Cardiff University Dissertation: Oil Pollution and Maritime Accidents

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Thesis and Dissertation
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This dissertation explores the critical issue of oil pollution and maritime accidents within the Mediterranean region, focusing on the period from 1977 to 2013. The research begins with an introduction that establishes the context and rationale, highlighting the significance of the Mediterranean Sea as a vital maritime transport network. It delves into the common causes of maritime accidents, including collisions, groundings, and cargo transfer failures, and their detrimental impacts on water quality, marine life, and human life. The study reviews existing international maritime laws and regulations such as SOLAS, OILPOL, MARPOL, CLC, and UNCLOS, assessing their effectiveness and identifying gaps in their implementation. Through case studies, the dissertation analyzes specific oil spills and accidents, such as the Irenes Serenade incident and the Lebanon crisis oil spill, examining their environmental and economic consequences. The research employs a mixed-methods approach, including literature reviews, case studies, and data analysis to assess the causes and effects of oil pollution and maritime accidents. The dissertation concludes with recommendations for enhancing existing regulations, including suggestions for improving the UNCLOS, OILPOL, CLC, and MARPOL conventions to better protect the marine environment and mitigate the risks associated with international maritime trade. It also suggests the necessity of mandatory training and stricter enforcement of regulations.
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Running head: DISSERTATION
Dissertation
Research topic: Oil Pollution and Maritime Accidents: A Case of the Mediterranean Region
Name of the student
Name of the University
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1DISSERTATION
Acknowledgement
Firstly, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the principal Mr./Mrs./Ms.
__________________________________ of _______________________________ University
for the research “Oil Pollution and Maritime Accidents: A Case of the Mediterranean Region”.
I would also grateful to him for providing me necessary facilities for accomplishing the research.
I place on record, my sincere thank you my mentor and guide Mr./Mrs./Ms.
____________________________________ for the continuous encouragement and direction for
opting best and suitable methods to conduct this research study and complete the same. The
expertise, guidance and encouragement that he shared with me help a lot to develop my
understanding in the research topic.
The support I got from my parents and classmates is also appreciable and I admit that without
this I will not be able to complete the research within time. I also got direct help from my seniors
and class mates and receive unlimited encouragement and attention from rest of the friends.
Thank You All…!!!
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Abstract
This study aims for the assessing the incidence of oil pollution and maritime accidents in the
Mediterranean Region. The assessment is also focused on some of the case studies of the marine
accidents that caused from oil tankers and its impact on the sea and marine wildlife. The causes
of the marine accidents are caused through collision, grounding, fire and explosion, sinking,
cargo transfer failure according to the report of Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response
Centre. Diminished water quality, loss of resources, loss of human life, higher level of acidity
and effect on Food Chain are the common damages occurred due to marine pollution. There are
number of legislations for the safety of the marine pollution- SOLAS 74 for safety of life at sea,
OILPOL 54 Treaty for addressing the oil pollution at sea, MARPOL 73/78 for marine pollution
from ships, Civil Liability Convention (CLC) for addressing Oil Pollution Damage and The
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
In response to the enhancement of the marine environment, suggestion for increasing the
carefulness on the chemical compositions, enhancement of regular inspection, preparing strict
governing rules, ocean cleanups and training to the marine workers should be implement through
the literature review. Secondary resources have been addressed in this research study. It is also
found that the considered regulations have many drawbacks like OILPOL is lacking sufficient
enforcement controls for ports and coastal states, MARPOL 73/78 treaty emphasized more on
the effective compliance by ship owners rather than of using on discharge standards, CLC 69
protocol only focused to the oil combined tankers for oil spills and not the bulk oil carriers and
lastly, the UNCLOS convention is expensive in nature due to its international co-operation and
standards for shipping resulting in getting less preferences from the ship owners. The
recommendation for improving the UNCLOS Convention is the inclusion of the criteria for
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providing mandatory training and criteria to rate the oil trading companies. In terms of OILPOL
Convention recommendation including the criteria to present the documentation of the ships and
ability of the employee might reduce the marine pollution is suggested. CLC convention can be
improved by including detailed provision of the rulebook that mention the details of the factors
that will be considered under the insurance policy of CLC. Lastly, the convention of the
MARPOL can be enhanced through implementing new technology in lesser cost and initiating
proactive communication from governing bodies to explain each guideline of the convention.
Keywords
Oil Spill, Marine accident, UNCLOS Convention, OILPOL Convention, CLC Convention and
MARPOL Convention, Mediterranean Region
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction........................................................................................................................10
1.0 Introduction................................................................................................................................10
1.1 Background of the study............................................................................................................10
1.2 Rationale of the research...........................................................................................................13
1.3 Aim of the research....................................................................................................................14
1.4 Objective of the research...........................................................................................................14
1.5 Question of the research............................................................................................................14
1.6 Structure of the research............................................................................................................15
Chapter 2: Literature Review...............................................................................................................16
2.0 Introduction................................................................................................................................16
2.1 Common causes of maritime accidents.....................................................................................17
2.1.1 Offshore Oil Rig Mishaps...................................................................................................17
2.1.2 Fire and Explosions............................................................................................................18
2.1.3 Sinking................................................................................................................................18
2.1.4 Grounding...........................................................................................................................18
2.1.5 Collision..............................................................................................................................19
2.2 Impact of marine calamities.......................................................................................................20
2.2.1 Diminished water quality....................................................................................................20
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2.2.2 Loss of resources................................................................................................................20
2.2.3 Loss of human life..............................................................................................................20
2.2.4 Higher level of acidity........................................................................................................21
2.2.5 Effect on Food Chain..........................................................................................................21
2.3 Factors that enhances marine environment................................................................................21
2.3.1 Carefulness on the chemical compositions.........................................................................21
2.3.2 Regular inspection..............................................................................................................22
2.3.3 Strict governing rules..........................................................................................................22
2.3.4 Ocean cleanups...................................................................................................................23
2.3.5 Training to the marine workers...........................................................................................23
2.4 Types of marine calamities........................................................................................................23
2.4.1 Maritime Accidents............................................................................................................23
2.4.2 Environmental Pollution.....................................................................................................25
2.4.3 Oil Spills.............................................................................................................................27
2.5 Existing international maritime laws and regulations and its benefits......................................28
2.5.1 SOLAS 74 for Safety of Life at Sea...................................................................................28
2.5.2 OILPOL 54 Treaty for addressing the oil pollution at sea.................................................30
2.5.3 MARPOL 73/78 for marine pollution from ships..............................................................31
2.5.4 Civil Liability Convention (CLC) for addressing Oil Pollution Damage...........................33
2.5.5 The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).................................34
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2.6 Gaps in international maritime laws and regulations................................................................35
Chapter 3: Research Methodology......................................................................................................37
3.0 Introduction................................................................................................................................37
3.1 Research Philosophy..................................................................................................................37
3.1.1 Justification for selected research philosophy....................................................................38
3.2 Research Approach....................................................................................................................38
3.2.1 Justification for chosen research approach.........................................................................38
3.3 Research purpose.......................................................................................................................39
3.3.1 Justification for selected research purpose.........................................................................39
3.4 Data collection process..............................................................................................................39
3.5 Data Analysis techniques...........................................................................................................40
3.6 Sampling Technique..................................................................................................................41
3.7 Ethical consideration.................................................................................................................41
3.8 Research limitation....................................................................................................................41
3.9 Research Timeframe..................................................................................................................42
Chapter 4: Data collection and Analysis.............................................................................................43
4.1 Research Findings......................................................................................................................43
4.2 Case studies of maritime accidents during the period 1977-2013 took place in Mediterranean
...................................................................................................................................................44
4.2.1 Irenes Serenade oil spill 1980.............................................................................................45
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4.2.2 Lebanon crisis oil spill in 2006...........................................................................................45
4.2.3 Satellite monitoring of the oil spill in the Mediterranean Sea............................................46
4.3 Major findings of the oil spill occurred at the Mediterranean Sea............................................50
4.4 Main causes of oil pollution as well as the consequences of maritime accidents in
Mediterranean Region...............................................................................................................52
4.4.1 Gas Discovery.....................................................................................................................54
4.5 Examining connection of the Mediterranean Region and international maritime trade............56
4.6 Social responsibility of the company in environment and analyzing existing legislative
framework..................................................................................................................................59
4.6.1 The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).................................59
4.6.2 The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil (OILPOL)
...............................................................................................................................................60
4.6.3 Civil Liability Convention (CLC)..........................................................................................62
4.6.4 The International convention for the prevention of pollution from ships (MARPOL) 73/78
...............................................................................................................................................63
4.7 Analysis.....................................................................................................................................64
4.7.1 Issues and proposed analysis to improve the current legislative framework......................64
4.7.1 Recommendation on UNCLOS Convention......................................................................64
4.7.2 Recommendation on OILPOL Convention........................................................................64
4.7.3 Recommendation on CLC Convention...............................................................................65
4.7.4 Recommendation on MARPOL Convention......................................................................66
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Chapter 5: Conclusion and recommendation.................................................................................68
5.1 Conclusion................................................................................................................................68
5.3 Recommendations....................................................................................................................70
5.3 Future Scope of the study:......................................................................................................71
Reference List......................................................................................................................................72
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Table of Images
Image 1: Accidental oil tanker spills in European seas.......................................................................11
Image 3: Detection of the oil spill in the Mediterranean Sea for the year 2001..................................46
Image 4: Normalized density by oil spill for the year 2001................................................................47
Image 5: Statistical Analysis of the length, width and area of the Oil Spills occurred in
Mediterranean Sea.........................................................................................................................47
Image 6: Analysis of satellite images for the time 1999-2004 in Mediterranean Sea.........................48
Image 7: Major tanker spill in the Mediterranean Sea since 1970......................................................49
Image 8: Quantity of oil spilled accidents excluding the major accidents from 1977- 2010..............50
Image 9: Countries where accidents involves with an oil spill over 100 tonnes from 1977-20010...51
Image 10: Accident type distribution in maritime...............................................................................52
Image 11: Different categories of vessels involved in the marine accidents from 1977 to 2010........53
Image 12: Components of the Mediterranean Maritime and Terrestrial Traffic.................................56
Image 13: Trend of international trade, global GDP and transport good through containerization....57
Image 14: Traffic in the Suez Canal from 2008- 2014........................................................................58
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Chapter 1: Introduction
1.0 Introduction
Ugurlu et al. (2015) stated that there are several types of marine accident that can occur
and these are offshore oil rig mishaps, cruise vessel mishaps, accidents on tugboats, commercial
fishing mishaps, crane mishaps, accidents on crude oil tankers and cargo ships, grounding of
ships, accidents in shipyards, accidents on barges, accidents on diving support vessels and
cargo hauling accidents. Faghih-Roohi, Xie and Ng (2014) also portrays that the main reason
responsible for the marine accidents are the equipment failures due to lack of constant
maintenance, necessary equipment auditing, breakdowns in operating procedures and lack of
proper communication. Akyuz (2017) highlighted that there are some adverse impact of these
incident on the marine environment especially when accidents related to the oil and gas industry
like oil spill and deepwater horizon explosion occurs. This research highlights some common
causes of marine accidents and its associated impact on the sea environment. The case studies of
oil pollution due to oil spills and explosion are also highlighted. This research also aims for the
investigation of the effectiveness of the international maritime laws and regulations and assess
whether or not some amendments is required for the laws in order to provide more security to the
marine environment.
1.1 Background of the study
According to the report of the Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre
for the year 2011, the type of marine accident in the Mediterranean Region is mainly occurred
due to collision, grounding, fire and explosion, sinking, cargo transfer failure and other accidents
(Rempec 2018). There were 17% cases of collision, 21% cases of groundings, 14% of fire and
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collisions, 9% of sinking cases, 11% and 28% of cargo transfer failures and other accidents
respectively (Rempec 2018).The main reason for these accidents in the report is due to water
ingress or vessels capsizing (Rempec 2018). Another problem that is noticed is that there is no
maintenance of the ships and it is also found that there are 31% of ships that were between 16
and 25 years old 18% of ships are 35 years old (Rempec 2018). The report also shows that the
rate of accident increased in the year 2007 and reduced till 2010 (Rempec 2018).
Image 1: Accidental oil tanker spills in European seas
(Source: European Environment Agency 2018)
Compared to the year 1990 the number of accidental oil spills are diminished in 2005 but
the problem of major accidental oil tanker spills still remained at an irregular interval of time
(European Environment Agency 2018). It is found that every year; 10%-15% of oil enters into
the ocean due to the accidental oil tanker spills (European Environment Agency 2018).
Anyanova (2012) also stated that the impact of the marine accidents is the marine pollution and
the diminished condition of the marine animals. Oil pollution and oil rigs explosions are the main
reasons due to which pollution occurred in the Mediterranean region. Government also taken the
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