Rapid refloats and pollution prevention

Significantly, the recovery of cargo oil (mainly crude oil) more than doubled to over 909,000 tons. There was also an increase in the bunkers recovered, up from 72,264 tons to 109,266 tons, and 57,506 tons of chemicals was also recovered.The tanker industry has achieved a remarkable improvement in its safety and pollution record over the past 20 years. Tanker salvage operations in 2007, however, rose to 24 compared to 18 in 2006.

A laden VLCC made a rare appearance in the salvage workload during last year. The largest ship to ship transfer during 2007 involved a tanker with a cargo of 89,000 tons of crude oil. ISU president Arnold Witte said, ‘Here, however, it is also important to note that the latest statistics from ITOPF show a significant fall in oil spills from tankers. Thirteen of the 17 incidents attended by ITOPF in 2007 concerned non-tankers.’

Operations with an environmental dimension so far this year include the removal of all pollutants from the freight ro-ro ‘Riverdance’, which grounded on a beach near Blackpool UK and is being cut up for removal.

There are occasions when a casualty can be refloated quickly, without the additional time inevitably associated with the removal of bunkers. One example earlier this year was the refloating of the heavy transport vessel ‘Zhen Hua 10’ off Rotterdam.

In the UK, memories of the ‘MSC Napoli’ incident are still fresh in the mind. Fortunately, a swift response succeeded in freeing the grounded German container vessel ‘LT Cortesia’ off Dover during January. In addition, another casualty in UK waters, the vehicle carrier ‘City of Sunderland’, was promptly refloated from a Norfolk beach.

Arnold Witte added, ‘Casualties over the past year have highlighted a factor which could, in some circumstances, lead to significant pollution damage. It is always a difficult call to decide whether to attempt a quick refloating or to wait and remove bunkers (frequently the main environmental threat), in the knowledge that the extra time required could mean losing the ship, with consequential pollution in the event of more bad weather. There is no magic formula available to help responders get this right every time. However, it is important not to let fear of pollution push people into making inappropriate choices.’