Mumbai Oil Spill: Key Issues, Action Required
By Steven L D' Souza
22 August, 2010
Countercurrents.org
THE TRAGEDY
The collision between MSC Chitra and MV Khalija III on August 7 th 2010, near Prongs Light, a lighthouse off the coast of Mumbai, between JNPT and Mumbai ports , two of the nation's busiest ports that handle nearly 40% of sea bound traffic, and 75%(JNPT) of container traffic, raises many key issues that need to be addressed as well as call for some immediate as well as long term remedial action. The MSC Chitra had on board nearly 2450 containers, about 2500 tonnes of furnace oil and some 300 tonnes of diesel fuel,. Some 240 odd containers are reportedly fallen/sunk/floating in the coastal water of the Arabian sea. . Following the spill, oil was found accumulated in mangroves at Navi Mumbai Uran and Alibaug, Tar balls were also found on-shore in Sasvane, Kihim, Revas and Mandavi along the Raigad coastline, Uran, Vashi and in pockets of Colaba . Fisheries officials said that there were 400 trawlers which were allowed to go beyond 12 nautical miles and they were not affected . The latest samples of gas on board the MSC Chitra have revealed high concentrations of phosphine, which would endanger further salvage operations, as well as cause immense harm to marine flora-fauna in event of its leakage to surrounding coast in event of sea water entering some of the containers containing hazardous substances. The containers hold organo phosphates used in agriculture and vector control and solid sodium hydroxide. Of the containers spilt into the sea, about 90 floating containers have been retrieved, and 150 are still to be removed.
SALVAGE OPERATIONS
Almost 18 days after the oil spill off the Mumbai coast reached Alibaug, the clean-up operation on its 5-km beach stretch began on Friday20th august2010. A proposal to clean up Uran has been sent to the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board . Experts from the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation have been called to oversee the shore-cleaning operations. Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) officials said the salvage team from the Rotterdam-based firm Smit have been entrusted with the task of pumping out the remaining fuel, on MSC Chitra.
Experts from the firm tried to board MSC Chitra last week, and have began attempts to stabilize it by adding ballast water into one of its tanks. The operation was kept on hold due to suspected leakage of phospine, and choppy seas. The salvers have deployed eight tugs to tow away the floating containers and two crane barges to lift the floating containers from fthe choppy seas. Ten diving and rigging teams are trying to retrieve the missing containers yet to be retrieved, especially the missing containers having hazardous substances. Using oil-zapper technology developed by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI),New Delhi, approximately 100 volunteers of the NCC were roped in to start the bioremediation technique only on select beaches and rocks to begin with , starting with Alibaug and Navy Nagar., Around 9,500 twenty-ft containers have been e diverted to nearby Pipavav Port and 7,600 containers to Mundra Port, in the neighbouring state of Gujarat.. Cabotage Law and customs clearance procedures have been relaxed - till Aug 31 to permit clearance of these diverted cargoes at the ports. As per present Cabotage Law, foreign vessels cannot engage in coastal voyages between 2 indian ports , and hence the relaxation was necessary, Given the slow pace of salvage operations, the relaxation likely to be extended. Navy has stopped escorting some vessels through the navigation channels, a task now being entrusted to the salvage firms.The Maharastra pollution control board has served notice to the salvage company as well as the two firms owning the two ships involved in the tragic collision to clear the oil spill within a week, an unlikely possibility. The state government has also asked owners , Mediterranean Shipping Company owners of MSC Chitra, identified as the polluter to pay compensation for the spillage, a wishful request given lack of legal backing to enforce such a directive. Fishing in the coastal areas still not permitted, despite a BMC report saying no mineral oil found in samples of fishes tested from 30 muncipal markets. This is because of perception that most fishes caught in high seas, brought from neighbouring states after the scare after the oil spill near the Mumbai coast.
IMMEDIATE ACTION FURTHER NEEDED
• The inquiry by DG shipping should ascertain reasons for incoming MV Khalijia III failing to submit the PAN ( Pre Arrival Notification) before entering the harbor, and why no pilot was escorting the vessel through the channel. The collision took place before the pilot for incoming vessel could board ship.
• Pilots escorting outgoing vessels should not be allowed to disembark before the ship safely leaves the channel into the high seas (as reportedly happened in case of outgoing vessel MSC Chitra). Similarly incoming vessel like MV Khalijia III should not be allowed to enter the inner channel unless the escort or pilot of the port is on board. On that fateful day both the escort / pilots were not on board or piloting the ships. Is it any surprise that the tragic incident occurred?
• It is a common perception that vessels more than 20 years old are not very seaworthy, and many foreign ports do not allow then to operate, fearing breakdown in operational efficiency. Incidentally Chitra about 31 years old and Khalija III about 26 years old, some experts feel that faulty electronic steering system of Khalija III led to the collision.
• The VTMS (Vessel Traffic Management System) has high frequency radio / electronic communication facilities (JNPT operates on VHF-13 and Mumbai Port VHF -12). Two VHF channels allowed for all ships entering either Mumbai Port or JNPT, the second to serve as a back up channel. How did both the VHF channels fail for both the ships?
• The fuel oil (diesel and furnace ) spill is more difficult to treat with Chemical dispersants (being thicker than normal crude oil) part of it will remain untreated and drift towards the coast / mangroves on coast. It will seriously impact both marine flora, fauna and fishes like prawn Bombay duck, shrimps etc that are found more on coast than high seas. The TERI microbes being used first for beaches and rocks , and not on mangroves, an understandable precaution . Environmentalists suggest that washing away of the spill during high tides is nature,s best alternative for oil spill on mangroves.
• In my earlier interim report, I had suggested The environment damage assessment being done by the NIO (National Institute of Oceangraphy) Goa and the National Environment Engineering Institute (NEERI) should be expedited, and completed within a fixed time frame , and recommendations made public for discussion before its implementation.The state government has now fixed time frame of one month for the interim report, three months for ready report, and 6 months for final comprehensive repor by both the statutory agencies.
• The report to be submitted by CMFI ( Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute) on loss of fishermen livelihood should also involve discussion with fishermen and other stake holders , the report should be made public for discussion especially on issue of compensation and measures to prevent such threat to their livelihood in future. As a first step in this regard, The state last week has promised to insure three lakh fishermen who risk their lives for procuring seafood. Fisheries Minister Nitin Raut said, “The approximate number is around three lakh. The scheme will be implemented after finalizing the count.”
• Fishing activity in affected areas where oil spill has spread should be permitted only after the Government through testing done by statutory agencies and competent research bodies certify that fishing can resume without any further testing for oil and dispersant contamination in the fishes caught in those waters. So far, fishing in affected coastal areas kept on hold.
• In my last post, I had suggested that All hazardous goods stored in all Major ports, lying indisposed should be auctioned off / disposed off under Section 61 and 62 of the Major Port Trust Act of 1963 r/w relevant provisions of the Customs Act 1962. For item under Custom seizure / detention the hazardous goods should be transported to factory premises / godown of importer before effecting the seizure. If no claimant, then Customs / Port Trust can jointly auction the goods after statutory period of normal customs clearancefor bill of entry for home consumption. The Customs should seriously consider withdrawing Bonded warehousing facilities to hazardous goods / chemicals within the port, since a slight leakage / mishap can cause disaster that can engulf the entire port in flames and cripple the port operations Hazardous goods / chemicals shoud be cleared within stipulated period or they should be jointly disposed / auctioned off jointly by both the parts ( demurrage charges) and Customs (import duty charges) authorities. CBEC / Directorate of shipping should ensure compliance by all ports / Customs House within a time frame not exceeding 3 months for undisposed goods, and ensure fresh guidelines followed in future. As per recent breaking news item carried by Taxindiaonline website , there now appears to be renewed focus on the import of hazardous substances, RELEVANT EXTRACT FROM TAXINDIAONLINE –-“ E-waste being dumped in India; DRI detects several containers coming from Australia, Canada and Korea - By TIOL News Service - CHENNAI, AUG 21, 2010: NOT long back India was treated as a dumping ground for hazardous chemical wastes. After Apex Court intervention and a monitoring mechanism it was drastically curbed. But the latest news is that syndicates working for premiums in the global market have begun dumping electronic and electrical waste into India. Based on intelligence, the Chennai DRI scrutinised 5 consignments covering 8 containers of goods suspected to be e-waste and electrical waste. Out of the five consignments, one was imported from Australia, one from Canada, two from Korea and one from Brunei. The total weight of the goods in the 8 containers was 127 MTs. The subsequent examination of the goods revealed that all the computer monitors, CPUs, processors, etc. were very old, used and appeared to be in unusable condition with some pieces in broken condition also. A large proportion of the computer monitors were found to be more than 10 years old and clearly meant for recycling.
Import of e-waste for recycling and disposal has been a matter of grave concern since e-waste recycling in the absence of scientific recycling capacity has dangerous consequences for environment. E-waste and electrical waste both contain toxic substances and chemicals which are likely to have adverse effect on environment and human health. In all the cases taken up for investigation, the importers did not posses either of the permissions required. Cases have been registered against the importers for violations of the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962 read with Hazardous Waste (Management, Handling and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2008. In four cases, notices have already been issued to the importers concerned and are pending decision with Customs. In one case, investigations are in progress. These goods need to be re-exported back to the country of origin after due process of adjudication. “
Can we have more serious implementation of The Hazardous Waste (Management, Handling and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2008 and their import can be made only with the permission of the Ministry of Environment and Health in addition to a licence from the Director General of Foreign Trade, in all ports in the country in future, ESPECIALLY IN LIGHT OF BINDING SUPREME COURT DIRECTIVES?
LONG TERM ACTION NEEDED.
1. “Polluter must pay and polluter will pay,” the Union environment and forest minister Jairam Ramesh told the Rajya Sabha On 17-8-2010 as regards environmental and maritime losses arising out of the collision of the two ships off the Mumbai coast, which occurred on August 7. .The minister must Heed BJP member Rajiv Pratap Rudy suggestion for appointing designated agency, which would seek compensation from the polluter, in conformity with the example of US making British Petroleum having to pay up $20 billion for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, whereas the insurance was for only $460 million.
2. The Union Environment Minister Shri Jairam Ramesh stresses need for India to be part of Bunker Convention of the IMO ( International Maritime Organisation) to enable India to claim greater compensation for such accidents in future. Due to stringent norms in other foreign ports, old and sometimes unseaworthy ships prefer to sail to India, since in absence of India being a signatory to the convention it would escape having to pay heavy damages in case of incidents like the present one had this occurred in a major foreign port, the compensation and damages to be paid would have been heavy. This is another Bhopal Gas Tragedy, albeit this one has occurred not on land but on sea; this one mercifully has not taken lives, but rather caused havoc on marine environment on a large scale. Hope that necessary action for signing the convention will be initiated at the earliest.
3. The Union Environment Minister has promised setting up Tier I pollution response system to combat oil spills (Tier I upto 700 tonnes). However there is every possibility of anither oil spill now exceeding 2000 tonnes (Tier III-Maximum). Why not have a pollution response system upto Tier III ?Why this half hearted safety measure?
4. The National oil spill contingency plan of 2006 , mandatory for all Port Trusts should be made mandatory for all parts across the country , both major ports and minor ports, since substantially portion of hazardous import / export also done at minor parts across the country.
5. There is an urgent need to appoint a Directorate General of Ports to handle routine matters like VTMS (Vessel Traffic Management System), logistics, warehousing, co-ordination other statutory agencies in all major ports. Presently even routine matters referred to the Shipping Ministry at Delhi. This new proposed Directorate, proposed earlier by former Shipping Secretary D. T. Joseph, would enable quicker decisions of regular routine matters including Disaster Management and should be in place as soon as possible. This statutory body would be on lines of TAMP (Tariff Authority for Major Ports) already in existence. Alternately if DG ports, not possible, TAMP should be given this responsibility.
6. There is a long standing promise of installing Huge Electronic Scanning Machines at all major ports , mainly with a view to prevent smuggling / state security point of view. This much needed safety measure in form of scanning machines will not only bring more security, but also faster clearance and less transaction and demurrage costs. Presently visual examination / percentage examination by customs authorities not fool proof but also causes delay and at times hold up of consignment / harassment for the importers. Such scanning machines should be installed at all ports without any delay at the earliest.
7. The Minister of shipping Shri Jairam Ramesh on July 27, 2010 promised that the Government will install High Resolution “Radiation Monitoring Portals (RMP) in all major ports by 2012 to help prevent smuggling / in out of radio active hazardous materials after recent tragedy and tragic death of a worker in New Delhi. The Government should ensure by periodic monitoring that assurance give on floor of Parliament will be implemented in earnest
8. In many foreign ports, stringent check of vessels more than 20 years old are done much before the vessel is allowed to enter the channel, to ensure that they are fully operational and sea worthy. A similar such system should be in place, in all ports in the country
9. There is a tendency for many importers especially big companies and MNCs to build up inventory by importing certain hazardous chemicals / goods when thy are cheap in international markets, for in excess of storage space in their factories, by using warehouse space I ports instead. This facilitation by the port and Customs authorities should stop, and no extended warehousing period for hazardous goods / chemicals should be permitted beyond the normal period (including extended period) as stipulated in the Customs Act. In short, these goods import should be not on into Bond Bill of Entry, But Only Bill of Entry for Home Consumption.
By Steven L D' Souza MBA, ex IRS, Management Consultant, (The author had worked in Senior Positions as Class I Officer in Major Ports in Mumbai, Mangalore, Goa, Viskhapatnam, etc. He was also involved as head of customs sea patrolling /anti smuggling operations along the west coast primarily in Maharashtra and Gujarat . He was chief of India's first ever Joint Coastal Patrolling Exercise conducted by Customs, Police and Navy / Coast guard in Maharashtra in 1994.He is actively assisting statutory agencies involved in the salvage operations, as well preparing strategy for immediate and long term solutions.)
