It was moored alongside the South Mole in Gibraltar Harbour. MV Fedra avoided becoming a permanent shipwreck when the forward section was re-floated and towed round into the Bay of Gibraltar in February 2009. There were also slicks sighted in the Bay of Gibraltar. Spanish sources reported HFO from MV Fedra had washed up on some Campo beaches, having drifted as far as Tarifa. Some of this oil washed ashore along Gibraltar’s western coast, particularly in the area of Rosia Bay and Camp Bay. Roughly half of MV Fedra’s 300 tonnes of on-board HFO spilled into the sea. The vessel broke in half shortly thereafter. 5 of MV Fedra’s 31 crew members were airlifted to safety by a Spanish coast guard helicopter and the rest were hoisted up by an improvised crane system. Gibraltar declared it a Major Incident and requested the standby of additional statutory and voluntary emergency services. Spanish and Gibraltarian emergency services mounted a joint rescue operation. It ran aground and smashed against Europa Point, the southernmost tip of Gibraltar, on the 10 October 2008, following severe gale force winds measuring 12 on the Beaufort scale. MV Fedra was a Liberian-registered bulk-carrier cargo ship. It was used in conjunction with the modelling to help plan where the oil may end up and to further the response strategy. A trajectory was produced providing a visual resource of the predicted direction of travel.Īerial surveillance was used to try and identify how much oil had entered the water, how much the slick had broken up and its direction of travel. Information such as oil type, quantity, location of the spill and predicted weather were inputted to make the scenario as detailed and specific as possible. To gain an understanding of the local current conditions around MV Fedra, and how the weather and sea temperature could affect the behaviour of the spilled oil, a modelling programme was used. They can be used to help plan a response, highlighting areas which may be at risk and allowing preparations to be made in advance, such as the selection of suitable equipment. Models can be used to help predict how long oil will be at sea for, its direction of travel and how it is likely to weather over time. Provide advice and technical support to the Client and assist the local governments.Clean sites that were exposed to the public to the highest standard.Employ suitable response techniques for each site.Prioritise sites according to sensitivity, proximity to water intakes, public exposure, impacted oil volume and access.A protection booming strategy is deployed to protect any water intakes for the desalinisation plants, and any areas of commercial significance such as the marina. OSRL responders are assigned areas and given small work forces to execute the plans and start the recovery operation. Site Response Plans (SRPs) are conducted and OSRL equipment is distributed as directed. The stern section, carrying an estimated 300 tonnes of Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) & 50 tonnes of diesel in wing tanks, is being pushed on to the rocks. MV Fedra has broken her back just forward of the engine room bulkhead.

This is made difficult by extremely bad weather conditions which persist throughout the night.įirst light allows initial assessment of the incident. The initial priority of the Port Authorities and emergency services is the rescue of all 31 crew members onboard.

She has suffered engine failure and goes aground at Europa Point. MV Fedra drags anchors in force 9-10 winds.

The shipit journal