When her rudder failed on the morning of March 16, 1978, off the island of Ouessant, the 330 m long supertanker couldn't withstand the storm, a westerly wind of force 8 to 10. Nor did it resist financial stupidity. It took 7 hours for the oil company and its insurance company to agree to cover the towing costs. at 9:43pm, the Amoco Cadiz ran aground on the rocks off Portsall, and the oil slick began again... the 4th in 11 years.
The toll was heavy, with over 220,000 tonnes of crude oil spilled along more than 300 km of Brittany's coastline.
The authorities had to wait more than 10 days to receive the equipment needed to start pumping out the fuel still trapped in the holds. The French Navy provided 4,500 men and 50 boats. The fire department, farmers and environmental associations will provide back-up. Two months later, over 7,000 men were still taking turns on 90 construction sites. Less than 10% of the oil will have been recovered. The images left a lasting impression: with no equipment, volunteers cleaned up our coasts by hand, using shovels.
Consequences
10.000 dead birds, 6,400 tonnes of oysters and 35 species of fish were affected. In all, over 4,500 birds were rescued, mainly razorbills, puffins and common guillemots. It took at least seven years for nature to fully recover.
The Amoco Cadiz disaster highlighted the importance of having an effective and rapidly mobilized response to marine pollution. The government set up a new plan to combat accidental marine pollution, the Polmar Plan.
After 14 years of litigation, Amoco paid only 192 million Francs in damages to the communes and the State, for a total estimated loss of 600 million Francs. Nevertheless, this is the first time that a company has been forced by the courts to compensate the victims of pollution.
Always stupid. The Amoco Haven, sistership of the Amoco Cadiz, also sank in the Bay of Genoa in 1991, spilling 144,000 tonnes of crude oil.
