27
-
Wednesday, March 27, 1974
OIL SPILLAGE REPORT PUBLISHED
Recommendations Made To Prevent Re-occurrence
The Commission of Inquiry into the Apleichau Oil Spill has
recommended measures to ensure against a repetition of the leakage that
occurred on November 8 last year.
In its report, the Commission concludes that the immediate
cause of the spill was a rupture in the plating of a tank in the Sholl
storage depot. This took place when the tank was being filled with heavy
diesel fuel from a tanker berthed at the nearby jetty.
The Commission found that the rupture resulted from failure of
the foundation, due to excessive settlement of the ground surface immediately
underlying the bottom plating of the tank.
At the time of the incident, a sluice gate in the bund surrounding
the area, controlling a rainwater drainage outlet to the sea, was left open
despite instructions that it should normally remain closed.
Although the gate was lowered to close this outlet before the oil.
reached it, the design was such that the operator was not aware - until too
late
+
that it had jammed in descent.
Before action could be taken to prevent further loss through this
outlet, by blocking it with a canvas sheet and bags of cement, an estimated
1,000 to 2,000 tons of oil escaped via a separator unit to the sea.
In addition, some 3,000 tons of oil sank through the floor of the
enclosed tank area into the subsoil. From there an amount impossible to
estimate subsequently seeped into the sea.
The Commission
1
T
E