Nicolas Tamic is deputy director and responsible for operations in Cedre, authority responsible for combating marine pollution in France. He returned to the collision on Monday, March 10, between an oil tanker and a cargo, in the North Sea, 16 km off the British city of Hull, in Yorkshire.
The Secretary of State for British Maritime Transport, Mike Kane, assured Tuesday that “no sign of pollution from ships is observed for the moment”. The day before, the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, had however described the situation as an extremely worrying »». Should we fear an ecological disaster as Greenpeace feared?
This is difficult to say because we were not asked by the British authorities and we do not have access to the quantities of kerosene spilled at sea. Everything will depend on the quantities that will arrive on the coasts. We could be faced with flash pollution with large ecotoxicity for the environment in the short term but not in the long term, because it is not a persistent product.
The oil tanker had on board the “Jet A1”, a fuel for planes whose particularity is to be a refined product, lighter than oil. It has a significant evaporation rate, around 40 to 45 %. Everything that will be burned will not be rejected at sea. This is the good news. The bad is that it is more toxic. Even if it does not happen to the ribs, it will dissolve in the water and may have an impact on the fish. Depending on the quantities discharged, the authorities could prohibit fishing while pollution is absorbed.
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