Clean Up Continues After Chennai Bunker Spill

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Monday February 6, 2017

Clean up is still underway after a bunker spill off Chennai, India, with clean up crews said to have collected around 100 tonnes of sludge and oil so far, local media reports.

As Ship & Bunker reported, two tankers, the MT BW Maple and the MT Dawn Kanchipuram, collided at Chennai's Kamarajar Port at around 4 a.m. on January 28.

Dawn Kanchipuram, which was carrying a cargo of diesel fuel and lube oil at the time, sustained a hull breach during the collision, spilling several tonnes of oil.

While officials are said to disagree about who is responsible for failure to contain the spill, clean up efforts have continued, with workers manually filling buckets with recovered pollution.

The New York Times reports that Commandant Rahul Dev Sharma, a spokesman for the local coast guard, confirmed Friday that at least 20 tonnes of oil had made its way into the Bay of Bengal.

"Clearing the sea of the sludge is a never-ending process," said Atulya Mishra, environment secretary for the state of Tamil Nadu, adding: "we have 2,000 people on the ground manually trying to empty the sea of the sludge, and also machines."

There is also reported to be disagreement between the shipping company and port authority over who is responsible for the collision that led to the spill.

Initially, a port official had said: "on the face of it, it seems to be a human error due to misjudgment. There can't be any misunderstanding of language as both the vessels were led by Indian masters. However, it is difficult to arrive at a conclusion."