The environmental impact of dangerous goods disasters at sea

It is difficult to ignore the dramatic impact that disasters at sea involving the carriage of dangerous goods can cause in terms of loss of life, damage to vessels and cargo and, inevitably, the contribution to environmental damage. 

On 6 March 2018 the Maersk Honam caught fire while sailing in the Arabian Sea. Five members of the crew of 27 were killed, including one rescued crew member who died later from injuries. The Maersk Honam fire took 5 weeks to get under control in March 2018, filling the atmosphere with carbon dioxide, a key contributor to greenhouse gases. The cause of the fire was suspected to be misdeclared or undeclared DG cargo. 

In May 2021 Sri Lanka faced one of the worst marine wildlife disasters in its history, after a burning ship spewed chemicals and microplastics into the ocean. The MV X-Press Pearl was carrying 1,486 containers, many of which contained dangerous goods, including nitric acid, caustic soda, sodium methoxide and methane as well as a huge amount of plastic raw materials. A container leaking nitric acid is thought to have been the cause of the fire which broke out as the ship was about to enter the capital Colombo. Tonnes of microplastic granules from nearly 1,500 containers on the 6 month old ship inundated the country’s beaches and chemicals mixing with seawater caused devastation to marine species and coral reefs. 

With containerships getting bigger every year, the number of containers being shipped across the world continues to grow. The largest containership in the world at the present time, the 24,000 TEU Evergeen ship ‘Ever Ace’ can transport 23,992 twenty foot containers. With bigger and bigger ships and more containers carrying DG the potential for incidents at sea also continues to grow.