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The coastline of the once pristine Taean County in South Chungcheong Province has been covered in a thick coat of oil following a massive leak after the supertanker Hubei Spirit collided with a crane-carrying barge owned by Samsung Heavy Industries on Friday. A view from the sky shows the extent of the disaster, with the coastal areas completely slicked with oil. It was only Sunday morning, 48 hours after the accident, that emergency workers were finally able to close up the last of the vessel's three ruptured tanks. That was after 15,000 kl of crude had leaked into the sea. A 20 km-wide belt of oil has formed around the coat of Taean County. Around a 20-km stretch of the county's coastline has been covered with oil, sticking to beaches and rocks. Even with boots on, the coastline is reportedly too sticky to walk on.
The accident happened after cables linking two tugboats to the barge were severed as they were traveling from the northwestern port of Incheon to the southern island of Geoje. The barge collided with the supertanker as it was drifting in the ocean. Special care must be taken especially when transporting ocean cranes in rough waters off southwestern Korea, where tanker traffic is heavy. Fisheries Ministry officials tried several times to notify the crew of the tugboats that a tanker was moored close by, but were reportedly unable to get through. This was a disaster whose origin is difficult to comprehend.
Only a few hundred kl of oil have been cleaned up following two days of clean-up efforts involving around 100 vessels and 7,000 workers. Initial efforts at holding back the slick have failed. There is a shortage of fences for use in the high seas. As a result, rough waves are sending the oil over the fences, to spread wider.
Initial projections have also been wrong. Officials estimated it would take between 24 to 36 hours for the oil to reach coastlines, but it only took 13. Residents in coastal areas are trying to mop up the oil using special fabrics and shovels, but to little avail. There are over 400 fish farms in Taean County alone. Oil slicks wreak havoc on fish farms. And Taean¡¯s tourism industry, which derives its income from visitors to its pristine maritime park, is taking a huge hit.
In the U.S., the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has mapped out detailed maritime disaster response scenarios. In the case of an oil leak, plans have already been set up pin pointing where to set up fences according to variations in the direction and speed of winds and ocean currents. Japan has divided its entire coast into 10 sections, and has prepared emergency scenarios according to each jurisdiction. The Korea Energy Economics Institute was entrusted by the government to come up with similar measures following a massive leak from the tanker Sea Prince back in 1995. But plans to come up with preventive measures were scrapped after the KEEI concluded that it would cost W250 billion (US$1=W919) to prepare for a leak involving 10,000 tons of oil on the eastern, western and southern seas surrounding Korea.
Each year, Korea imports 890 million barrels of crude oil (124 million tons). That oil is carried by tankers moving past Korea¡¯s western and southern coasts. Over 10 tankers carrying Chinese crude to Japan are also passing through these areas at any given moment. Even though these potential time bombs are ticking away near our coastlines, preventive measures are at a beginner¡¯s level.
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