Less than a month after a major oil spill off the Spanish coast, another oil tanker ran aground in the Shetland Islands in what could become the U.K.'s worst oil pollution accident (OGJ, Dec. 11, p. 26).
Television screens around the world were filled with pictures of dead seabirds, dying fish, and seals covered with crude oil. The first response of many local people interviewed was: Why can't oil companies do something to stop this?
The British press set about trying to discover what had gone wrong. As supplier of the tanker's cargo of oil from Gullfaks field in the Norwegian North Sea, Norway's Den norske stats oijeselskap AS was asked questions a spokeswoman said should have been directed to the ship's owners.
Andreas Ugland, chairman of the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners (Intertanko), Oslo, said Jan. 6, only 1 day after the Braer tanker went aground, it was too early to judge the circumstances surrounding the accident. He stressed that the Braer was, by all accounts, a well maintained ship.
WRONG ROUTE?
Kristian Fuglesang, Intertanko assistant director, said one of the main issues was why the Braer was sailing so close to the Shetlands. Robert Kohn, spokesman for the International Maritime Organization (IMO), London, said the waters around the Shetlands are classified as an area to be avoided.
Ugland said efficient and uniform adoption of IMO rules would help reduce the risk of accidents.
He identified ships' routing as an area that needed work. He also said charterers should stop hiring substandard ships and start paying rates that justify the best maintenance and investment in new ships.
"A shipowner is responsible to maintain and operate his ships at high standards," said Ugland, "but he must be given the means to do so."
HUMAN ERROR
Statoil's spokeswoman said investigators into the Braer accident should not be sidetracked into discussions only about whether hulls should be single or double.
"There should be more focus on the companies and crews that operate the ships," she said. "After all, 80% of all shipping accidents are caused by human error. As an oil company, Statoil cannot do the job of classification societies, but we are responsible for the quality of our own operations."
Ships make about 1,600 visits/ year to Statoil's Mongstad, Norway, terminal, where the Braer took on its cargo. Statoil inspectors carry out about 300 vessel checks/year before allowing entry to Mongstad. Tanker owners' operations also are checked out.
A new advertisement for donations to a wildlife rescue charity, appealing to people shocked by the latest images of oil covered corpses, said, "The price of oil has just gone up."
If strict tanker checks and an improved fleet are needed to protect marine life, the ad could be right in terms of money as well as life.
Copyright 1993 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
