A large quantity of the bunkers spilt by an Odfjell chemical tanker in Rotterdam over the weekend has been recovered.
“Approximately 150t of the 200t of spilled oil had been cleared,” Rotterdam Port Authority (RPA) said in a statement.
“It is expected that the clean-up operations will continue for several days. This work is being carried out by a specialist company, operating with six special oil spill response vessels.
“The initial priority is the clean-up of the port water and contaminated vessels, to enable the vessels to enter and leave the ports and for the logistics chain to resume.”
To this end RPA said a washing facility has been operational in Geulhaven since Sunday evening to clean the over 50 inland vessels, with some eight vessels being cleaned so far.
However, the washing facility capacity for inland vessels was since been doubled to enable two vessels to be cleaned simultaneously.
RPA said a washing facility for sea-going vessels has also been opened near buoy 66 in the Botlek area with several vessels queuing to undergo cleaning.
“After cleaning the port water and the vessels, a start will be made to clean up the contaminated port infrastructure, including jetties, slopes, banks and embankments. This is expected to take at least several weeks,” RPA said.
Odfjell chief executive Kristian Morch said in a statement: “We sincerely regret this incident. Our key focus continues to be on limiting the impact on the environment.
“We work closely with Dutch authorities and our partners in the area, and truly appreciate the rapid and professional handling that the Port Authority, Rijkswaterstaat, local units and our crew have shown to mitigate the consequences.
“It is still too early to speculate on the root cause of the accident, but we cooperate with authorities on establishing that as well.”
