Jakob Maersk
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The Jakob Mærsk was a crude oil tanker operated by the AP Møller-Mærsk shipping company . The ship caught fire on January 29, 1975 off Porto de Leixões , Portugal , with a cargo of 88,000 tons of crude oil.
history
The tanker with a measurement of 48,252 GRT was built in 1966 as hull number 11 at the new Lindø shipyard of Odense Staalskibsværft for the Danish shipping company AP Møller-Mærsk.
Stranding and explosion
On January 29, 1975, the ship arrived with a cargo of 88,000 tons of crude oil from the Persian Gulf in the Portuguese port of Leixões. At around 1 a.m. the ship exploded after running onto a sandbank when approaching the oil terminal , and then burned out almost completely with further explosions. The port tug Monte da Luz approached the burning ship and rescued 17 crew members and the two port pilots . The fire with flames over 50 meters high burned for three days and destroyed almost the entire cargo of the tanker, the column of smoke reached a height of about 750 meters.
The ship broke in three parts during the fire. The aft and central aisle sank near the port entrance, the forecastle was driven out by the current and stranded at Castelo do Queijo . The larger sunken aft part of the ship was later salvaged because it posed a danger to shipping, the stranded foredeck remained at the beach for several years and was later demolished in situ .
Of the 32 men and women of the crew, 26 were rescued, four of them with severe burns. One crew member drowned, five other crew members, all mechanical engineers, remained missing.
Actions and consequences
The cargo consisted of Iranian crude oil , the greater part of which was burned. On the one hand, since no suitable solvents were available and the state also wanted to burn the largest possible amount of oil, no measures were taken to extinguish the fire. About 40,000 to 50,000 tons of oil were burned, most of the remaining part leaked. The largest oil entry occurred when the bow was stranded on March 11th. Between 20,000 and 25,000 tons were driven at sea and gradually disintegrated. Around 15,000 tons polluted the coastline over a length of around 19 kilometers.
As a relief measure, the leaked oil was dammed with straw. After January 31, when the fire was out, the use of solvents began and continued into March. A total of almost 300 tons of solvents were used.
The cloud of smoke from the fire that lasted several days made the population difficult to breathe.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations carried out fish catch samples, the values of which made the fish appear suitable for human consumption.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has estimated the cost of the accident at 2.8 million US dollars.
Web links
- Report at Cedre (English)
- NOAA report (English; PDF; 1.93 MB)