Tasman Spirit
The incident
On
27 July 2003, the oil tanker the Tasman Spirit, loaded with 67,000 tonnes
of Iranian crude, grounded in the access channel to Karachi harbour.
The hull was perforated and around 27,000 tonnes of crude were spilled.
Lightering operations on 13 August allowed 13,000 tonnes of
oil to be recovered, after which bad meteorological conditions interrupted
operations and split the vessel in two.
Pollution response
The first response measures consisted in the use of floating booms
and in the application of dispersants from tug boats. The situation
worsened and means from the OSRL-EARL oil cooperative were mobilised
and a dispersant spraying C130 aircraft based in Singapore was sent
on site, according to advice from the experts from ITOPF (International
Tanker Owners Pollution Federation).
On 18 August, 25,000 tonnes of hydrocarbons in total had been
recovered from the vessel’s tanks, which still contained an
estimated 14,000 tonnes. Floating booms were deployed around
the wreck and boats fitted with dispersant spray gear worked on
the contained product. Aerial spraying, implemented from 15 to 17
August reduced noticeably the quantity of hydrocarbons visible on
the surface of water. In total, 16 tonnes of dispersants were
sprayed on the oil slicks. The aircraft stayed on stand-by and vessel
spraying went on.
Onshore, pollution reached Clifton Beach (next to Karachi), with
an estimated volume of 300 m³ covering some 6 km. Some areas
around the harbour and some mangrove swamps were also affected.
Oleophilic disc skimmers were used on the harbour shoreline for
the cleaning operations, while on the coastline recovery was carried
out manually.
On 22 August the structure of the vessel collapsed. Further release
of oil was reported on 29 August. 1,800 m³ of hydrocarbons remained
onboard, including lubricating oil and 200 m³ of heavy propulsion
fuel (IFO 180). The most viscous products were recovered with a
TK-80 pump from Europe. After this new spill, aerial spraying was
implemented again. The volume of dispersants used rose to 31 tonnes
from the C130 and 6 tonnes from the boats. Offshore recovery operations
became difficult because of the presence of large waste in the oil.
According to OSRL, 143 m³ had been pumped out of the vessel
in the harbour on 23 August, and 0.5 to 2 m³ were recovered
each day.
On the coast various recovery techniques were used. A coarse cleaning
operation was carried out manually and by mechanical recovery, and
then harrowing eased natural cleaning.
By September there were no significant traces of hydrocarbons left
on Clifton Beach. Nevertheless, pollution remained deeply buried
in different places. In order to avoid accumulation of small unpolluted
waste, this pollution was left for natural degradation. 2,500 tonnes
of polluted materials (mainly polluted sand) were collected.
Name: Tasman Spirit
Date: 27 July 2003
Location: Pakistan
Accident area: outside Karachi harbour
Cause of spill: grounding
Quantity transported: 67,000 tonnes
Type of pollutant: Iranian crude oil
Quantity spilled: 27,000 tonnes
Ship type: oil tanker
Pollution consequences
Pakistan, not belonging to the International Oil Pollution Compensation
Funds, could only claim damages from the ship owner's Protection
and Indemnity Club. Advised by US experts, the government claimed
amounts to the order of 1 billion US dollars, far above any
standard outside the USA, and detained seven crew members of the
vessel as a guarantee. Discussion of the general principles of compensation
between government delegates and the P&I representatives reduced
the gap between parties and led to the release of the detained crew
members on 14 April 2004 after nine months in prison. The amount
of compensation awarded remains unknown.
Link
Last update: April 2006