2017 Ennore oil spill

2017 Ennore oil spill
Location	Ennore harbour
Coordinates	13.228166º N, 80.363333º E
Date	28 January 2017
Cause
Cause	Collision between LPG tanker and oil tanker
Casualties	No human life lost as yet
Spill characteristics
Volume	Not disclosed so far
Area	Not disclosed so far
Shoreline impacted	North Tamil Nadu

The 2017 Ennore oil spill was an oil spill that occurred outside the Kamarajar Port in Ernavoor, Tamil Nadu, India, on 28 January 2017. The spill occurred when the outbound empty LPG tanker M.T. BW Maple collided with the inbound fully loaded oil tanker M.T. Dawn Kanchipuram around 04:00 local time.

Location

The collision between the LPG tanker and the POL (Petroleum, Oil, Lubricants) oil tanker occurred 2 nautical miles off Kamarajar Port in Ennore - a natural harbour about 20 km north of the state capital of Chennai on the Coromandel Coast. The Ennore creek (swampy backwater traversing over 13 km between Pulicat Lake in the north and Kosasthalaiyar river in the south and emptying into the Bay of Bengal) separates the town of Ennore from the Government held public company Kamarajar Port.

The satellite port, built to ease load on the Chennai Port along with the fly-ash spewing North Chennai Thermal Power Station and unchecked industrialisation of the area has caused the expected environment fallout to the rich, varied biodiversity of Ennore-Pulicat biosphere prompting a panel consisting of a retired high court judge and two research scholars to recommend in 2016, that industrial expansion be temporarily prohibited in this area.

Ecologically sensitive area

This portion of the coast is also one of the dwindling global nesting sites of the vulnerable Olive Ridley Turtle which returns annually between January and April to a stretch of North Tamil Nadu beaches to nest.

The Pulicat Lake Bird Sanctuary, a proposed RAMSAR site is an ecologically sensitive area with rich aquatic flora and fauna diversity. This brackish water lagoon by virtue of the mixing of fresh water with sea water is found to be an ideal habitat for diverse life-forms supporting 160 species of fish, 25 species of polychaete worms, 12 species of prawn, 19 species of mollusk and 100 species of resident and migratory birds like waterfowl, pelicans, herons, egrets, storks, flamingos, ducks, gulls and terns.

Extent and volume of oil spill

The quantum of oil spill was not declared be the government of Tamil Nadu upon being questioned by the media. The fisheries minister D. Jayakumar stated that the port authorities would know of it. The area affected by the spill was said by the Indian Coast Guard Commander for the Eastern region, Inspector General Rajan Bargotra, to be 34,000 square metres, in late February. He stated the 95 per cent of the spill was towards north of the Chennai Port with sludge accumulating over a length of 800 metres spread across 11 spots. He added that the shores of the city's Marina Beach suffered minimum impact and that the shoreline of the suburb Tiruvallur had oil accumulation over a 3-km stretch.

A report said the volume of the spill could be estimated at 9.9 million US gallons (37,000 m³).

Crisis response

This incident has as pointed out by wildlife reporter and investigative journalist Jay Mazoomdar, been marked by still ongoing failures in crisis communication and contingency response.

Timeline

The Kamarajar Port press release of the day of the collision read :

"There is no damage to the environment like oil pollution and no casualty or injury to persons. Both vessels are safely afloat and anchored. Extents of damage to the vessels are under assessment."

While initially the port authorities claimed no casualties, injury or damage to the environment, evidence of a rapidly worsening oil spill sheen became visible after daylight. Dead turtles were washed ashore and residents of nearby Bharathiyar Nagar reported a strong smell of oil. The Indian Coast Guard spokesperson confirmed they were assessing the "not very grave" situation, saying :

“Our vessel is on the way to provide any assistance if any required. But Kamarajar Port has the wherewithal to arrest the spill, which is a minor one."

The Coast Guard also said that the spill would be contained in less than 24 hours.

Investigation into the cause of the collision began on 29 January 2017 with the advisor to the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Navi Mumbai, boarding both the vessels involved in the first-ever recorded incident of this nature on the South-East coast for a thorough inspection.

On 30 January 2017, the Kamarajar Port press note claimed :

There is no major damage to the environment like oil pollution and no casualty or injury to persons except some sheens of oil traces observed which happened due to the impact. As a precautionary measure port deployed oil boom to the vessel MT Dawn Kanchipuram to contain seepage if any.

Upon instructions from the Directorate General of Shipping and Mercantile Marine Department, Kamarajar port authorities subsequently brought the vessel MT Dawn Kanchipuram into the port and berthed it after its cargo was discharged. Neither internal nor external vehicle inspections for damage assessment, yielded any evidence of an oil spill barring 'some sheens of oil traces', the press note said.

This official position was refuted by the fishing community who claimed hundreds of fish had died and that they were unable to go for fishing because the spillage had come up to the shore.

Containment

It was only on 31 January 2017, almost 3 days after the collision, that definite official confirmation was received when the District collector of Thiruvallur confirmed in a press meet that an oil spill took place after the incident on 28 January with Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board and the Fisheries Department being deployed to look into the situation. Manual efforts to remove the oil spill were made by the Coast Guard, in addition to helicopter sorties to monitor the spread and assist in its removal. Three 'Super Suckers' — heavy suction vacuum pumps mounted on trucks for desilting — from the Chennai Corporation were also pressed into use.

On 5 February, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu O. Panneerselvam visited the site and declared 90% of the clean up work over, with the remainder expected to be completed in a couple of days. He claimed tests had shown that the spill had not affected marine life with fish safe for consumption, and also promised livelihood relief to the local fishing community. As on 7 February, the belated, beleaguered efforts to manage the oil spill had yielded approximately 160 metric tonnes of oil sludge removed by over 5700 inadequately equipped, bucket-wielding government staff and local volunteers.

Communication about the quantum of substance type spilled, methods and timeline for remediation, safety and livelihood concerns for the local community remains confusing, contradictory and piecemeal. Only on 6 February, with the visit of the Director General of Shipping was it finally revealed that the thicky, viscous, heavy oil being cleaned was heavy bunker fuel caused by a rupture in the fuel tanks of the Dawn Kanchipuram, and not (as was earlier assumed) from its cargo. While the sequence of events leading up to the collision is now clearer, the quantum of fuel spilled is yet to be ascertained, more than ten days later.