Cynthia Busuttil
Tankers off Malta pose potential pollution threat
A total of 21 tankers were moored or anchored to the east of the island yesterday afternoon according to the website www.marinetraffic.com. The red line demarcates Maltese and international waters.
A leading physicist says the gathering of a number of tankers laden with oil and gas off Malta presents a "critical situation".
Even if the tankers were not close, they could still pose a great threat to the islands, Aldo Drago, head of the University of Malta's Physical Oceanography Unit, said.
"We need to be ready to respond to any eventual threat of oil hitting our shores," he said.
The oil tankers are gathered at Hurd's Bank, about 18 miles off Malta. A spokesman for the Transport Ministry specified that the ships were outside Maltese territorial waters, where international law prevailed. The ministry was asked whether it was concerned about the potential of an oil spill given the concentration of tankers in the area.
According to Reuters, about six crude oil tankers, 20 oil tankers and four liquefied natural gas tankers were anchored off Malta until oil prices recover.
At 7.30 p.m. yesterday, the website marinetraffic.com, which provides real-time information about ship movements, showed 21 tankers moored or anchored to the east of the island outside Maltese territorial waters. Five of the tankers were described by the site as hazardous.
Prof. Drago said the islands were already under "a big threat" of oil spills from ship traffic close to our shores, especially in the Malta Channel, the stretch of sea that separates Malta from the southern shores of Sicily.
In fact, as much as 90 per cent of the total oil traffic in the Mediterranean goes through the Egypt-Gibraltar route, passing close to Malta.
An oil spill model by Medslik, which was developed by the Physical Oceanography Unit, shows that even an oil spill in the distant east of the island could hit Malta's coast and cause damage to the shoreline resources and the maritime environment.
Prof. Drago said the highest risk of oil hitting the Maltese islands was from the north and northwest sectors, which would affect a large part of the Maltese northern and eastern coastline.
"The swift sea surface currents are able to bring oil from the more distant sources to the Maltese shores in under two days. North and north-easterly winds tend to completely reshape the flows in the Malta Channel such that the threat of oil reaching the Maltese islands is extended to sources from the whole domain between Malta and Sicily, including the eastern part of the Channel. " he said.
He explained that oil could even become captured in closed patterns of flow, which would lead to the oil hitting the islands in successive blows.
"It means that even if the oil tankers are not that close, they are still a big threat to the Maltese islands," he said. About 15 of the 60-odd maritime accidents that take place in the Mediterranean basin annually involve oil or chemical spills, sometimes both, according to the European Environmental Agency. Moreover, Prof. Drago pointed out, the Maltese islands were in close proximity of the Sicilian oil refinery in Gela and numerous oil loading ports in Sicily. He was sceptical about the extent of shelter the Maltese islands could provide, saying that high winds and uneasy sea states were not rare even during summer. Moreover, the seabed deepened quickly to the south.
"If I were a ship master, I would rather find refuge close to the southern Sicilian coasts," he said.
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D Vella
Jun 22nd 2009, 20:33
This is nothing new,you can see these tankers anchored in the same place any night of the year.Quantity varies from few to uncountable numbers.
Galea. L
Jun 22nd 2009, 18:51
J Galea, J Oatmon Article 56 of the Law of the Sea Convention In the exclusive economic zone the coastal State has: 1(b) jurisdiction as provided for in the relevant provisions of this Convention with regard to: (iii) the protection and preservation of the marine environment. Article 77 1. The coastal State exercises over the continental shelf sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring it and exploiting its natural resources. 4. The natural resources referred to in this Part consists of the mineral and other non-living resources of the sea-bed and subsoil together with living organisms belonging to the sedentary species. that is to say, organisms which, at the harvestable stage, either are immobile on or under the sea-bed or are unable to move except in constant physical contact with the sea-bed or subsoil." Therefore Malta can order the ships anchored at Hurds Bank and within its EEZ not to anchor and continue on their way to prevent any accident which could damage the marine environment and Malta's interests as provided for in the Law of the Sea Comvention.
J Galea
Jun 22nd 2009, 15:07
What kind of a comment is that by Mr Oatmon? No such situation would be allowed to occur in the English Channel because of the obvious danger to the very busy sealanes there. We are not talking about active traffic queueing for port but storage under anchor for purely self-interested economic reasons. Of course there are risks involved. Hasn't Mr Oatmon ever seen the Mediterranean at its worst?
The comment that 'This is a non issue and no one should be worried ' is disingenuous. Look at the Erika, Prestige, and Nakhodka disasters all the way back to Torrey Canyon to see what one major incident can do to a tourism-based economy or any other one for that matter.
As the ships are anchored in international waters there may be no legal right for anyone to remove them under present arrangements. If that is the case and the Maltese Government is concerned it can obviously raise the matter at the International Maritime Organisation for a proper discussion. The tankers are not within Malta's 12nm territorial sea but are within its exclusive fishing zone and its Exclusive Economic Zone so the country clearly has an interest in this matter.
Galea. L
Jun 22nd 2009, 11:07
p.s.
When the cursor is moved over the area it also gives you the exact latitude and longitude coordinates.
Galea. L
Jun 22nd 2009, 10:58
Those who want to know what ships are in the vicinity of Malta can go to
http://9h1av.topcities.com/hp.html
and click on the link Vapuri - Ships.
When you put the cursor on the symbols it will give you the ship's name, speed and heading.
If you click on the symbols with the left mouse button you will get more information such as a photo and other details of the ship. You can also track the vessel.
You can zoom in and out, centre the area by holding the right mouse button down and shifting the map/area and also go to other areas.
Information is updated every 100 seconds.
Galea. L
Jun 22nd 2009, 10:41
An artificial Island should be constructed on Hurds bank using construction waste and used to build a power station on it to reduce a major source of pollution from Malta's built-up areas. A Windfarm and solar panels could also be put up on the artificial island although they would be limited.
This will also do away with off-shore anchoring and ships will have to pay to enter harbour and not simply anchoring there with the attendant danger of a major disaster which will wreak havoc with our tourist industry more than it is presently in and destroy the beaches for Maltese citizens.
Letting all those ships anchor there is a recipe for DISASTER.
J Oatmon
Jun 22nd 2009, 10:37
Why this scare mongering- by so called experts?
Oil and Gas tankers are a 'normal fact of life' with hundreds passing by every month in the English channel and docking and unloading in Rotterdam, and no one is panicking.
This is a non issue and no one should be worried, unless there is a catastrophe there is no pollution - and tanker catastrophes are very rare, considering how many thousands of tankers there are covering millions of miles all over the world, every year.
Don't lose any sleep over this, the citizens of Rotterdam have this situation 1,000 times worse year in and year out, and they don't panic.