Crude oil from the Maersk Navigator supertanker was still spilling into the sea a week after it collided with a smaller tanker off the northwest tip of Sumatra.
Oil from the Maersk Navigator was said by its owner and operator A.P. Moller Singapore Pte. Ltd. to be dispersing naturally Jan. 27 at "a satisfactory distance" from shore.
Fires onboard the ship had been doused and dispersant spraying halted, although an extra boom and more dispersant were being sent to the site from Singapore.
Maersk Navigator, a 255,000 dwt vessel carrying 1.65 million bbl of oil from the Persian Gulf to Japan, collided with the Sanko Honour, an empty Japanese 96,550 dwt crude carrier. Both caught fire as a result of the Jan. 20 accident (OGJ, Jan. 25, p. 54).
COLLISION AFTERMATH
Maersk Navigator was allowed to drift as it burned. The main fire was in a breached tank amidship on the port side. There were three smaller fires on deck.
Salvage tugs arrived Jan. 22 as the ship continued to drift northwest away from Sumatra. Moller said pollution was slight because most oil leaking from the breached cargo tank was burning. The leaking oil was identified as light crude oil, predicted to break up as it drifted.
Salvage workers boarded by helicopter that afternoon. Next day they started the main generator and a fire pump to help coot the hull. A tugboat linked up to Maersk Navigator, which was then allowed to drift under control.
The deck fires were extinguished Jan. 23, leaving one port side tank still burning. The next day Moller said about 400 bbl/hr was leaking from the stricken ship, although there was no evidence of emulsified oil in the slick.
On Jan. 25 Maersk Navigator was towed to a point 65 miles south of Nicobar Island and 80 miles west of the northwest tip of Sumatra. This followed concerns that the slick would drift toward the island as winds subsided.
The fire in the port side tank was extinguished at 1330 hours local time Jan. 26, said Smit-Tak Towage & Salvage, Singapore. A foam blanket was spread over the flames, while water was sprayed to cool the vessel's plating.
A Jan. 27 aerial survey revealed a 60 ft wide slick trailing away from the vessel on a heading of 10'. After about 4 miles the slick widened to 1/2 mile and began to break up.
At 20 miles from the ship, the slick was a rainbow sheen 3 miles wide. Broken patches of sheen were visible for about another 30 miles following a heading of 80'.
WHAT'S NEXT
Northeasterly winds are forecast to continue for the next few days, perhaps increasing in strength, Moller reported Jan. 27. An Indian coast guard vessel was keeping watch alongside Maersk Navigator, having earlier stopped spraying dispersant.
A second tanker was chartered to receive oil from the Maersk Navigator in a transfer operation scheduled for Jan. 30-31. Before then Maersk Navigator will continue to be cooled using sprayed water.
Once empty, Maersk Navigator will be taken to Singapore for repairs.
The Sanko Honour, under charter to Japan's Sanko Steamship Co., was said to have received little damage.
Copyright 1993 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
