In the not-too-distant past – especially from the 1960s to the 1990s – oil tankers seemed to hit rocks with horrifying frequency, often spilling thousands of tonnes of crude oil, destroying livelihoods and marine ecosystems.
One of the worst – but also one of the last to devastate UK shores – occurred 30 years ago when the 1470,00-tonne, Liberian-registered Sea Empress foundered on the approach to the Texaco oil refinery at Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire.
After striking rocks on 15 February 1996, over the next six days the ship discharged 71,800 tonnes of crude oil (of the 130,000 tonnes it was carrying) and 370 tonnes of heavy engine oil. Some 125 miles (200km) of coastline was affected, with thousands of seabirds, such as guillemots, razorbills and common scoters, found dead or heavily oiled.
The clean-up took months, and a fishing ban was imposed on Pembrokeshire’s thriving shellfish industry. With many beaches covered in oil, the tourism industry was also devastated.
The Government’s investigation published the following year revealed that, although gale-force winds and tidal currents were factors in the disaster, human error was key. The approaches to Milford Haven are relatively narrow and affected by tidal flows, so a pilot is routinely dispatched to help each ship navigate its way to harbour.
The fateful day
As the Sea Empress approached the channel on 15 February, the investigation records that “The weather was fine and clear with a west-northwesterly force 4/5 wind.” But the pilot had misjudged the timing and speed of the tidal stream.
Worse still, the master of the ship did not communicate well with the pilot. Between them, they navigated the Sea Empress away from deeper water – and at 8.07pm, the ship ran aground on rocks near St Ann’s Head at the entrance to the Milford Haven Waterway.
Although some oil was spilled, the situation could have been contained at that stage. Tugs were dispatched to pull the stricken tanker into deeper water – but there were too few of them, the investigation found.
The following day, gale-force winds dragged the Sea Empress onto the rocks again. Further storage tanks were ruptured, releasing more oil. The 27 crew members, all Russian, were airlifted to safety.
As the investigation recorded: “For the next four days, efforts by the salvors to regain control of the casualty were unsuccessful and the casualty went aground again on a number of occasions... It was not until 21 February that the casualty was successfully refloated and brought under control.”
The Marine Pollution Control Unit (MPCU), a government body charged with dealing with oil spills and other hazardous waste, was deployed but “did not have enough staff dedicated to the salvage operation”. Furthermore, “key technical personnel of the MPCU should not have been diverted from their primary tasks to brief the media at important stages of the salvage.”
Stark contrast
This catalogue of blunders led to important changes being instituted, including improved pilot training, the introduction of a Port Marine Safety Code (now the Ports and Marine Facilities Safety Code) and a raft of new environmental safeguards. Modern tankers now have double hulls to protect storage tanks, and such catastrophes are now rare.
The clean-up and compensation for fisheries and other local businesses were paid for by a combination of the ship owner, the UK government and the International Oil Pollution Fund – backed, in part, by oil producers to compensate those affected by oil spills – though many of the recipients claimed that it was not enough. Milford Haven Port Authority was fined £4 million.
In stark contrast to the mistakes made in the lead-up to the disaster, the clean-up operation was a masterful piece of work. Booms were deployed to keep oil at sea until it dispersed naturally or could be treated with chemical dispersants, and oil that did reach the shore was removed manually.
Though the initial damage was horrifying, the longer-term impacts were not as bad as first feared. The Sea Empress Environmental Evaluation Committee, established in 1996 to assess the damage caused by the spill, found that although some wildlife populations would take years to recover, “the great majority proved resilient and after two years had regained their former abundance”. A happy ending – of sorts.
Learn more about the Sea Empress disaster on the 15 February episode of Countryfile available on iPlayer, when the team visits the Pembrokeshire coastline and meets the community 30 years after the catastrophe.
Top image: The Liberian-registered, Russian-crewed 147,000-ton "Sea Empress", run aground 15 February near an offshore wildlife refuge off the Welsh coast, dumped an estimated 4,000 tons of crude oil, 200 of which reportedly washed ashore. (Credit: Barry Batchelor/Getty Images)
