MV Erika

1999

Bay of Biscay, broken in half, 20,000 tonnes Location: Bay of Biscay, off Penmarc'h, Brittany · Coordinates: 47.30°N 4.25°W · Casualties: 0 · Survivors: 26 · Depth: 120 m · Cause: structural failure · storm — Broke in half in a storm in the Bay of Biscay at 06:00 on 12 December 1999 while carrying 31,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil. Substandard maintenance and internal corrosion had weakened the hull. 19,800 tonnes of fuel oil spilled along 400 kilometres of French coast. · Fate: broken · partial salvage · Type: oil tanker · Maltese flag · Tonnage: 37,283 tons · Crew: 26 · Flag: Malta · Launched: 1975 Maltese-flagged oil tanker, chartered to Total Fina, Dunkirk to Livorno with 31,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil. Broke in half in a Bay of Biscay storm at 06:00 on 12 December 1999 due to internal corrosion that classification surveys had missed. 19,800 tonnes of fuel oil contaminated 400 kilometres of Brittany and Vendée coast. No crew died. The subsequent French prosecution convicted Total of environmental damage, the first time an oil major had been held criminally liable for a spill. The Vessel The MV Erika was a Maltese-flagged oil tanker, originally built at the Kanda Shipyard at Kure, Japan between 1974 and 1975 and commissioned on 19 August 1975 as the Liberian-flagged Shinsei Maru. She was 184 metres long, 37,283 deadweight tons, and powered by a steam turbine producing approximately 13,000 horsepower. Her design was a single-hull oil tanker - a standard configuration for oil tankers of the 1970s, which had not yet been required to incorporate the double-hull construction that would become mandatory through 1990s IMO regulations. Her ownership and operational history was substantially complex. She had been owned by multiple shipping companies through the 1980s and 1990s; by 1999, she was owned by the Bahamas-registered Tevere Shipping Company, managed by the Italian shipping company Panship Management, and chartered to the French oil company Total for the transport of heavy fuel oil cargoes in European waters. The specific ownership and management structure - characteristic of the late-1990s oil-tanker market - had substantially complicated regulatory oversight. By 1999, the Erika was 24 years old and showing substantial wear. Her specific maintenance condition had been the subject of several specific concerns through the 1990s; the specific classification society (the Italian Registro Italiano Navale) had conducted multiple inspections that had identified various deficiencies. The specific operational decisions to continue service with known maintenance issues The Disaster At approximately 10:00 on 12 December 1999, Erika's structural failure became catastrophic. The specific critical damage had been progressive failure of the ship's No. 2 starboard cargo tank, which had been substantially weakened by corrosion and stress over 24 years of service. The specific cargo tank's ultimate failure released approximately 2,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil into the Atlantic; the specific cargo release progressed over the subsequent hours. The ship's structural failure was accelerating. At approximately 14:00 on 12 December 1999, the ship broke in half approximately 90 kilometres off the coast of Brittany. The specific structural failure divided the ship into two separate sections: the bow section (approximately 60 metres long) and the stern section (approximately 120 metres long). The specific evacuation was coordinated by the French maritime authorities. French Navy SuperPuma helicopters were deployed; the French Navy frigate Primauguet and multiple French and British merchant marine vessels participated in the evacuation. All 26 crew were successfully evacuated from the two sections of the ship; no casualties occurred in the specific Erika case. The specific two sections of the ship drifted separately through 12-13 December 1999. The specific bow section sank at approximately 18:00 on 12 December 1999; the specific stern section sank at approximately 08:00 on 13 December 1999. Both sections sank in approximately 120-130 metres of water approximately 50-90