $330 million annually. No estimate was available regarding the likely loss of tourism nor for the flotilla of ships and boats recovering oil from the sea surface. Obviously, the IMO's funds will not cover the damages.
Based on prior disasters (See the Major Spills Chart), The USA had previously banned large single hulled tankers from American ports. The European Union was assembling a list of tankers deemed risky as a first step in banning certain ships. In keeping with the growing trend, the IMO has directed that all large single-hulled ships be phased out of service by 2015. Reportedly, the Prestige was scheduled to be taken out of service in 2005.
Two widely publicized spills--perhaps obvious by their absence from the above chart—are the Torrey Canyon and the Exxon Valdez. The Torrey Canyon ran aground along the British coast dumping 119,000 tonnes of oil in 1967. This spill predates the 1971 beginning of the chart.
The 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska released 37,000 tonnes which is below an arbitrary 40,000 tonnes cutoff for this particular chart. (The Exxon Valdez would have been 34th in quantity over the three decades covered). Although there was major damage to Prince Edward Sound, it was fortunate that the Exxon Valdez could be easily accessed and unloaded. That spill cost Exxon about $2.5 billion.
Perspectives & Directions
The International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation (ITOPF) tracks all reported spills and has records going back to 1970. They categorize spills as small (under 7 tonnes), medium (7-to-700 tonnes) and large (more than 700 tonnes). The worst year on record was 1979 with 608,000 tonnes spilled. Next was 1991 with 435,000 tons and over 300,000 tonnes were lost in each of a half-dozen or so years of the past three decades.
With its stats, ITOPF points out that the vast majority of their spill incidents are in the "small" category; but that the few large spills are usually responsible for roughly 70% or more of the annual losses. For example, referring to the chart, 382,000 tonnes were dumped in only two listed "large" 1979 spills out of the 608,000 tonnes total.
Just how bad (or good) are oil ocean transport operations? At any one time, there are some 6000 oil tankers plying the seven seas carrying tens of millions of tonnes of oil and bulk petroleum products. Upwards of a billion or more tonnes are moved annually. Spillage appears to be in the order of 0.05 % of that moved.
Although this amount may be acceptable as losses in many processes, such statistics do little for coastal residents or local fishermen whose beaches and/or livelihoods are suddenly devastated. It has been estimated that beach cleanups involve handling 10-to-100 times the sand and rocks volume with respect to the surface area fouled.
All leaders of nearby countries have called for the EU to enact measures to minimize oil tanker disasters. French President Chirac called for "Draconian" maritime safety regulations in view of the fact that about 90% of Europe's oil is delivered by sea and their shores border heavily used shipping lanes.
On 6 December 2002, the EU Transport Ministers agreed to (1) enforce a blacklist of 66 ships judged to be particularly dangerous; (2) phase in a ban on single-hulled tankers over 15 years old; and (3) set up a 1 billion Euros fund to assist areas stricken by oil spills.
The EU also intends to create a Maritime Safety Agency to better monitor ships and traffic. In addition, they plan a review of ship ownership, registration and operation regulations with respect to liability.
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