Amoco Cadiz oil spill

The sinking Amoco Cadiz tanker ship. Author: Amoco_Cadiz_1.jpg: noaa.gov / *derivative work: Mfield.

Overview

The ship ran aground on 16 March 1978 on Portsall Rocks, 2 km (1.2 mi) from the coast of Brittany, France and caused a major oil spill.

The ship

The Amoco Cadiz contained 1,604,500 barrels (219,797 tons) of light crude oil from Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia, and Kharg Island, Iran. There was also nearly 4,000 tonnes of bunker oil.

The ship was a VLCC (very large crude carrier) owned by America's Amoco Transport Corp and transporting crude oil for Shell Oil, operating under the Liberian flag.

1. Name- Amoco Cadiz.
2. Owner- Amoco Transport Co.
3. Port of registry- Liberia.
4. Builder- Astilleros Españoles, S.A., Cádiz, Andalusia, Spain.
5. Yard number- 95.
6. Laid down- 24 November 1973.
7. Launched- 1974.
8. Completed- May 1975.
9. Out of service- 16 March 1978 (aged 3–4).
10. Identification- IMO number: 7336422.
11. Fate- Sunk at 48.6°N 4.7°W/Coordinates: 48.6°N 4.7°W.
12. Tonnage- 233,690 DWT; 109,700 GRT.
13. Length- 334.02 m (1,095.9 ft).
14. Beam- 51.06 m (167.5 ft).
15. Draught- 19.80 m (65.0 ft).
16. Installed power- 22,700 kW, 1 × 30,400 hp (22,700 kW) diesel engine.
17. Propulsion- Single screw propeller.
18. Speed- 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph).
19. Capacity- 1.6 Mbbl (250×103 m3).
20. Crew- 44.
21. Accident related deaths- 0.

The event

The crisis began at 9:46 am when the supertanker was north of Ushant Island, France, and 16 nautical miles (30 km; 18 mi) west of Portsall, France, it turned to avoid another ship and the rudder jammed at full over to port and could not be fixed due to a loss of hydraulic fluid.

The German boat Pacific successfully attached a hawser (a maritime tow-rope), but they both snapped and the Amoco Cadiz ran aground for the first time at 9:04 pm, fatally wounding the ship when the hull ruptured and the engine room was flooded. Amoco and the tugboat had earlier spent 2 hours arguing over the terms of the recuse attempt.

The French goverment ordered that 12 350 lb depth charges dropped from 3 Super Frelon helicopters to finish the ground and wrecked ship off.

The aftermath

Amoco agreed to to pay $230 million in compensation to France and the victims of the spill in 1992 in line with a 1988 U.S. federal law suit.

Lessons learned

• Never take short cuts on a tanker's rout.
• Never underestimate the weather.
• Stronger ship hulls.
• Better co-ordination of rescue and salvage efforts.

The legacy

The wide spread long term damage was regarded to be heavy. It is a popular diving site. A thin layer of oil impregnated sand that resembles asphalt can be found about 3ft under some beach surfaces. This oil was what could not be removed from the beach at the time and was left to sink in to the sand.

Also see

1. Kharg Island, Iran
2. Oil spills, blow-outs (well drilling) and tanker sinkings

Sources

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amoco_Cadiz
2. https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?10339#
3. https://samplius.com/free-essay-examples/overview-of-amoco-cadiz-oil-spill-and-its-consequences/
4. https://meridian.allenpress.com/iosc/article/1989/1/503/203984/AMOCO-CADIZ-LITIGATION-SUMMARY-OF-THE-1988-COURT
5. https://safety4sea.com/cm-amoco-cadiz-oil-spill-the-largest-loss-of-marine-life-ever/https://safety4sea.com/cm-amoco-cadiz-oil-spill-the-largest-loss-of-marine-life-ever/
6. https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?10339