Authorities in Kenya are seeking $1-million in compensation from the Indian owners of an oil tanker that spilled 140 tonnes of crude into Mombasa harbour last week, officials said.
Kenya’s state-run National Environment Management Authority (Nema) has asked the owners of the MV Ratna Shalini to pay 76-million shillings ($1-million) for the
spill that forced a frantic clean-up effort.
”Kenya is a signatory to various international instruments on oil pollution that guarantee compensation” in such cases, Nema chief Ratemo Michieka told reporters late on Monday.
”The compensation package will cover the cost of the clean-up exercise and the damage to the environment,” he said.
The Dubai-flagged, single-hulled tanker hit a railing while docking at Mombasa port late on Thursday, puncturing one of its holds and dumping about 140 of the 3 000 tonnes of crude it was carrying into the Indian Ocean water.
Clean-up operations began immediately and lasted well into Friday before the spill was contained with oil booms.
In addition to being Kenya’s only deep-water port, the shores around Mombasa are home to a growing number of beach resorts that have become a mainstay of the East African nation’s thriving tourist industry.
The accident occurred just 24 hours after a new International Maritime Organisation (IMO) regulation took force barring the transport of heavy grade oil in single-hulled tankers.
Under the new rule, designed to reduce the risk of oil spills from tankers involved in low energy collisions or groundings, heavy-grade oil must be transported in double-hulled tankers. – Sapa-AFP