Help pleeeeeeeeaseeee !!!!!! :)?

Question

hiaaa i need help im doing a project and im stuck does any 1 know what was the main causes of the sea empress oil spill and why it happened
pleeeaseee help !!!!
please
thanks x

Answer 1

The Grounding Of The Sea Empress

On Thursday, February 15, 1996, the Spanish-built, Norwegian-owned, Cyprus-registered, Glasgow-managed, French-chartered, Russian-crewed, and Liberian-flagged Sea Empress struck the Milford Channel Rock in Milford Haven harbour, Wales. Nearly half the ship's cargo -- 70,000 tons of light crude oil -- spilled into the Irish Sea. The pilot (who came on board to help navigate the final part of the journey to the docks) had attempted to steer west of the rock, which lay in the middle of the harbour. A strong eastward-tugging tide arose, defeating his efforts to keep the 147,000-ton vessel clear.

Before the collision, the captain and harbour pilot had not discussed or agreed upon a plan for their approach to the docks. The captain, the chief officer and the helmsman all spoke Russian and were not fluent in English, raising questions about possible communications problems between them and port officials onshore. When the Sea Empress ran aground, the official tug used in this area was down near Portugal 'on business'. So a Chinese tug - one of the most powerful in the world - which was nearby in Milford Haven at the time, was called out to help. But according to observers none of the crew members spoke English, and the Port Authority had to go and fetch a local Chinese restaurant owner to act as a translator. The tug was unable to free the Sea Empress.

For the whole of the next week more tugs arrived and rescue workers battled to free the stricken vessel and to stop the rapidly-spreading slick of toxic oil. But violent gales and falling tides kept the ship stuck fast on the rock. By the Sunday evening, when the weather began to worsen, the Sea Empress had been at St Anne's Head for three days. Yet she had still only spilled about 2,000 tonnes of oil. Over the next few days, as the ship lay on the rocks and was buffeted by storm-force winds, oil flooded out in massive quantities. By the following Thursday (eight days after the crash) when she finally limped into Milford Haven port - still under her own power - she had lost 72,000 tonnes of oil.

For the official report on the grounding, see the second referenced website.

Answer 2

On the evening of 15 February 1996 the Sea Empress was entering the mouth of the Cleddau Estuary on her way into Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire to deposit its oil cargo at the refinery. Sailing against the outgoing tide, at 20:07 UTC the ship was pushed off it's course by the current, and hit rocks in the middle of the channel, which punctured her starboard hull causing oil to pour out into the bay.

Answer 3

AN investigation into the causes of the Sea Empress oil disaster has revealed that charts of the waters around Milford Haven, Britain's busiest oil port, were inaccurate.
According to the report prepared by the chief inspector of marine accidents, the salvage team missed an opportunity to refloat the grounded tanker when it had lost only 2,000 tons of oil because it had been given wrong information about the tides. Over the next week a further 70,000 tons escaped, making the Sea Empress disaster the third largest oil spill in British waters.
The tanker, registered in Liberia and crewed by Russians, was taking oil from the Firth of Forth to the Texaco refinery in Milford Haven. As it approached the entrance to the harbour on Feb 15, a pilot went aboard to navigate. Tugs waited inside the harbour, but the Sea Empress ran aground on its approach, releasing 2,000 tons of its cargo of 131,000 tons of crude oil and 2,400 tons of fuel oil.
On the evening of Feb 17 the tanker was swept on to rocks off St Ann's Head and released more oil. More groundings occurred over the next three days. The ship was refloated on Feb 21 and brought into Milford Haven harbour.
Oil spread across 125 miles of the south-west Wales coastline, much of it rich in wildlife. The area affected included 30 sites of special scientific interest, two national nature reserves and one of Britain's three marine nature reserves.
The BBC1 programme CountryFile,reported that waters at the entrance to Milford Haven harbour were not properly charted.
The official salvage team did not realise that it could have got the grounded Sea Empress safely into port two days after the accident because it had inaccurate information about the tides. The Milford Haven harbour authority failed to ensure that a pilot was on board the vessel as weather conditions worsened four days after the accident. After that the rescue operation degenerated into "salvage by committee".
In a salvage incident the salvors appointed by the ship's owners have the power to order what action is taken. But in a pollution incident both the port authority and the Transport Secretary have the power to intervene and direct what action should be taken. The Transport Secretary's powers are delegated to the chief executive of the Coastguard Agency and can be used to override the port authority.
According to the report, there was "genuine confusion" as to whether the Government had intervened. An official report by the marine pollution control unit said the Transport Secretary issued no directions.
Capt Ian Evans, a former marine safety adviser, said that the captain of a local pilot ship told salvage operators that the Sea Empress could have been moved two days after the disaster, but that his advice was overruled. "The pilot was there advising," he said. "His advice was ignored for reasons that are beyond my understanding or anyone else I have spoken to."
Although the Admiralty charts needed updating, local seamen were aware of conditions and could have guided the ship away, he added. Admiralty charts are published by the UK Hydrographic Office which also issues amendments. The information is received from the port authorities and the Royal Navy.
The Hydrographic Office said that the chart for the entrance to Milford Haven dated from August 1987, though amendments had been issued. A new chart had been issued since the Sea Empress accident. The office also publishes annual tables of tide predictions.
The marine accident investigation branch, in the light of its investigations into the Sea Empress incident, has already recommended that the Government's powers of intervention should be clarified and extended. The Government has tabled an amendment to that effect to the Merchant Shipping and Maritime Security Bill, currently before Parliament.
The Marine Conservation Society said that the command structure should be changed so that the first priority was to avoid environmental damage.
Labour's transport spokesman said the Department of Transport should check the accuracy of charts for other ports and busy shipping lanes.

Answer 4

The grounding of the crude oil tanker known as the Sea Empress in February of 1996 resulted in the discharge of approximately 72,000 tonnes of oil into the seas around the coast of South-West Wales. Various organizations and many individuals monitored the environmental effects of this pollution emergency.

The region is renowned for the beauty and diversity of its coastline. Many important shores suffered severe crude oil pollution. Certain kinds of wildlife were hard-hit. Natural dispersal and a massive clean-up operation cleared bulk oil from most shores within weeks of the grounding. However, lingering residues were subsequently evident on many shores, albeit in ever-diminishing quantities.

swan.ac.uk/empress/empress
itopf.com/seaemp

Answer 5

Have you had a look on the internet? This story was in the news a lot so you should be able to do a google search for more information. You could also try the BBC news website. Good luck - hope you find what you're looking for.

Answer 6

hi hunni, why dont you try wikipedia or a general google search for it, just type in sea empress oil spill or something, and it will come up with loads. hope this helps, good luck xx
www.google.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Answer 7

geo 1944 is right.

Answer 8

no..
why dont you research it on the internet it looks like you have it.