The Tribune

By CHESTER ROBARDS

Tribune Senior Reporter

crobards@tribunemedia.net

THE Ministry of the Environment is continuing to monitor the flow of an oil slick in Bahamian waters as an “in-depth investigation” into how a cargo ship leaked the oil continues, Minister of Transport and Aviation Glenys Hanna-Martin said yesterday.

The Oil Spill Committee has still not been able to say how much oil the ship leaked before the crew was able to make temporary repairs. Ms Hanna-Martin revealed yesterday that the ship has the capacity for 3,000 barrels of Heavy Fuel Oil – 126,000 gallons of oil after conversion.

“(We are) not yet in a position to make an assessment of the level of emission,” she said.

The committee also still has not been able to say how the vessel sustained the damage that led to the leak or how close to shore the ship was when the leak occurred. A full report on the incident could be completed tomorrow.

Ms Hanna-Martin, who held an emergency press conference on the incident Monday evening, said initial reports revealed that the MSC Eugenia left the Freeport Container port, bound for Port Everglades, Florida, at about 4:30 a.m. and reported hours later that oil was noticed “bubbling” out from the ship as it sailed 12 miles southwest of Grand Bahama.

She said the crew of the ship, upon noticing the leak, moved the vessel into an area of the ocean where a “steering current” would push the oil out into the Atlantic. They then deployed a boom to contain the oil, as the remainder of the oil was pumped into auxiliary storage tanks in order to control the leak, said Ms Hanna-Martin.

“What the port will be concerned about now will be to investigate what exactly happened,” said Ms Hanna-Martin.

“What we discussed yesterday (Monday) would be preliminary reports based on what we undertstood. But, now we will do an in-depth investigation to ascertain the cause of that oil spill. We would be very interested to know exactly what happened.

“The port now will undertake an investigation. It will interview, it will view reports and make its finding.”

Ms Hanna-Martin said she still could not say whether MSC, which owns the vessel, could face any penalties under Bahamian maritime law.

“We will be guided by the office of the Attorney General which sits on the oil spill committee,” she said. “An oil spill is a serious event, we take it seriously, and we want to get to the bottom of it.”