The International Salvage Union (ISU) published its Pollution Survey results for 2017, noting that last year, it provided 252 services to vessels carrying more than 3.4 million tonnes of potential polluting cargoes, a significant increase from 2016.
Highlights
- The most significant factor in the increase in 2017 is a larger number of bulk cargoes: ammonium nitrate, coal, scrap steel, grains, soya and cement. A number of bulk cargoes are not included as potential pollutants, however, ISU members also provided services to bulkers carrying 845,976 tonnes of non-hazardous dry bulk – chiefly ores.
- The 2017 numbers also record a significant increase in the number of containers involved in salvage cases, rising from 21,244 TEU in 2016 to 45,655 TEU in 2017. It reflects the size of containerships – a small increase in the number of boxship salvage cases can add significantly to the TEU total.
- Bunker fuel, at 135,995 tonnes, showed a significant increase on 2016’s figure of 89,492 tonnes. That is largely explained by the increased number of services provided. A number of services within the total did not record the quantity of bunkers on the vessel or the cargo type.
Commenting on the results of the survey, President of the ISU, Charo Coll, said:
ISU does not suggest that all of these potential pollutants were at imminent risk of going into the sea. Some cases will have been benign but others will have carried a real environmental threat. It only takes one major incident to cause an environmental disaster so it is worth considering what might have occurred in some of these cases if there had not been a professional salvor available and willing to intervene.
The survey was first conducted by ISU in 1994 and the methodology was updated in 2014, taking account of the fact that coastal state authorities consider most cargoes to be potentially polluting. Container trade has also increased dramatically and the capacity of boxships is now far greater than in 1994. Containers, with mixed and sometimes hazardous contents – and the danger they cause if left in the sea – are both a potential pollutant and hazard.
