Oil Spill off Devon coast, England

[malaise]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/6283965.stm
<snip>
An anti-pollution operation is under way after a stricken cargo ship off the Devon coast began leaking oil and lost some 200 containers overboard.

The MSC Napoli suffered structural damage during Thursday's storms and was beached off Branscombe to stop it sinking in deep water.

Up to 200 tonnes of oil may have leaked from a fuel tank on the listing vessel, sparking pollution concern.

It has emerged that the ship previously ran aground off Singapore in 2001.

Department of Transport salvage chief Robin Middleton said he had decided the ship should be towed in and beached in Lyme Bay to reduce environmental damage.

The 62,000 tonne vessel was carrying 2,323 containers, 158 of which are classed as having potentially hazardous contents.

[krispos42]

1. Two hundred tonnes

That 200,000 kilograms. Diesel is .82 kilograms per liter, so that works out to be 243,900 liters.
Converting liters to gallons gets you a little more than 64,000 gallons. Quite a fair bit of fuel lost there.

Could drive a Volkswagon over two million miles. That's over a century of driving for the average person.

[malaise]

2. Damn that's a lot of fuel

Then add the chemicals. Imagine what this means for the poor sea creatures not to mention the fishermen.

[Xithras]

7. Yes and no.

While 200 tonnes is a lot, it isn't anywhere near the scale of spill we see from oil tankers that run aground. If they know what they're doing, it shouldn't be all that hard to contain it. As an added plus, this is fuel oil, not crude. Fuel oil eventually gets broken apart by wave action anyway and doesn't coat everything in muck the way crude does.

All oil spills are bad, but this shouldn't be a catastrophe unless the authorities really blow the cleanup.

[Taxloss]

3. That's the total tonnage of the ship, not the weight of the cargo.

Measured by displacement I think.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. No, 200 tonnes is the ship's fuel that has leaked

it is quite a lot - it could be 6 road tankers' worth.

[Taxloss]

5. Getting my tonnes mixed up. n/t

[malaise]

6. I see the looters are having a feast

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/6287457.stm

[Xithras]

8. There's this myth about found goods being fair game.

The law in most countries is that goods washed up from a wreck in national waters have to be declared. You can grab them, but you must inform the police. If the owner wants the materiel back, you have to turn it over. If the owner doesn't want it back, you get to pay all the appropriate taxes and customs fees. Failure to declare takings from a shipwreck is theft. Apparently in Great Britain it will land you a fat fine. In the US it will actually land you in prison. Still, there's this enduring finders keepers philosophy (for the record, finders keepers at sea only applies in international waters, and even then only if the "finder" doesn't live in a nation with loss protection treaties with the "loser" nation).

Declaring it is a good idea anyway. In reality, these guys taking home these BMW motorcycles have little to worry about. These bikes have been fully submerged in the ocean and will be declared a total loss by the manufacturer...it's very little chance that BMW would send someone out to your house to pick it up. After a certain time period has elapsed, you can declare it abandoned, take ownership, and register it. Just be expecting that visit from the tax man...and you'll be paying taxes on the RETAIL value of the bike. Don't expect any tax breaks simply because you had to replace the gauges, computers, and entire electrical system due to saltwater contamination. The tax man doesn't care about any of that :)

[malaise]

9. LOL

More link finders weepers :D