Presentation
The Challenges of Rogue Spills
DescriptionThe imposition of sanctions against several major oil producing states has resulted in the creation of ghost fleets and other means of circumventing these sanctions. As a result, there is a significant amount of crude trading, transport, and transshipment operations that run diametrically opposed to many standards and measures the international maritime community has put in place to enhance shipping safety, and reliability. Nonetheless, old and dilapidated single-hull tankers have returned to service and are now carrying cargos throughout the world’s oceans.
These “Ghost”vessels frequently operate with AIS turned off to avoid tracking. They are conducting ship-to-ship transfers with aging assets near environmentally sensitive shorelines putting artisanal fishing and fisheries at risk. Ironically, not long after the international community came together to prevent an oil spill from FSO Safar In the southern Red Sea, the same de facto government Is now targeting shipping and has already caused severe oil and fertilizer pollution from a sunken ship. At the same time, a notch-barge carrying what has been finger-printed as Venezuelan crude oil grounded on a coral reef in Trinidad and Tobago in February 2024, releasing an estimated 35,000 barrels of oil that has impacted the coast of Tobago, Bonaire, and potentially other Caribbean islands. In this case, the tug has not been located and appears to be in hiding. This potentially casts shed some light on the similar modus operandi that caused the rogue spill that occurred in the northwestern coast Brazil in 2019.
Operating substandard, aging vessels , many without inspections, and in poor operating condition, and notably without insurance, all conspire to increase the risk of oil spills to the world's coastlines. This hot topic session seeks to identify and quantify the extent of this new risk and describe issues encountered by coastal nation states in preventing and responding to rogue spills and incidents. This topic will be carried over to Interspill 2025.
These “Ghost”vessels frequently operate with AIS turned off to avoid tracking. They are conducting ship-to-ship transfers with aging assets near environmentally sensitive shorelines putting artisanal fishing and fisheries at risk. Ironically, not long after the international community came together to prevent an oil spill from FSO Safar In the southern Red Sea, the same de facto government Is now targeting shipping and has already caused severe oil and fertilizer pollution from a sunken ship. At the same time, a notch-barge carrying what has been finger-printed as Venezuelan crude oil grounded on a coral reef in Trinidad and Tobago in February 2024, releasing an estimated 35,000 barrels of oil that has impacted the coast of Tobago, Bonaire, and potentially other Caribbean islands. In this case, the tug has not been located and appears to be in hiding. This potentially casts shed some light on the similar modus operandi that caused the rogue spill that occurred in the northwestern coast Brazil in 2019.
Operating substandard, aging vessels , many without inspections, and in poor operating condition, and notably without insurance, all conspire to increase the risk of oil spills to the world's coastlines. This hot topic session seeks to identify and quantify the extent of this new risk and describe issues encountered by coastal nation states in preventing and responding to rogue spills and incidents. This topic will be carried over to Interspill 2025.
Organizer
Director, Regional External Affairs
Presenterses
Event Type
Hot Topic Session
TimeWednesday, May 15th5:30pm - 6:30pm CDT
Location278-280