MV ''Sea Empress'' was a single-hull

Suezmax "Suezmax" is a naval architecture term for the largest ship measurements capable of transiting the Suez Canal in a laden condition, and is almost exclusively used in reference to tankers. The limiting factors are beam, draft, height (becau ...

oil tanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk cargo, bulk transport of petroleum, oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quant ...

that ran aground at the entrance to the Milford Haven harbour on the southwest coast of

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

in February 1996. The ensuing oil spill, Britain's third largest oil spillage and the 12th largest in the world at the time, devastated a considerable area of local coastline and killed many birds, and continued to affect the Pembrokeshire coast for years afterwards.

Grounding

On the evening of 15 February 1996 the ''Sea Empress'' was entering the mouth of the Cleddau Estuary on her way into

Milford Haven Milford Haven ( ) is a town and community (Wales), community in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is on the north side of the Milford Haven Waterway, an estuary forming a natural harbour that has been used as a port since the Middle Ages. The town was ...

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and otherwise by the sea. Haverfordwest is the largest town and ...

to discharge its oil cargo at the Texaco oil refinery. Sailing against the outgoing tide, at 20:07

UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...

the ship was pushed off its 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.

Short-term effects

Over the first few days of the disaster, an estimated 73,000 tonnes out of the ship's 130,000-tonne cargo of

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

crude oil Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring u ...

was spilt, most of which spread along either the shoreline of Milford Haven waterway or the coastline to the south. This caused an enormous amount of environmental and aesthetic damage to the coastline and its marine life in an area which lies within the protection of the

Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Pembrokeshire Coast National Park () is a National Parks of England and Wales, national park along the Pembrokeshire coast in west Wales. It was established as a National Park in 1952. It is one of the three National parks of Wales, the others ...

Birds

The most visible effect of the spill was seen in the large number of birds covered in oil that were shown on television and in newspapers.Swansea University: Sea Empress Oil Spill - Birds
Amongst the birds affected were

guillemot Guillemot is the common name for several species of seabird in the Alcidae or auk family, part of the order Charadriiformes. In Europe, the term covers two genera, '' Uria'' and '' Cepphus''. In North America the ''Uria'' species are called mu ...

razorbill The razorbill (''Alca torda'') is a North Atlantic colonial seabird and the only extant member of the genus ''Alca (bird), Alca'' of the family Alcidae, the auks. It is the closest living relative of the extinct great auk (''Pinguinus impennis' ...

s and the worst affected bird, the

common scoter The common scoter (''Melanitta nigra'') is a large sea duck, in length, which breeds over the far north of Europe and the Palearctic east to the Olenyok River. The black scoter (''M. americana'') of North America and eastern Siberia was formerl ...

duck. 83% of the birds affected were common scoter birds, and it is estimated that 5,000 of the 15,000 population in the area were killed.Countryside Council for Wales: Sea Empress Report
BBC News: Assessing the oil spill impact
/ref> The RSPB set up a temporary bird hospital in

to try to treat as many birds as possible. This centre is now a storage area but in the aftermath of the ''Sea Empress'' disaster it became a hive of activity where many birds were showered and cleaned as best as possible. Unfortunately, the life expectancy of a cleaned Guillemot or Razorbill that was oiled once it was let back into the sea was a very short 9 days. Members of the public also helped rescue the birds. It was later revealed in a study by the British Trust for Ornithology that the average survival time for a rescued oiled Auk (Razorbill or Guillemot) was seven days.

Seals

Although the ''Sea Empress'' ran aground near to a breeding area for the grey seal, the time of year meant that only a small number of seals were in the area. Although some seals showed signs of oil on their coats, there is no record of a seal dying as a result of the spill.

Beaches

of coastline were covered in crude oil. The total cost of the cleanup operation was approximately £60 million. It took almost five years for the coastline to be fully cleaned up and restored by the Pembrokeshire Council,

Texaco Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American Petroleum, oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its Gasoline, fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an Independ ...

workers and subcontractors, and wildlife conservationists. There was much speculation in the media at the time over the inherent lack of safety of single-hull tankers, particularly in view of the disaster in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

just three years earlier; ''Braer'' also being a single-hull vessel.

Fate of the ''Sea Empress''

The ''Sea Empress'' was recovered and subsequently renamed ''Sea Spirit'' and later ''Front Spirit''. It was sold as ''Ocean Opal'' to Chinese buyers, who used it as a floating storage and offloading unit (FSO) from 2004. In 2009/2010, she was converted in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

into a

bulk carrier A bulk carrier or bulker is a merchant ship specially naval architecture, designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo—such as Grain trade, grain, coal, ore, steel coils, and cement—in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrie ...

and reflagged to Panama as ''Welwind''. In 2012, she was renamed for a fifth time and became ''Wind 3''. While being brought to

Chittagong Chittagong ( ), officially Chattogram, (, ) (, or ) is the second-largest city in Bangladesh. Home to the Port of Chittagong, it is the busiest port in Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. The city is also the business capital of Bangladesh. It ...

for dismantling in the Shitakunda ship breaking yard, as ''Wind 3'', the vessel developed a crack in one side of its engine room. This resulted from a collision with a sunken ship, ''Hang Ro Bong'', on the afternoon of 3 June 2012, when it was attempting to anchor at the B (Bravo) anchorage of the port. She was scrapped on 2 June 2012 at Chittagong.

References

External links

MAIB - Report of the Chief Inspector of Marine Accidents into the grounding and subsequent salvage of the tanker SEA EMPRESS

The ''Sea Empress'': A Diary Of Events
pembrokeshiretv.com
BBC News: 10 years on
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sea Empress Shipwrecks in the Irish Sea Shipwrecks of Wales Oil tankers Oil spills in the United Kingdom Maritime incidents in 1996 Maritime incidents in the United Kingdom 1992 ships Environmental disasters in the United Kingdom Tankers of Liberia