Tugen

The incident

On 2 February 2006, the oil tanker Tugen stopped off at Morondava (Madagascar) to refuel with refined products at the city’s depot.  The following day at around 4 pm, the ship broke anchor in a tropical storm. The Tugen grounded on a sand bank opposite the port’s entrance channel, and presented a 10° starboard list. Confronted with a threat of pollution, Total Outre-Mer organised incident management and called upon an expert from Cedre to assess the risks and advise the charterer.

Response

Spill response operations involved a lightering operation conducted by a private salvage company, with support from an expert from the Bureau Véritas for the Indian Ocean. These operations were scheduled to allow tugs to arrive onsite from South Africa and to facilitate refloating attempts. The lightering operation began on 9 February as soon as the oil tanker Elven had arrived onsite.

On 12 February, 1957 m3 of oil was transferred using the two towed barges. In the evening, the Tugen began to move. It was therefore decided to ballast the ship until towing operations could begin. On 13 February, two additional barges were brought alongside the Tugen and deballasting began, while the tugs arrived onsite. The Zouros Hellas began to tow the vessel at 4:30 pm and, after two failed attempts, managed to free it at around 6 pm. Lightering by transhipment between the two tankers continued. The Tugen was no longer operating due to the impact caused when it grounded. The ship was initially towed to the estuary for inspection, before being taken to drydock for repairs.

Impact

No pollution was reported.

Sources :

- Equasis
- Cedre, Avril 2006, Échouement du pétrolier côtier "Tugen"