U.K. ACCUSED OF LACK OF ACTION ON TANKER SAFETY

The U.K. government has been accused of inaction over shipping safety following the grounding of the Braer crude oil tanker in the Shetland Islands last January. Meanwhile, Belgian authorities have charged the captain and owners of a cargo ship with manslaughter, following an investigation into the vessel's collision with a petroleum products tanker off Ostend last June. The Western Winner, a Panamanian registered vessel carrying printing dyes, crashed into the British Trent owned by

Feb. 28, 1994

2 min read

The U.K. government has been accused of inaction over shipping safety following the grounding of the Braer crude oil tanker in the Shetland Islands last January.

Meanwhile, Belgian authorities have charged the captain and owners of a cargo ship with manslaughter, following an investigation into the vessel's collision with a petroleum products tanker off Ostend last June. The Western Winner, a Panamanian registered vessel carrying printing dyes, crashed into the British Trent owned by British Petroleum Co. plc as the products tanker left the port of Antwerp June 3, 1993.

The collision occurred in fog. Fire broke out immediately, killing nine men aboard the BP vessel. The tanker was carrying 24,000 metric tons of unleaded gasoline to Italy (OGJ, June 14, 1993, p. 16).

BP has carried out an investigation into the collision. The company is waiting on Belgian authorities to publish their findings and for the court case to be completed before it will decide whether its conclusions should be made public.

BRAER INQUIRY

The British government has done nothing to improve shipping safety in the year following the Braer spill, said Jim Wallace, Liberal Democrat member of Parliament for Orkney and Shetland.

The Braer tanker spilled 600,000 bbl of crude into the sea around Shetland, after it ran aground following engine failure Jan. 5, 1993. It was the big oil spill in British waters (OGJ, Jan.11, 1993, p. 26).

Wallace said the government had "learned nothing and done nothing," said a report by London's Independent newspaper. Compared with the actions of emergency services, the government's response was "culpably slow."

A Department of Transport official denied the charge of inaction, citing the adoption of voluntary measures to improve routing of tankers between the Orkney and Shetland islands through the International Maritime Organization.

The report of the department's Marine Accident Investigation Branch into the Braer spill is expected to be published soon. Findings of a government inquiry into the causes of the Braer's grounding are expected to be published before April.