Two vessels carrying 32,813 tonnes of POL had collided on January 28 outside the Kamarajar
harbour.
New Delhi: Government on Saturday said it is keeping a close vigil on the situation arising out of oil spill following the recent collision between two ships at Kamarajar port and is in talks with ship owners for payment claims.
“The Coast Guard ship and helicopters are carrying out regular sorties for continuous monitoring of oil slick… D.G. Shipping is also holding discussions with the owners of the ships and the mechanism of distribution of compensation and payment of claims by the insurers will be shortly in place,” said.
Two vessels – MT BW Maple and MT Dawn Kanchipuram – while crossing each other had collided on January 28 outside the Kamarajar harbour. Kanchipuram, which was carrying 32,813 tonnes of POL, suffered a rupture which led to oil spill.
According to the government’s status report, the P&I insurers of MT Dawn Kanchipuram are in the process of establishing a local ‘Claims Desk’ and specifying the procedures for submitting and handling claims.
“The representative from the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Limited (a specialised international agency on ‘Oil Spill Response’ – arranged by the owner/P&I insurers of MT Dawn Kanchipuram) is already in Chennai,” it said.
The authorities involved in the operations are confident that the situation is under control and the entire cleaning up operation will be completed in a couple of days, it said. Minister of State for Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan is in Chennai to take stock of the situation.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday said the government has ordered a high-level probe, headed by Director General Shipping, to nail the guilty behind the oil spill and the report is likely in a month.–PTI
