Pumping of Remaining Erika Fuel Set To Begin
The first of five pollution-fighting vessels was to arrive in the French port of Brest on Monday to prepare to pump out tons of viscous fuel oil still lying in the hold of the sunken tanker Erika. TotalFinaElf is bringing in the vessels as part of a massive clean-up program after the Erika, the Maltese-registered tanker it contracted to transport 25,000 tons of thick fuel oil, broke up and sank last December. As part of a clean-up operation costing the company about $70 million, TotalFinaElf is now starting work on removing the oil still lying in the hull of the sunken tanker.
Boats Head Home After Erika Clean Up Closes Down
Ships sent to pump out oil trapped in the holds of the wrecked tanker Erika, which sank off France's northwest coast last December, have completed their task, French oil giant TotalFinaElf said. The French government announced earlier this week that it had decided to leave the broken wreck where it was, some 70 km (40 miles) off the coastline, saying that to try to move it further out to sea or raise it was too risky. The Maltese-registered Erika broke in half in stormy seas on December 12, and spewed up to 15,000 tons of oil onto the rocky shoreline. Thousands of tons of oil remained trapped in two sections of the ship, and the government ordered a clean-up during the summer months when the seas were normally calm.
Officials Fear Environmental Repercussion From Sunken Tanker
A giant oil slick from the sunken tanker Erika drifted and widened off the northwestern French coast on Dec. 14, and officials worry that changing winds could push it towards land. A spokesman for maritime authorities said the slick from the broken up tanker Erika, estimated at 9,000 to 10,000 tons of viscous fuel oil, was extending as it absorbed seawater. Officials insisted that ecological disaster cannot be ruled out on the Brittany coast, where the Amoco Cadiz spilled over one million barrels of oil in 1978. The oil slick was some 25 nautical miles south off the tourist island of Belle-Ile, itself about 16 nautical miles south of Brittany's Finistere Peninsula, and drifting eastwards at .6 mph.
Key Mideast Markets Surge On Erika Factor
Mideast-Far East crude oil tanker freight rates leapt skywards for the second day in a row as the Erika-effect took hold, shipping brokers said on Jan. 21. Japan-bound VLCCs added 10 Worldscale points to W65 ($7.00 per ton) in a two-day surge from W48 ($5.25). A rush of charterers to secure modern tonnage for February cargoes was squeezing the availability of quality ships in the region. "It is the Erika factor combined with a rush to fix February cargoes that has caused this spike in rates," a broker said. Structural failure is suspected for the TotalFina-chartered 25 year old Erika breaking in two in December and spilling viscous fuel oil on French beaches. Shipbroker E.A.
France Takes Steps Toward Safer Ships
Transport Minister Jean-Claude Gayssot supported a French industry charter to tighten oil tanker safety aimed at making oil spills like the recent Erika disaster a thing of the past. Gayssot said a pact signed by French oil companies, shipowners and charterers showed they were impatient to move immediately to improve safety standards rather than wait for international regulations to be tightened. Signatures on the charter, which followed five hours of negotiations, include officials from TotalFina, Elf Aquitaine, BP Amoco France, Royal Dutch/Shell France, Esso France, ship classification firm Bureau Veritas and petroleum industries federation UFIP.
