Hebei Spirit
The accident
On
Friday 7 December 2007, the oil tanker the Hebei Spirit was anchored
in front of the Port of Incheon on the west coast of South Korea,
south of Seoul, when it was hit by the barge Samsung 1 which was
drifting as its towline had broken.
This
collision led to 3 breaches in the hull of the Hebei Spirit, and
a spill of at least 10,000 tonnes of crude oil into the Yellow Sea,
only 8 kilometres from the coast. For Korea, this spill was on a
comparable scale to that of the Sea
Prince incident in 1995, which was until now the largest spill
that the country had ever seen.
Response
The
Coastguards, the Navy and fishing boats spread dispersants to reduce
the amount of pollutant drifting towards the coast. Response teams
deployed oil booms in front of sensitive areas along the shoreline.
The
drifting oil slicks nevertheless soiled over 300 km of shoreline.
This is a sensitive area where fishing and aquaculture are important
activities and where many migrating birds stop over. The region
is also a popular tourist destination for its beaches. This linear
coast comprises rocky areas, sandy and pebble beaches and mud flats.
The
three types of oil spilt all came from the Persian Gulf: Iranian
Heavy, Upper Zakum and Khafji. It should be noted that Khafji is
the same type of oil as was spilt in the Sea
Prince incident. These oils are light crudes, with fairly similar
characteristics.
Contrary
to predictions by behaviour models, the oil has remained relatively
fluid and has not emulsified much. Its low viscosity means that
skimmers can be used on the water surface. On beaches, selective
clean-up is being carried out manually (using shovels, buckets and
sorbents) and in rocky areas the Koreans are using pressure washers.
Manual rock cleaning. Source: Cedre
International
assistance
The
Koreans expressed their need for international assistance. Upon
the request of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, the
United Nations (OCHA/UNEP) and the European Commission rapidly appointed
a team of 8 experts who were sent to South Korea on 14 December.
An engineer from Cedre was part of this team. As it so happened,
two members of the Korea Marine Pollution Response Corporation,
the organisation responsible for the management of oil spill response
operations, had just spent 3 days at Cedre, visiting our training
facilities, with a view to acquiring similar facilities so as to
be better prepared to respond to oil spills.
The Assessment Team assessed the need for international assistance
to aid with clean-up operations, advised the Government on measures
employed by various national response agencies and provided guidance
on medium and long-term environmental impacts related to the oil
spill. This mission finished on 22 December 2007.
The
UN/EC Assessment Team's report determined that no immediate international
assistance was required to aid clean-up operations. The majority
of beaches had been cleaned as a result of the strong coordination
and significant efforts of personnel from the KCG, MOMAF, Korean
Maritime Police, Navy, Army, and volunteers from the private sector
and general public. The effective deployment of oil booms immediately
after the spill protected many sensitive areas. Certain shorelines
were naturally cleaned by tides and wave action.
Name: Hebei Spirit
Date: 07 December 2007
Location: Republic of Korea
Accident area: near the Port of Incheon
Cause of spill: collision
Product transported: heavy crude oil
Quantity transported: 260,000 tonnes
Type of pollutant: crude oil
Quantity spilled: ~10,000 tonnes
Ship type: oil tanker
Date built: 1993
Length: 322 m
Flag: Chinese
Clean-up of a Korean beach. Source: Cedre
See also
Links
Last update: 15/06/2011