Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) has received a $50,000 penalty from The Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) for polluting the Tema Port environment, Ghana, with heavy fuel oil (HFO).
The MSC Alexa container ship spilled HFO at around 3am on Tuesday, May 10, 2016, when ballasting. The spilled oil spread to the new jetty under construction, the marine dock, oil jetty and VALCO Wharf, as well as the leeway.
The breakwater of the canoe beach and portions of the fishing harbour were also affected.
The Director of Port at the GPHA, Mr Jacob Kobla Adorkor, said that the spill was not brought to their attention until May 11 by security men from an international standardisation organisation (ISO) who noticed the smell of oil at the port. If the spill had been reported earlier, immediate response would have taken place the oil spread could have been contained.
It was thought that the spill was caused when the ship’s tanks became contaminated during ballasting, leading to officials causing the spill as the vessel had no oil spill response equipment on board.
GPHA said that they could have constrained the spill to a small area if the terminal operators and the agents for the vessel had reported the incident to them.
MSC and the terminal operators, Meridian Port Services (MPS), according to officials of the GPHA, are also be surcharged with the cost of cleaning the oil from the surface of the water, according to the GPHA.
The cleaning process will take approximately two weeks due to the severity of the spill.
Ship Efficiency Review News
To contact the reporter responsible for this article, please email editor@fathom-mi.com
