Speculation was continuing on the morning of Wednesday 12 March into the cause and likely impacts of the North Sea collision.
The 183-m oil tanker Stena Immaculate had been anchored about 13 miles off the coast of Withernsea, near Kingston-upon-Hull, when she was struck by the container ship MV Solong at a speed of around 18 knots (33 km/h) at 9.48am on Monday.
At least one of 16 segregated cargo tanks on the Stena Immaculate was ruptured by the collision. The vessel was carrying 220,000 barrels (34.9 million litres) of Jet-A1 aviation fuel, for use by the US Air Force stationed in the UK. How much of this has entered the sea is not yet known, although its owners, Crowley, suggested the environmental impact would likely be limited by the fuel’s exposure to fire and any subsequent evaporation.
Speaking in parliament on Tuesday, the Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander, said she was reassured by news from the (container ship) Solong’s owners, Ernst Russ, that sodium cyanide containers on board were empty, “and that efforts to confirm this by the salvors are under way.”
“I was also pleased to have been informed that early indications suggest that
both vessels are now expected to stay afloat and that the Solong can be towed away from the shore, and salvage operations can get under way.”
Experts noted that the cargo of Jet A-1 aviation fuel on the Stena Immaculate is more toxic than crude oil, but its effects can be shorter lived, and it presents quite different clean-up challenges to a spill of crude. Speaking to The Guardian, Dr Simon Boxall of the University of Southampton, said its impact on life in the oceans would be “devastating”.
As a lighter material it is harder to contain than crude oil, but it also tends to evaporate and biodegrade much more readily. Professor Mark Sephton of Imperial College London told The National that the smaller molecules of hydrocarbons in Jet A-1 were attractive to bacteria, which would degrade them more rapidly than the larger molecules present in crude. The onset of warmer weather would speed this process.
Greenpeace said the speed of response would be crucial in limiting the environmental impact. Specialist pollution-control vessels from Germany and Norway had been despatched to the scene by Tuesday, reported The Guardian, while Dutch marine provider Boskalis has been appointed to salvage the Stena Immaculate with four ships having been deployed, carrying foam and extinguishing agents, according to Reuters.
The site of the collision is within a busy area for maritime shipping, providing a direct route to the Netherlands, Germany and Scandinavia.
“Negligence” was pegged as the most likely cause at this stage, in comments made to The Telegraph by Chris Parry, a retired Royal Navy rear admiral, given the fact of anchored ships being a commonplace in this area, and the dangers of travelling at speed.
Both vessels would have been equipped with the marine safety technology AIS (Automatic Identification System), providing warning of the proximity of a vessel up to a distance of around 39km, in addition to 24-hour lookouts, said maritime analyst David McFarlane, speaking to The Guardian.
Fires on board both ships resulted from the collision, and 36 people were rescued, although one remains missing, and is presumed deceased, according to the Department of Transport’s Mike Kane speaking in the Commons, who said search-and-rescue operations had been called off on Monday evening. This seems to have presaged the arrest of the Master of the Solong, a 59-year-old Russian national, on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter.
The investigation into the cause of the crash was initially led by UK government agency the Marine Accident Investigation Branch but has become a criminal investigation being led by Humberside Police.
No evidence of foul play is apparent, although it hasn’t been ruled out, according to comments made by a White House official speaking to a US news source. Speaking to The Telegraph, former sea captain Tom Sharpe said there was nothing about the circumstances to suggest foul play, and the Solong was repeating a route she had followed “dozens of times in the last year or so”. He believed the cause was “as clear as any I’ve seen”, specifically a failure of the Solong to maintain a proper lookout.
