Case Studies
This section contains summaries of major spills from 1967 to the present day, looking at the incident, response, our involvement together with selected bibliographies and web links, where available.
STOLT VALOR, off the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 2012
On 15th March 2012, STOLT VALOR carrying 13,000 tonnes of methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) and 1,300 tonnes of isobutylaldehyde (IBAL) as well as 430 tonnes of Intermediate Fuel Oil (IFO 380) as bunkers, suffered an explosion in international waters off Ras Tanura, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Categories: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, HNS, Chemical Tanker
RENA, New Zealand, 2011
On 5th October 2011, containership RENA ran aground on Astrolabe Reef, 12nm offshore from Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. The vessel was en-route from Napier to Tauranga carrying 1,368 containers, 11 of which contained dangerous goods. The vessel had approximately 1,700 MT of IFO 380 bunker fuel and 61 MT diesel oil onboard.
Categories: New Zealand, HNS, Other, Container Ship, Oceania
MSC NAPOLI, United Kingdom, 2007
On Thursday 18th January 2007, the container vessel MSC NAPOLI (4,668 TEU, 53,409 GT, built 1991) suffered structural damage while transiting the English Channel in heavy weather. The decision was taken to beach the vessel on a sand bar in Lyme Bay near Seaton, Devon. Once aground, the vessel developed a list, causing the loss of 117 containers. Both the UK and French coastlines were affected by the pollution with the main contamination from tarballs and debris from lost containers washing ashore, some of which was contaminated by oil.
Categories: United Kingdom, HNS, Oil, Container Ship, Europe
ECE, off Channel Islands, UK, 2006
On 31st January 2006, the Marshall Islands-registered chemical tanker, ECE was on a laden voyage from Safi, Morocco to Ghent, Belgium with a cargo of 10,361 tonnes of Phosphoric Acid when she collided with the bulk carrier GENERAL GROT-ROWECKI off Alderney, Channel Islands, UK.
Categories: United Kingdom, France, HNS, Chemical Tanker, Europe
SAMHO BROTHER, Taiwan, 2005
On 10th October 2005, the chemical tanker SAMHO BROTHER was involved in a collision with the container vessel TS HONGKONG, 9 nm North West of Hsinchu, Taiwan. SAMHO BROTHER was carrying a cargo of 3,136 tonnes of benzene, 65 tonnes of intermediate fuel oil and 16 tonnes of marine diesel as bunker fuel.
Categories: Taiwan, HNS, Oil, Chemical Tanker, Asia