Jakob Maersk oil spill
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The Jakob Maersk was a crude oil tanker shipping company AP Møller Mærsk -. The ship came on January 29, 1975 before Leixoes, Portugal with a cargo of 88,000 tons of crude oil on fire.
History
The tanker with a survey of 48 252 GRT was built in 1966 as hull number 11 of the new Lindø shipyard 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 tonnes of oil from the Persian Gulf in the Portuguese port Leixões. Around 1:00 clock the ship exploded after it had run at start-up of oil terminals on a sandbank, and burned it almost completely under further explosions. The Tug Boat Monte da Luz approached the burning ship and rescued 17 crew members and the two port pilots. The fire, with over 50 meter high flames burned for three days and destroyed almost the entire charge of the tanker, the smoke column reached a height of about 750 meters.
The ship broke during the fire in three parts. The stern of the vessel and the nave fell near the harbor entrance, the bow was also driven by the current and ran aground at Castelo do Queijo. The larger lower aft part was later recovered, as it posed a threat to shipping, the stranded bow remained some years at Strandungsort and was later canceled in situ.
Of the 32 women and men of the crew were rescued 26, four of them with severe burns. A crew member drowned, five other crew members, all mechanical engineers, remained missing.
Actions and consequences
The cargo consisted of crude oil of the variety Iranian crude, which burned for the most part. Firstly, there is no suitable solvent were available and there was also a desire by the government to let burn the maximum amount of oil, no measures were taken to extinguish the fire. Approximately 40,000 to 50,000 tons of oil burned, the major remaining portion came from. The largest oil entry is made in the stranding of the forecastle on March 11. Between 20,000 and 25,000 tons of oil were driven at sea and dissolved successively. Around 15,000 tonnes of spilled oil from the wreck polluted the coastline over a distance of about 19 kilometers.
As an auxiliary measure straw was spread against the escaping oil. After 31 January, when the fire was extinguished, one began with the use of solvents and continued this use continued into March. In total, nearly 300 tons of solvent were used.
The smoke of the fire for several days resulted in parts of the population to respiratory problems.
The Food and Agriculture Organization ( FAO) of the United Nations led by fish samples whose values were the fish appear further suitable for human consumption.
The follow-up costs of the accident were of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ( OECD) estimated at 2.8 million U.S. dollars.