Tanio (ship)
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The Tanio was an oil tanker that broke in two on March 7, 1980 off Brittany .
history
The accident
The fully unloaded ship was in March 1980 with a cargo of 26,000 tons of heavy fuel oil of the type Fuel No. 6 on a trip to Civitavecchia . On March 7, the ship broke apart during a severe storm about 50 kilometers from the island of Batz. About 13,500 tons of oil leaked out. The forecastle sank to a depth of around 90 meters with a residual load of around 5,000 tons of oil. The stern of the tanker with a residual cargo of around 7,500 tons of oil continued to float and was towed to Le Havre .
consequences
An oil slick formed which, due to the strong north-westerly storm and the ocean current, moved towards the Channel coast of Brittany and reached it on March 9th. According to estimates, a stretch of coast up to 150 kilometers long, which was already damaged in 1967 and 1978 by the oil spills from the Torrey Canyon and the Amoco Cadiz , was polluted.
The oil spill was initially kept under observation, but no action was taken, as the rugged coastal structure with its extreme tidal conditions and the bad weather did not allow the pollution to be combated. It was only later that large-scale cleaning work could begin, which continued until the beginning of July. The main work was focused on the particularly badly affected 20-kilometer stretch of beach near Trégastel and Ploumanac'h , which is used for tourism.
The Tanio accident brought a number of obstacles to the cleaning of the inaccessible coastal region, since the viscous heavy fuel oil could hardly be pumped at ambient temperature. For the same reason and the low toxicity of the oil, the damage to nature was kept to a relatively low level. Around 1,700 dead sea birds were collected during the cleanup. Furthermore, areas in the tidal zone, especially mussel cultures and seagrass areas, were affected.
Web links
- Report of ITOPF (English)
- Tanio , Center of Documentation, Research and Experimentation on Accidental Water Pollution