Posted on 21-11-2002
Tanker
Disaster One Of Many
by Alan Marston
The breakup of a leaking tanker off Spain may herald one of
the world's
worst oil spills, but experts say its distance from the coast
and the
water conditions may reduce ecological devastation. But that's
not the
point. The point is that these supertankers were designed and
built in the
1970's in order to cut costs, Nature has been paying ever since
and will
continue to do so as at least 7 of these superboats sink every
year.
The point of difference with this sinking is if the Prestige
looses all
its 77,000 tonnes of fuel oil, it will rank 14th in world tanker
spills, a
list topped by the Atlantic Empress off Tobago in 1979 with
287,000 tonnes
of oil. It would be just ahead of the 74,000 tonnes of oil lost
by the
Aegean Sea, which sank in 1992, also off northwest Spain. "It's
already a
huge disaster - thousands of fishermen are out of work, oil
is coming onto
beaches. This will also be one of the worst in terms of its
impact," said
Sian Pullen, head of the European Marine Programme at the World
Wildlife
Fund (WWF).
All we will hear now will be soothing tones like bacteria in
the sea could
help disperse the oil more quickly than, for instance, in the
chillier
waters of Alaska, where the Exxon Valdez ran aground in 1989,
or the Erika
disaster off northern France in December 1999. And the distance
from land
could help because the high seas will break up oil slicks before
they
reach beaches. And the type of oil in the Prestige could also
reduce the
impact of the spill. Experts said the fuel oil was of a lighter
type than
in the Erika, which spilled about 22,000 tonnes, and more refined
than the
crude in the Exxon Valdez, which lost 34,000 tonnes. Or not
so soothing,
the tanks on the Prestige would implode from the pressure if
both parts of
the vessel sink in waters 3600 metres deep. If the tanks survive
the
sinking, oil would leak through the rusting metal in coming
decades.
Marine life would be more able to adapt to such a slow-fuse
timebomb than
to a catastrophic spill. The depth of the water would make salvage
impractical.
The harsh reality is that the global economy stage of industialism
floats
on a sea of oil and and is directed by an army of bottom-line
accountants,
a combination that is deadly to life. "These types of spill
are happening
because of our continued reliance on fossil fuels," Greenpeace's
Santillo
said. Greenpeace wants far more stress on renewable energy and
cuts in the
use of fuels like oil and gas, blamed for global warming. Cheap,
ageing
tankers will remain a pollution threat to European waters until
new laws
take effect 13 years from now. Even as Spain struggles to contain
the
Prestige spill, dealers are planning similar shipments that
make money by
chartering old tankers at cheap freight rates. Not until 2015
will Europe
outlaw single-hulled oil tankers like the Prestige. Double-hulled
vessels
are less prone to spills. The long delay is defended by the
shipping
industry as a viable investment timescale, but bemoaned by
environmentalists as too slow. "There are hundreds of older
vessels in
the world fleet that are simply ticking time bombs. The fact
is, they
shouldn't be allowed to carry toxic cargoes, never mind pass
anywhere near
pristine coastlines," said one European salvage expert.
The Prestige is Liberian-owned, registered in the Bahamas, operated
by a
Greek company, chartered by a Swiss-based subsidiary of a Russian
conglomerate and classed as seaworthy by an American shipping
authority.
Sigh.
.
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