Melbridge Bilbao
The incident
On Monday 12 November 2001, the container ship the Melbridge Bilbao
(9,650 tonnes), en route from La Havana to Rotterdam in slightly
foggy weather and calm sea with 218 containers and 330 boxes onboard,
should have been sailing up the traffic separation scheme off Ushant.
Instead, she diverted miles from her normal route ignoring shore-to-ship
alert calls from the MRCC (Marine Rescue Co-ordination Centre) CROSS
Corsen.
Shorty after 7:00 am, the Melbridge Bilbao ran aground at full speed
(17 knots) on Molene Island, right in the middle of the future Iroise
marine nature reserve. Fortunately, the grounding occurred at low
tide in a sandy area. The tug the Abeille Flandre arrived promptly
on site and took the ship in tow early in the afternoon, taking
advantage of the high tide, just after she had been refloated by
a French Navy response team but was threatening to drift towards
reefs.
The Melbridge Bilbao and the Abeille Flandre
on stand-by in Berthaume cove (Source: Cedre)
Response
The Melbridge Bilbao was towed into a sheltered zone (Berthaume
cove) to be inspected and secured before entering Brest harbour.
As there was no major threat, the ship was towed towards
the Brest's shipping port in the evening of 13 November and was
corralled with booms supplied by the French Navy.
The Melbridge Bilbao at dock in Brest (Source: Cedre)
On 15 November, the containers stacked on the midship
bay were unloaded in order to allow access to the tanks. On 16 November,
the Melbridge Bilbao was transferred to dry dock to be repaired.
Then the pumping of the oil contained in the centre
tank began. The next day, oil started to leak from the ballast tanks,
indicating that the double bottom inner bulkheads had been damaged
and that oil was freely circulating between oil tanks and ballast
tanks. The oil spilled in the dock was contained by booms which
had to be repositioned several times according to the oil viscosity
and shifts of the wind.
The operations carried out to pump the entire oil cargo and to clean
up the docks required significant resources and considerable work.
They ended on 30 November.
Road tanker used for oil recovery (Source: Cedre)
Name: Melbridge Bilbao
Date: 12 November 2001
Location: France
Accident area : Molene Island, Brittany
Cause of spill : grounding
Quantities transported : 218 containers + 330 cases
Type of polluant : bunker fuel oil
Ship type : container ship
Length : 150 m
Width : 22.30 m
Flag : Antigua-and-Barbuda
The equipment which had been used was cleaned on Cedre
technical facilities. These long-lasting operations carried out on the Melbridge
Bilbao under shelter in dry dock clearly show the damage the island
of Molène could have suffered. Had the ship not been promptly
refloated, the winter storms would have dismantled her and clean-up
operations on the archipelago would have lasted several months.
This is precisely what happened in 1986 in Gijon (Asturias, Spain)
after the stranding of a coal carrier.
It can be difficult to understand why apparently seaworthy
ships may stray off course and run aground, like a truck in the
hands of a sleepy driver. However such events unfortunately occur
several times each year all over the world. Such incidents are generally
caused by human failure but can also be due to mechanical or electronic
failure. Philippe Valois' book "Le transport du pétrole par
mer" (published by CELSE) shows that 51 % of accidents resulting
in more than 700 tonnes of pollution are caused by grounding, and
that tiredness accounts for 50 % of groundings.
Response equipment clean-up on Cedre technical facilities
(Source: Cedre)
Judgement
On 5 February 2002, the Court of Brest gave the Melbridge
Bilbao Chief Mate (on duty on the bridge when the accident occurred)
a suspended prison sentence of six months and a 3,000 euro fine
for accidental pollution. The plaintiffs, namely the island of Molène
and the local association for the protection of the environment,
received 2,000 euros and 1,000 euros respectively.
Last update: April 2006