Swire Shipping Denies It Lied Over Queensland Oil Spill Volume

By Angela Macdonald-Smith

March 16 (Bloomberg) -- Swire Shipping, operator of a ship that last week leaked fuel oil, coating beaches in Australia’s Queensland, denied media reports it lied about the amount of fuel lost, which is about 10 times more than initially believed.

The container ship’s officers and the authorities were initially unaware that a second fuel tank had been punctured in the accident, Swire said in an e-mailed statement. The captain of the MV Pacific Adventurer yesterday surrendered his passport to the authorities, Queensland Deputy Premier Paul Lucas said.

The Queensland government yesterday said about 250 metric tons of heavy fuel oil may have been spilled by the ship in a storm, up from initial estimates of between 20 and 30 tons. More than half of the oil-affected areas on two islands and parts of the Sunshine Coast tourist area have been cleaned, Lucas said yesterday.

The accident occurred when 31 containers carrying ammonium nitrate washed overboard in rough seas whipped up by Tropical Cyclone Hamish, piercing the hull of the Pacific Adventurer on the port side. The ship’s officers only discovered a second hole, in the starboard fuel tank, once the vessel had docked in the Brisbane River, Swire, a unit of London-based John Swire & Sons Ltd., said in the March 15 statement.

Three separate investigations are underway into the accident, by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, the Australian Marine Safety Authority and Marine Safety Queensland.

Maritime Safety Queensland officers served Queensland legal papers on the captain of the Pacific Adventurer yesterday under the Transport Operations (Marine Pollution) Act, Lucas said in a separate e-mailed statement.

Swire “accepts its responsibilities in connection with the incident and continues to cooperate fully with the authorities,” the company said. “The master and other members of the crew will stay on the vessel in Brisbane for as long as required by authorities and will be available to assist with their investigation.”

The Queensland government hadn’t initially been told of the full extent of the spill, Lucas was cited by the Brisbane Times as saying in a March 14 report.

“When someone has lied to you about the level of leakage of oil, it is a very difficult situation to be in,” he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Angela Macdonald-Smith in Sydney at amacdonaldsm@bloomberg.net