A Team Tankers vessel carrying around 35,000 tons of vegetable oil has run aground offshore Uruguay.
The Siteam Anja, which is managed by Thome in Singapore, suffered engine failure after problems with the cooling system and grounded off Isla de Lobos near the popular tourist resort of Punta del Este.
, which is managed by Thome in Singapore, suffered engine failure after problems with the cooling system and grounded off Isla de Lobos near the popular tourist resort of Punta del Este.Tugboats and a Uruguayan navy vessel were in attendance and responders deployed a containment boom although no fuel spill was visible. Lightering was being considered by the authorities.
As the cargo is vegetable oil and biodegradable, that poses no serious pollution threat.
The vessel was en route from San Lorenzo in Argentina to Rio Grande in Brazil.
The ship is 400 meters off the shore of Isla de Lobos, “a nature reserve because it has the largest colony of sea lions in the western hemisphere: in 2005 there were 250,000 sea lions of the species called “two hairs” and 1,500 of the species known as the “wig.”[7] Can also be found different types of orcas and birds.” (Wikepedia”.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency of the US, “Scientific research and experience with actual spills have shown that spills of animal fats and vegetable oils kill or injure wildlife and produce other undesirable effects. Wildlife that becomes coated with animal fats or vegetable oils could die of hypothermia, dehydration and diarrhea, or starvation. Aquatic life may suffocate because of the depletion of oxygen caused by spilled animal fats and vegetable oils in water. Spills of animal fats and vegetable oils have the same or similar devastating impacts on the aquatic environment as petroleum oils.” (https://www.epa.gov/emergency-response/vegetable-oils-and-animal-fats)
In my view, that is a serious threat.