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As of Wednesday Aug 5 a total of  212 tons of oil emulsions had been recovered.

Aerial observation indicate that little oil now remain on the sea outside the shoreline. Occurrences of floating oil is now mainly found in the area Risør to Kragerø, but volumes are small.

It is a approximately 30 vessels and 500 personnel participating in the oil spill recovery. The Norwegian Coastal Authority has allocated a total of 10,2km of oil containment booms. The IUA also participate with collection equipment.

Oil pollution of the shoreline is observed from Grimstad to west of Larvikfjorden in the east.

A beach cleanup team is tasked with mapping the occurrences of oil spill on the shoreline and compile plans for the cleaning effort. This indicate a transition from an acute phase into a cleaning up phase. Until now between 60 and 70 instances of shoreline pollution has been reported, but this is expected to increase as the mapping progresses.

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Background
The bulk cargo carrier ”Full City” grounded July 31st at 00:23 local time close to the town of Langesund in Telemark, Norway.

The 15 878 BT Panama-flagged bulk carrier ”MV Full City” has a length of 167 meters and had a Chinese crew of 23 at the time of the incident. It is operated by the Hong-Kong based “Cosco” shipping company.

MV “Full City” had an estimated 1000 tons of heavy bunker oil (IF 180) and approximately 120 tons of marine diesel oil on board and was in ballast condition when grounding.

The Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre led the rescue operation and 18 of the crewmembers was brought ashore by helicopter. The remaining five stayed on board the ship. The Norwegian coastal administration mobilised all available resources and is leading the effort to reduce the pollution and its consequences.

State of the Vessel
Water has penetrated into all cargo holds except number 1 and all double-bottom tanks. The fore- and afterpeak were not penetrated. Oil residues has been observed in all cargo holds and in the engine room. The total amount of oil spill is still unknown.

Cosco has awarded Smit Salvage BV a contract for removing the remaining oil in the vessel and if possible to salvage the vessel. Bukser & Bjerging is a subcontractor on this contract. The pumping of the remaining oil from the vessel to an external barge starts Wednesday Aug 5.

The overall condition of the vessel’s hull seems to be stable.

Oil spill
A considerable amount of oil has spilled from the vessel, and pollution has been observed in the area from Stavern to Grimstad.

Actions to limit the oil spill
The Norwegian coastal administration has mobilised all available resources and is leading the effort to limit the pollution and reduce its consequences.
The local oil spill emergency response units (IUA) in Telemark and Vestfold is operating at full force to clean affected shore areas, and neighbouring IUAs is becoming increasingly involved.

The Coast Guard is contributing with several vessels, both to serve as platforms for sea-going operational control and to operate sea-going oil spill recovery equipment. The Norwegian coastal administration has also received seven vessel from Swedish Coast Gard, and one oil recovery system from NoFo. These will supplement The Norwegian coastal administrations own vessels in securing and recover the oil that has already drifted ashore.

The Norwegian coastal administration air-surveillance capacity is used to monitor the extent of the oil pollution.
Equipment and personnel has been deployed from Kystverkets depots in Horten, Kristiansand, Stavanger, Bergen and Fedje, and more is to be deployed from Solund and Ålesund.

As of Monday Aug 3 a total of 181 tons of oil emulsions had been recovered.

Ongoing tasks
In the vicinity of the vessel there are several protected areas and popular leisure areas.
The following areas are prioritised on top in the current cleanup effort:

1. Stråholmen, southern part
2. Mølen
3. Rognstranda
4. In general: Close narrow entrances

The main task for the ongoing effort is:
• To prevent oil to reach environmentally vulnerable areas.
• To recover floating oil
• To secure oil that has drifted ashore
• To monitor the extent of the polluted areas

The Norwegian coastal administration will continue to seal off the area around the vessel to prevent further oil pollution, and will closely monitor the development.

IUA Telemark has started to register volunteers for future cleanup work supported by WWF.