8 minute read
MV WAKASHIO INCIDENT UPDATE
In Spill Alert 19 we had reached the stage when the post spill clean-up was going well and some tourism areas had reopened for swimming and the contract to remove the stern had been let.
Three months on quite a lot has happened most of which has been positive!
We have had a fascinating Webinar on 24 February with Polyeco’s Mauritius Country Manager, Kostas Chatzatoglou, who took us through the initial clean up, the collection of the oil held behind booms, the disposal of the booms and the absorbents. You can view the webinar through this link:
It was detailed information and we all learned a lot from the webinar.
This update deals with the strategic, operational, socio-political, legal and financial compensation issues surrounding the incident.
STRATEGIC LEVEL
The political fallout of COVID and the poor response to the MV Wakashio grounding placed a lot of pressure on the Mauritian Government who were then in their first year in government.
The Mauritian economy suffered greatly with no tourism as a result of COVID and the fallout from the MV Wakashio incident. There had been increasing dissent amongst the population against the government which started on 29 August 2020 with a gathering of 150,000 Mauritians in Port Louis. These protests continued weekly for 2 months. The latest protest was a well-attended “Marche Citoyenne” on 21 February 2021. This was joined by opposition parties all saying much the same “This Government must go!”
It has since responded with a reshuffle of ministers with two being sacked. It is still the largest party so holds a majority. However, their weakness has built acoalition of parties against them so with a narrow majority now have to be more accountable than they have been to date.
On a more positive note, a Comprehensive Economic Co-operation and Partnership Agreement with India was signed in Port Louis on 22 Feb 21. This gives Mauritius a $100M line of credit and free trade access between nations for certain lines of products.
On 1 Jan 21 the Mauritius-China bilateral Free Trade Agreement came into effect. This gives Mauritius free trade access to 8547 Chinese products with a complete free trade agreement on all other products evolving over a 5-7 year period.
Mauritius and China have also agreed to collaborate in 10 areas, including industrial development to increase competitiveness; to develop manufacturing based on innovation and research; to conduct exchange of specialists; to have an exchange of researchers for disseminating know how and for support in technology and innovation and to cooperate in the financial sector. It is felt that Mauritius may be used as a clearing and settlement facility for Chinese investments in West Africa. These lift the gloom and maybe shine some light at the end of the economic tunnel.
The Government have been taken aback by the level and frequency of protest marches against them. This has unified the opposition parties which is making governing harder
There is also tension in the Mauritius–UK relationship as the UK has reasserted its right to sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago despite the UN and the International Court of Justice voting in Mauritius’ favour. This tension will continue as the US are likely to support the UK position due to the strategic location of the archipelago. This will limit the support the UK government will give to Mauritius in the future.
OPERATIONAL LEVEL
Polyeco have been established in Mauritius since 2017 and were present from thegrounding of the MV Wakashio and were appointed for the shoreline clean up, with le Floch Pollution and to manage all waste management. In Mauritius the Minister of Environment is responsible for the impact but the Minister of Shipping is responsible for the grounding and the wreck. Polyeco were working for both.
Over 250 locals were appointed by Polyeco to assist in the clean up. They were local fishermen, divers and skippers drawn from a list of registered fishermen affected by the oil spill provided by the Fisheries Authority. Boats and Truck were subcontracted. Training was provided and the teams were organised to ensure work was properly supervised. Polyeco used its own staff as well as staff provided by Polyeco Group from their operations worldwide.
This continues to employ the following resource:
2 hazardous waste experts
4 waste management supervisors
6 foremen and 55 staff
The artisanal booms were difficult to manage as once wet they were heavy to handle and manage. The vegetation, which absorbed the lost oil meant that as they dried there was, in some cases, spontaneous combustion. This necessitated a fire watch to supervise them whilst they were drying and then the contents of them had to be separated and repackaged for disposal.
The last visible evidence of the spill is the stern section. A contract was let in November to a Chinese company, Lianyungang Dali Underwater Engineering to remove it. Their staff deployed to the island in December and a huge crane was built and deployed to the wreck site in mid February.
Whilst there is unlikely to be a large volume of fuel and oil on the vessel there is likely to some release of product so the wreck area has been boomed as well as the Blue Bay Marine Park and some other local RAMSAR sites. Polyeco have staff attending on a 24/7 basis to ensure that should there be a product release it is captured as close to it source as possible using skimmers.
Weather permitting, it is hoped that the wreck will be removed by the end of March. As the wreck moves on the reef it grinds away the coral leaving a plume of dust to float downwind of the wreck limiting light which is necessary for the reef to recover.
Polyeco are still working in the RAMSAR sites and in the mangroves and this work will continue for a few more months until the Government’s marine scientists are happy to sign off this work as complete.
Home made boom deployment
As we heard in the webinar the waste disposal effort continues with the waste due to be shipped to Polyeco in Greece in April for processing, recycling where possible and disposal.
THE SOCIO-POLITICAL AND LEGAL LEVEL
From late August 20 there were weekly protects in Mauritius and some abroadprotests The people united to protect their nation against the oil spill and as we have seen built over 50km of bagasse booms to ‘defend their nation’. It was a considerable social effort.
Local people felt let down by the government on handling of COVID, MV Wakashio, the economy and its lack of effective leadership with the country facing tough times.
The sense of ‘outrage’ expressed against the government manifest itself in its failings in the MV Wakashio spill and its lack of leadership in responding to the spill, leadership through it and support to those affected. Its international reputation has been affected by this. It is only now recovering some of it external relationships as described above.
The stern section of the MV Wakashio is the last evidence of the incident
The Captain and First Officer were charged with “unlawful interference with the operation of a property of a ship likelyto endanger its safe navigation,” bail was refused pending a court case.
They lost a second application for bail on 20 Oct, after which Acting Senior District Magistrate Neeshal K. Jugnauth said in Port Louis:
At a court hearing on 22 Feb 21 Captain Sunil Kumar Nandeshwar appeared for the third and final time before the Court of Investigation set up to investigate the accident, where the 59-year-old Indian national again testified that he decided to manoeuvre the ship close to land to pick up cell phone signal as a gesture to the ship’s crew, who were working beyond the initial scope of their employment agreements. However, according to the captain, fault lies with the first officer.
However the Chief Officer said that the Captain was on the bridge at the time of the grounding using his phone.
It was also reported that ballast pumps were not working so inhibited the opportunity to move ballast that may have assisted in re-floating the vessel.
The Court of Investigation continues and bail has again been refused.
Work to remove the stern section has started and is due to finish late March
The sandy area is the reef breaking up through the grinding of the hull on it. This plume inhibits light getting to the aquatic life on the reef that keeps it alive
FINANCIAL COMPENSATION
Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd said on Friday 11 Sept, it would spend about 1 billion yen ($9.42 million) on measures to help Mauritius, including the clean-up of the island’s mangrove forests and contribution to an environmental recovery fund. A small part of this has funded this container to help with a Plastic Pollution project which was launched in February 2021:
According to Toda Law Office in Tokyo, Mauritius has ratified the 1976 version, which limits payments to 2 billion yen ($18.7 million) while Japan has signed the1996 document which has an upper limit of 7 billion yen.
In addition the Wakashio was insured by Japan P&I Club, a spokesman for Japan P&I said it was “trying to make internal estimates” for how much the clean-up would cost.
OTHER MV WAKASHIO EVENTS
We will be holding the following webinars so look for information on linked in, twitter and on www.ukeirespill.org/www.ukspill. org
April TBC
MV Wakashio Part 4 – Review of progress, the Remediation following the spill and cleaning the sensitive areas incl the mangrives
Mark Orr – UKEIRESpill Nikos Vlachos - Polyeco
May TBC
MV Wakashio Part 5 – The environmental impact of the spill
Mark Orr – UKEIRESpill CEFAS
June TBC
MV Wakashio Part 6 – Lesson to be learned from the incident
TBC
