Amazzone

The incident

In the night of 30 January 1988, the Italian oil tanker Amazzone, with more than 32,000 tonnes of paraffinic crude oil as cargo (heated to 60°C in the tanks), journeying from Libya to Antwerp (Belgium) through the rail of Ushant, lost some of its tank covers in a storm off the coast of Finistère. 2,100 tonnes of crude oil were spilled on 300 km. This paraffin-rich oil had been heated for transport. Once spilled at sea, it cooled down and emulsified. From 8 February, the slicks fractioned in smaller units and, pushed by violent winds, quickly drifted towards the French coast and polluted the coastlines from Finistère to Cotentin, as well as the Channel Islands.  The Polmar-Sea plan for the Atlantic was activated from 3 to 9 February, the Polmar-Land plans for the Finistère, Côtes d’Armor and Manche departments were activated in February.

Spill Response

• Response at sea: The poor weather conditions complicated the aerial survey operations and rendered the protection operations useless. The oil’s characteristics (high viscosity, Libyan, paraffinic) limited the response options (pumping at sea and dispersion impossible) and its fragmentation into tar balls made it even harder to collect (dredging was ineffective)
  
  
• Response on land: Scrapers were deployed on beaches along with manual recovery. A mobile cleaning station for pebbles was created
  
  
• Waste management: 10,000 tonnes of waste were collected in the coasts of Brittany, and between 2,000 and 0000 tonnes on the coasts of Normandy. The material recovered during response operations was transported by sea, air and land to the temporary and intermediary storage sites for treatment (including quicklime treatment, deballasting station…).
  
  
• Human resources: 800 people mobilised for cleaning on the coastline.

The impacts

Environmental: 

• 450 km of polluted coastline from Finistère to Cotentin
•  5,000 birds died.
•   Limited impact on flora and fauna (algae and oyster farms) was reported. Interrogations persisted on the long-term effects of this pollution on the environment.

Economic:

Fishing and aquaculture were temporarily interrupted. 

The tourism sector was at risk of loss during the summer, but the effects were minimal as the beaches were cleaned before the height of the season.

Legal proceedings and compensation

• Compensation claims went through various channels: agreements outside of court, IOPC Funds, limitation funds.
• The French State received 18.755 million Francs after two years of negotiations.
• The charterer was found guilty of negligence by the tribunal in Cherbourg
• The legal action ended in June 1992.

Results

The incident led to technical advances in pollution response techniques and viscous oil recovery (mobile cleaning station for pebbles) as well as advances in chemical understanding of the behaviour of oils.

The lessons learned from this incident were precious in the reworking of the Polmar-Land plan for Finistère as well as for the development of the pollution response stockpile and response strategies on loand, in particular for waste treatment in hard-to-reach areas.

However, no change was operated regarding prevention and general policies on risks linked to passing vessels.