THE KATINA OIL SPILL 1982, COMBATING OPERATION AT SEA

ABSTRACT At about 15 km north-northwest of the Hook of Holland, the Greek tanker M.S. Katina collided with the French ore carrier Pengall on the afternoon of Monday, June 7, 1982. The collision caused a gash below the waterline in the No. 4 port cargo tank of the Katina which was loaded with 6,300 m3 heavy fuel oil. It was estimated during the first reconnaissance flight at eight o'clock in the evening, that between 1,000 and 2,000 m3 of oil must have been released from the Katina. Later, when the oil had been cleared up, it appeared that the total amount of leaked oil had been 1,630 m3. The dredger oil combat vessels Cosmos and Hein were in full action beginning at noon Tuesday, June 8, sweeping the oil from the sea surface. The Cosmos and the Hein swept up 800 m3 and 300 m3 of oil respectively (i.e., weathered oil with 30–50 percent seawater included). Especially on Tuesday a fairly large amount of oil was recovered by the Cosmos and the Hein. After that, it became more and more difficult to combat the oil, which became more and more scattered. As the viscosity of the oil became increasingly higher due to evaporation of the more volatile components, pumping became increasingly difficult and the capacity of the sweeping system decreased accordingly. After the Cosmos was dismissed, the Hein and the Smal Agt continued to combat the scattered oil slicks. In total, approximately 1,440 m3 were eventually removed from the sea surface, of which approximately 790 m3 was pure water-free oil. No further oil of significance was observed on Saturday June 12 and the opinion was that the combat activities had been effective at sea and the coast had been protected from extensive oil pollution. However, that Sunday oil washed up on the Dutch coast. The submerged oil, due to its higher specific gravity, floats invisibly under the water surface and was driven toward the coast by strong on-shore winds and currents.