The Tribune

By JADE RUSSELL

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

CENTRAL and South Abaco MP John Pinder denied claims of an oil spill on the south coast of the island, describing it as “erroneous”.

Mr Pinder’s comments yesterday came after the Onego Traveller ship sank in waters in the southern part of Abaco while carrying heavy fuel onboard.

The general cargo ship registered in Antigua and Barbuda, built in 2002, reportedly began taking on water in the ballast water tank area near Hole in the Wall, off South Abaco on Thursday.

“I’ll like to report there is no oil spill that report is erroneous. The slick on top of the water is residue from the dissolving shipment that they were carrying, which is ferix, which is non-toxic, it is more like a corrosive,” Mr Pinder told The Tribune.

Since the Onego Traveller sank, pictures have circulated on social media of there being a large cast of oil in Abaco waters.

The ship was carrying 12 crew members on board along with other cargo such as steel products and heavy fuel and marine gas oil before it sank. The crew members were evacuated from the ship.

In a statement released on Friday, the Ministry of Transport and Housing confirmed that a meeting with members of the National Oil Spill Contingency Advisory Committee (NOSCAC) was held to discuss the way forward.

Mr Pinder said authorities were immediately on the site to facilitate remediation efforts, adding he was very “optimistic” that there will be no long-term environmental affects in the area.

“The diesel and fuel that they (the ship) were carrying was capped off. There are ships out there that are doing the containment. And they will be extracting the fuels off of the boat from fuel tanks, but they were capped off in time not to have an oil spill,” he said.

He noted that a clean-up team called Resolve Marine was working actively with local authorities to solve the matter and he also visited the site himself.

However, Daphne deGregory-Miaoulis, the Abaco Chamber of Commerce’s president, told Tribune Business there was a slow response to the ship sinking.

“It is unfortunate that the spill happened around the holiday season because Junkanoo season is taking over and everybody seems totally engrossed in that. The response time on this should be on all engines forward, making this a priority,” she said recently.

When asked about Ms Degregory-Miaoulis’ comments, Mr Pinder described them as being “wrong” and “erroneous.”

“The authorities were on top of it. From when they (ship) had distressed to when it was sinking to the beginning of the remediation,” Mr Pinder said.

Ms Degregory-Miaoulis also told Tribune Business there wasn’t enough “skirting” to contain the fuel oil.

“There isn’t enough skirting in the country to contain this spill. I spoke to an official that was over here assessing the spill. We asked the people in Exuma for help and they said their skirting is too small. We then asked the people in Grand Bahama and they didn’t have any. So, the only alternative is we have to ask the US for help with skirting,” she said.

Asked about the skirting, Mr Pinder responded: “The ship there that is doing the clean-up and extraction has all the skirting they need, and they have 1000 feet in case of it touching the shore. So, we have all the necessary gear on site to perform the job at hand.”

He said efforts were ongoing in the clean-up and remediation of the area.

He continued: “I am very optimistic that everything will go well, and the clean-up will leave no long-term environmental effects. And putting my eyes on it personally I was able to see that they are out there working non-stop to make sure that the fishing grounds are kept for future generations.”