News • 28 September 2003

Ecological toll of Maltese-flagged oil spill being counted – compensation claim expected

David Lindsay
Now that the last remaining oil has been salvaged from the wreck of the ill-fated, Maltese-flagged oil tanker – the Tasman Spirit - investigations into culpability and the ecological toll of what has been Pakistan’s largest oil spill in history are in full swing.
Violent monsoon weather had caused the Tasman Spirit - en route from Iran to Karachi, Pakistan carrying 67,000 tonnes of Iranian crude oil - to run aground while navigating the straits leading into the port of Karachi on 27 July.
Three failed attempts were made to tow the grounded tanker and 20,000 tonnes of oil were salvaged before, on 14 August, the Tasman Spirit’s single hull began to crack, rupturing the vessel in two and spewing its toxic cargo into the Arabian Sea. Salvage efforts continued frantically, inhibited by rough seas, but some 30,000 tonnes of crude oil were eventually set adrift.
The Tasman Spirit was just one of Malta’s bulging fleet of ageing single-hulled freighters, like the ill-fated Erika and others, that have constituted an environmental hazard of global proportions as they plied the world’s seas.
However, human error is also thought to be accountable and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has ordered an enquiry into the disaster to apportion responsibility and to establish why poorly equipped salvage operations were launched days after the ship had floundered.
Meanwhile, a methodical scientific investigation is expected to be launched this week to assess ecological damage to the surrounding coastal environment in the spillage-hit zone, which, until the incident, was a rich and diverse tropical marine/estuarine ecosystem hosting extensive mangrove and green turtle sanctuaries; numerous species of fish, birds and marine mammals; and commercial fisheries.
The United Nations Environment Programme has already submitted its report to the Pakistani government, which says that acute effects of the oil spill are evident and that further scientific investigation is needed to determine the extent of the damage to sensitive ecosystems around Karachi.
The preliminary assessment, says the report, suggests that despite the intensive efforts to transfer, disperse, contain and recover the oil, the area impacted by the spill covers at least 40 square kilometres.
It also notes that the hundreds of people who sought treatment for respiratory ailments, at a medical camp set up after the oil spill, were suffering the effects of petroleum carbon exposure.
Compensation claims of up to $1 billion and more have been bandied about, but the damage is still being assessed. Pakistan has already lodged a formal complaint with the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) demanding the owner of the tanker pay an initial 200,000-dollar claim, pending a final assessment of the losses.
In the meantime, the Merchant Shipping Directorate of the Malta Maritime Authority has been investigating the incident - with an MMA inspector based in Pakistan present on site since day one. The Directorate says it is maintaining close contact with the Karachi Port Trust in Pakistan and with the operators of the vessel in Greece.