Chennai Oil Spill: DG Shipping Institutes Inquiry
Days after the unexpected cargo ships collision outside the Kamarajar Port in Chennai (Tamil Nadu State, India), the Directorate General (DG) of Shipping has instituted an inquiry regarding the same.
Two vessels namely, M.T. BW Maple carrying LPG and M.T. Dawn Kanchipuram carrying Petrol and lube oil, collided while crossing each other at 03.45AM on January 28 outside the Kamrajar harbour.
The Shipping Minister Shipping Pon. Radhakrishnan in Chennai today to take stock of Clean Up Operations, says a statement from the Press Information Bureau, Government of India.
The Oil Tanker, Dawn Kanchipuram, which was carrying 32813 Tonnes of POL, suffered a rupture which led to engine oil spill (and not the POL being carried as cargo). There was no casualty or injury to the crew members.
Kamarajar Port had immediately deployed oil boom around the vessel after bringing it to a safe location at 07.00 AM on 28th January, 2017 to contain seepage if any. No further seepage was discovered.
The situation was closely monitored by top officials of the Port from the time of accident and the required assistance was rendered to both vessels. Since the oil tanker M.T. Kanchipuram was loaded with a huge amount of POL cargo, it was critical to ensure that this vessel is safely berthed and its cargo discharged to obviate the possibility of any further catastrophic accident and a major oil spill.
Immediate steps were taken to assess the damage to the vessel. The diving team of Kamarajar Port carried out under-water inspections. The port officials consulted the respective Classification Societies and DG, Shipping officials who carried out inspection of the vessels internally and externally.
After examining the stability of the vessel, it was decided to berth the M.T. Kanchipuram at the port to immediately discharge cargo to prevent any environmental damage. The Kamarajar Port carefully brought this vessel to the port which was a very challenging task since the main engine of the vessel was not in operation and the berthing movement had to be carried out as a cold move. This major step averted the possibility of a major oil spill disaster. This vessel has now completely discharged the POL cargo.
The National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan provides that while the port is responsible for responding to an oil spill within the port area, the Coast Guard is responsible for acting as the Central Coordinating Agency for combating oil pollution in the maritime zone and the State Governments are responsible for shore line response. Equipment required to handle Tier-1 Oil Spill Response was available with the Kamarajar Port and was also deployed.
Government is taking all the measures to manage the situation. Authorities involved in the operations are confident that the situation is under control and the entire cleaning up operation will be completed in a couple of days.
