Keeping vigil on Chennai oil spill, in talks for claims: Govt

Government today said it is keeping a close vigil on the situation arising out of oil spill following the recent collision between two ships at Kamarajar port and is in talks with ship owners for payment claims.
"The Coast Guard ship and helicopters are carrying out regular sorties for continuous monitoring of oil slick... D.G. Shipping is also holding discussions with the owners of the ships and the mechanism of distribution of compensation and payment of claims by the insurers will be shortly in place," said.
Two vessels - MT BW Maple and MT Dawn Kanchipuram - while crossing each other had collided on January 28 outside the Kamarajar harbour. Kanchipuram, which was carrying 32,813 tonnes of POL, suffered a rupture which led to oil spill.

According to the government's status report, the P&I insurers of MT Dawn Kanchipuram are in the process of establishing a local 'Claims Desk' and specifying the procedures for submitting and handling claims.
"The representative from the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Limited (a specialised international agency on 'Oil Spill Response' - arranged by the owner/P&I insurers of MT Dawn Kanchipuram) is already in Chennai," it said.
The authorities involved in the operations are confident that the situation is under control and the entire cleaning up operation will be completed in a couple of days, it said.

Minister of State for Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan is in Chennai to take stock of the situation.

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari yesterday said the government has ordered a high-level probe, headed by Director General Shipping, to nail the guilty behind the oil spill and the report is likely in a month.
The government said the damaged vessel was towed safely and berthed at Kamarajar Port on January 30 2017 and the vessel has completely discharged the POL cargo, preventing any further possibility of oil spill.
"A massive clean-up operation was launched in Tiruvallur, Chennai and Kancheepuram Districts by engaging more than 2000 persons at various sites including Ernavur, Chennai Fishing Harbour, Marine Beach, Besant Nagar, Kottivakkam, Palavakkam, Neelankarai and Injambakkam beaches," the status report said.

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The government said that immediately after collision, Kamarajar Port had deployed oil boom around the vessel after bringing it to a safe location and no further seepage was discovered.
The situation was closely monitored by top officials of the Port from the time of accident and the required assistance was rendered to both vessels, the report said.
Since the oil tanker MT Kanchipuram was loaded with a huge amount of POL cargo, it was critical to ensure that this vessel is safely berthed and its cargo discharged to obviate the possibility of any further catastrophic accident and a major oil spill, it said.

It added: "After examining the stability of the vessel, it was decided to berth the M.T. Kanchipuram at the port to immediately discharge cargo to prevent any environmental damage. The Kamarajar Port carefully brought this vessel to the port which was a very challenging task since the main engine of the vessel was not in operation and the berthing movement had to be carried out as a cold move. This major step averted the possibility of a major oil spill disaster. This vessel has now completely discharged the POL cargo."
The National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan provides that while the port is responsible for responding to an oil spill within the port area, the Coast Guard is responsible for acting as the Central Coordinating Agency for combating oil pollution in the maritime zone and the State Governments are responsible for shore line response, it added.

The status report said a massive clean-up operation was launched in Tiruvallur, Chennai and Kancheepuram at various sites including Ernavur, Chennai Fishing Harbour, Marine Beach, Besant Nagar, Kottivakkam, Palavakkam, Neelankarai and Injambakkam beaches.
It said at Ernavur, which had the maximum drift of sludge, booms have been deployed along the shore line to contain the oil spread. The required logistics and equipment support has been provided by the Chennai and Kamarajar Ports. Sufficient gum boots, gloves, buckets, mugs, liquid hand wash and drums have been provided to facilitate manual cleaning.
The government said in addition, 3 Super Suckers and submersible pumps have also been deployed to remove the oil spill.

It said the total quantity of sludge (mixture of oil, water, ocean material etc.) removed till February 2, was 65 tonnes. In addition, Super Suckers had removed 54 tonnes which contained 70 per cent water.
The government said Directorate General of Shipping has instituted a statutory inquiry under the Merchant Shipping Act to ascertain the causes and contributory factors that led to the accident.
"Both the ships have been restrained from leaving the Port. DG Shipping is also holding discussions with the owners of the ships and the mechanism of distribution of compensation and payment of claims by the insurers will be shortly in place," it said.