MT Tasman Spirit

Oil tanker

The Tasman Spirit was a Greek registered oil tanker. The tanker was launched in February 1979 and was formerly called the Mabini and Kenko.

Tasman Spirit oil spill

On July 27, 2003, she ran aground near the city of Karachi whilst on approach to the Port of Karachi. Over the next few days more than 33,000 tons of oil spilled into the Arabian Sea in what is considered by some to be the largest environmental disaster in Pakistan's history.^[1] Cracks began to appear on the ship's hull on August 13 and the ship began to break up. By August 17, the ship had split into two, releasing some 12,000 tons of its light crude oil cargo into the Arabian Sea.^[2] According to the IUCN 16 kilometres of coastline has been polluted.

The ship's insurer offered 10 million rupees (about $180,000 US dollars in 2003) in compensation to the Karachi port authorities, and agreed to pay all cleaning expenses.

References

^ "Karachi port plans to remove fuel from stranded ship". The Express Tribune. 2021-07-26. Retrieved 2021-08-18.
^ "Tasman Spirit". Shipwreck Log. 2014-09-26. Retrieved 2019-11-13.

"Pakistan tackles huge oil spill". BBC. August 15, 2003. Retrieved 2007-10-29.
"Editorial: A tragic but avoidable disaster". Daily Times (Pakistan). August 16, 2003. Retrieved 2007-10-29.
Tasman Spirit oil spill collection of articles at Coordination marée noire
"Stricken tanker, Tasman Spirit, spills 33,000 tons of crude oil into the sea off the Karachi coast". World Wildlife Fund. July 28, 2003. Archived from the original on October 25, 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-29.
https://web.archive.org/web/20041118141048/http://www.hipakistan.com/en/detail.php?newsId=en35669&F_catID=&f_type=source