Stranding of

"AMOCO CADIZ"

Reported by:

Bustillo, Loven Jhon A. Team Leader

Panega, Josepth Roland Faro

Paredes, Paul Vincent Amalian

Patenio, Elysar Ceniza

Penaflorida, Gimar James Petalcorin

Vessels Profile
Name: AmocoCadiz
Owner: Amoco Transport
Co.

Port of registry:Liberia
Builder: Astilleros
Espaoles, S.A.
Cdiz,Spain

Yard number:95
Laid down:24 November
1973

Launched:1974
Completed:May 1975
Out of service:16 March
1978

Identification:IMO

Amoco Cadiz anchored in

Lisbon, Portugal in 1976

General characteristics:

Tonnage:233,690DWT; 109,700GRT
Length:334.02m (1,095.9ft)
Beam:51.06m (167.5ft)
Draught:19.80m (65.0ft)
Installed power:22,700 kW
1 30,400hp (22,700kW)diesel engine
Propulsion:Single screwSpeed:15 knots
(28km/h; 17mph)
Capacity:1.6Mbbl (250103m3)
Crew:44

VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier)

Tankers with a deadweight size of

160,000319,999 tonnes

Sequence of Events

Lyme Bay, England

Rotterdam,
Netherland
s

Britanny, France

At around 09:45 March 15, a heavy

wave hit the ship's rudder and it was
found that she was no longer
responding to the helm. because a
loss of hydraulic fluid in the rudder
shaft. Attempts to repair the damage
were made but proved unsuccessful.
While the message "no longer
maneuverable" and asking other
vessels to stand by was transmitted
at 10:20, no call for tug assistance
was issued until 11:20.

The German tug Pacific responded to

Amoco Cadiz at 11:28, offering
assistance. It arrived on the scene at
12:20, but because of the stormy sea,
a tow line was not in place until 14:00,
and broke off at 16:15.

Several attempts were made to

establish another tow line and Amoco
Cadiz dropped its anchor trying to
halt its drift. A successful tow line
was in place at 20:55, but this
measure
proved
incapable
of
preventing the supertanker from
drifting towards the coast because of
its huge mass and Force 10 storm
winds.

Beaufort Force 10

At 21:04 Amoco Cadiz ran aground

the first time, flooding its engines,
and again at 21:39, this time ripping
the hull and starting the oil spill. Her
crew was rescued by French Naval
Aviation helicopters at midnight, and
her captain and one officer remained
aboard until 05:00 the next morning.

At 10:00 on 17 March the vessel

broke in two, releasing its entire
cargo of 1.6 million barrels
(250,000m3) of oil, and broke
again eleven days later from the
buffeting of high stormy seas.
The
wreckage
was
later
completely destroyed with depth
charges by the French Navy.

Amoco Cadiz at around 10:00

March 17, 1978

Aftermath

Amoco Cadiz contained 1,604,500

barrels (219,797 tons) of light crude
oil from Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia and
Kharg Island, Iran. Severe weather
resulted in the complete breakup of the
ship before any oil could be pumped out
of the wreck, resulting in its entire cargo
of crude oil (belonging to Shell) and 4,000
tons of fuel oil being spilled into the sea.

Oiled beach in Britanny,

France

A 12mi (19km) long slick and

heavy pools of oil spread onto
45mi (72km) of the French
shoreline by northwesterly winds.
Prevailing westerly winds during
the following month spread the
oil
approximately
100mi
(160km) east along the coast.
One week after the accident, oil
had reached Ctes d'Armor.

At the time, Amoco Cadiz incident

resulted in the largest loss of

marine life ever

from an oil spill.

recorded

Mortalities of
most animals occurred over the two
months following the spill. Two weeks
following the accident, millions of dead
molluscs, sea urchins, and other bottom
dwelling organisms washed ashore.

Legal claims

In 1978, it was estimated to have

caused US$250 million in damage to
fisheries and tourist amenities. The
French government presented claims
totaling US$2 billion to United States
courts.
In subsequent legal proceedings in
Chicago, United States, the owners of
the tug were held to have been
completely blameless while France
was awarded US$120 million from the

Lacking and faults leading to

disaster

An argument arose between the

captain of Amoco Cadiz, Pasquale
Bardari, and that of the captain of
the German tug Pacific, Hartmut
Weinert, on the issue of Lloyd's
Open Form (LOF). Captain Weinert
thought this a classic LOF case, an oil
tanker with damage to its steering
gear, rough weather and getting
closer to the shore by the minute.

Lloyds open form

A

Lloyd's Open Form, formally

Lloyd's Standard Form of Salvage
Agreement, but more commonly
referred to as LOF, is a standard legal
document for a proposed marine

salvage operation.

At the time of the accident, the ship

and the cargo were valued at about
US$40 million, so Captain Weinert's
company could, in the event of
success, have received a large
award. Captain Bardari of the Cadiz,
on the instructions of his owners,
wanted "....towage rate to Lyme Bay."

The argument dragged on from 11:28

when Pacific first made contact with
Amoco Cadiz until 16:00 when Captain
Bardari finally received approval to
accept the LOF from the ship's owners
in Chicago. However, this dispute did
not delay the salvage operation
significantly,
because
tugging
preparations
had
already
started.

Captain Weinert was aware that

if he were to succeed in bringing
the tanker into Lyme Bay on the
English coast, his owners could
arrest the ship in the English

After long negotiations on financial terms

between the ship's captain and the
master of a West German tugboat, the
towline finally broke during the argument
and the ship drifted onto the rocks. This
events became fixed in the public mind
although in fact delay was caused by
Captain
Bardari
of
Amoco
Cadiz
contacting her owners in Chicago for
instructions.

Conclusion

After the rudder was no longer

responding to the helm, the captain of
Amoco Cadiz didnt immediately sent
distress message to nearby vessels at
that time because the captain of
Amoco Cadiz during that time is
contacting her owners in Chicago for
instructions. The delay in sending a
distress message meant that the larger
tug Seefalke, which might have been
in range an hour earlier, was no longer

The German tugboat Seefalke

After finishing asking instructions

from her owners in Chicago, the only
available tugboat within the vicinity
was the German Tugboat Pacific,
which was smaller.