
Why the Mauritius oil spill is so serious - irontinkerer
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53754751
======
fomine3
Some news said that the tanker got closed to island to connect Wi-Fi. OMG.

[https://www.lexpress.mu/article/381284/membres-dequipage-
con...](https://www.lexpress.mu/article/381284/membres-dequipage-confirment-
celebration-dun-anniversaire-bord-vraquier)

[https://www.news24.jp/articles/2020/08/14/10699738.html](https://www.news24.jp/articles/2020/08/14/10699738.html)

~~~
paublyrne
I can't view the Japanese link but the French article mentions nothing about
connecting to the internet, or "WI-FI". Wouldn't a ship have satellite
internet?

~~~
antihero
The Mauritian article says:

"Before the "Wakashio" ran aground on the reef at Pointe-d'Esny on the evening
of July 25, the crew was celebrating the birthday of one of its members. This
was reported by three crew members of the bulk carrier to Central Criminal
Investigation Department (CCID) investigators.

They also stated that the bulk carrier had approached the island to pick up a
wi-fi connection. Seven others made the same statement to investigators from
Mauritius Shipping. These seamen initially made a history of their voyage
which started in China to Australia and then another route from China, with a
stopover in Singapore, before heading for Brazil.

It was on this route that the bulk carrier crossed the territorial waters of
Mauritius. The crew of about 20 consists of three Indian nationals, sixteen
Filipinos and one Sri Lankan. The "Wakashio" was under the responsibility of
Captain Sunil Kumar Nandeshwar, a 58-year-old Indian national. They are
represented by Mr. Kushal Lobine and Mr. Irsaad Munsoor, lawyers for the
insurers of the Protection and Indemnity Club."

~~~
ryanjshaw
They almost certainly mean cellular connection, not wifi. Apparently it is
quite common for ships to get closer to shore for this reason. All crew
members have cellphones; satellite internet connectivity on the other hand is
vastly more expensive and access among crew is limited for that reason (and
even then typically justifiable only for business purposes).

------
jordanbeiber
Tangential but something that have been buging me for a while - these type
events are not enough brought in to the equation when EVs are compared to
ICEs.

I usually get comparisons to the refined gas/diesel with the whole process of
the battery.

Not saying batteries are great for the environment, but we have had so many
leaks during the years. Deep horizon is still leaking and where almost at
1.000.000 m3 if I recall correctly.

At least with batteries the pollution is kept more localized, which I believe
is to be preferred.

~~~
fluffy87
Wait till all the used Tesla’s get resold in poor countries and all those
batteries end up in rivers and the ocean.

~~~
theshrike79
You mean in the countries where they literally dig up live copper wires to
sell for cash?

Why would they dump hundreds of kilos of very expensive rare earth metals to
rivers?

~~~
throwaway0a5e
I think "dump them in the river" was a metaphor for "seriously damage the
environment in order to extract the valuable bits" which is what we currently
see with most waste processing.

------
hnzix
There doesn't seem to be details about the cause of the collision as yet.
However for a candid look at the grim reality of the maritime industry, and
how these kinds of disasters are far too common, I highly recommend _The
Outlaw Ocean_ by Ian Urbina. The human trafficking elements are particularly
disturbing.

~~~
kfarr
Also Normal Accidents by Charles Perrow

~~~
sradman
The port explosion in Beirut would make a perfect new chapter in _Normal
Accidents_. I’m guessing the cause of the MV Wakashio accident will turn out
to be a simple failure rather than a complex and unexpected failure mode
(Perrow’s “normal”).

~~~
dredmorbius
Economist Tim Harford has been running a small and occasional podcast series,
Cautionary Tales. It opened with an episode discussing Perrow, produced
immediately before, and releasing just after, Perrow's death last November.

He's looked at risk, may be thinking of technical debt, and I've suggested
Beruit.

Recommended.

~~~
sradman
Thanks :-) _Cautionary Tales Ep 3 – LaLa Land: Galileo’s Warning_ [1] has the
following in the shownotes:

> Charles Perrow’s Normal Accidents introduces the idea of complex, tightly-
> coupled systems and has good accounts both of the Three Mile Island and the
> Fermi reactor accidents. Just after we’d recorded the episode, I heard the
> sad news that Charles had died on November 12th. He’ll be missed.

[1] [https://timharford.com/2019/11/cautionary-tales-ep-3-lala-
la...](https://timharford.com/2019/11/cautionary-tales-ep-3-lala-land-
galileos-warning/)

------
js2
Drone footage of the ship:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN3SyPM9m2U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN3SyPM9m2U)

Wikipedia article:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Wakashio_oil_spill](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Wakashio_oil_spill)

~~~
rectang
That particular video was published before the ship started leaking, and has a
jarring soundtrack choice (John Williams, the Flying Theme from E.T.). People
should check out the other videos in the channel to get a sense of how things
have changed.

~~~
js2
Yeah sorry, I didn’t realize there were more recent videos and it’s too late
to edit my comment.

~~~
rectang
It's a gorgeous video! Which is weird and incongruous, lol.

------
sasaf5
>The ship, MV Wakashio, ran aground at Pointe d'Esny in late July, and oil
began leaking from it last Thursday.

>Fuel has been transferred to shore by helicopter and to another ship owned by
the same Japanese firm, Nagashiki Shipping.

So they had more than a week to prevent this.

~~~
qserasera
I'm not liking the timeline either. News agencies are really dropping the ball
on this one.

------
caterama
Why are these ships allowed to go anywhere near reefs?

~~~
darkerside
Not to minimize it, but you seem to be only thinking about this one instance
of a sunk tanker, and not the thousands and thousands of ships that do this on
a regular basis with no problem. These low probability risks, and countless
others like them, are part of a tapestry of a probabilistic horror show that
supports our everyday way of life.

~~~
ComputerGuru
We are you assuming he/she is thinking in that manner? Some things you cannot
put a price tag on. Getting oil cheaply from point a to point b is nice, but
if all it takes is one major and uncontained spill to forever kill one of the
few remaining large coral reefs...

~~~
debacle
We all think in that manner, all the time.

~~~
darkerside
Exactly. I didn't mean it personally. It's human nature. Best we can do is
recognize it. Or maybe, ignore it. I guess it depends on what you want in
life...

------
neetrain
Jets usually avoid flying low over cities in case of crash. Can't oil tankers
do something similar?

~~~
bryanrasmussen
Sure, but in this case the crew headed closer in to the coast to get better
wifi reception - they were celebrating a birthday party.

I guess the jet analogy would be jet pilot flies really low so his kids can
see him wave from their window.

on edit: my only source for this birthday claim is a tweet
[https://twitter.com/Ariel_Saramandi/status/12931545218922700...](https://twitter.com/Ariel_Saramandi/status/1293154521892270080)
but I believe it as I am by nature a misanthrope.

------
sradman
I rewatched the Drone footage [1] js2 linked to and I think I made the same
logical error that the captain/crew did; I mistook the breakwater as the edge
of the reef and missed the slightly deeper ridge that juts out perpendicular
to the island/lagoon.

The "coral ridge" that they hit is obvious in the many photos that are shown
in an image search results on "aerial photo MV-Wakashio". I was surprised by
the drone footage since it looks like the ship was perpendicular to the reef
edge which means that the ship was heading directly at the large/populated
island at near full speed but this was not the case. They were probably
running parallel to the breakwater and hit this hidden anomaly in the reef and
then wave action trapped the ship in this literal corner. Without tugs I don't
think the ship could back out even if undamaged so I guess one outstanding
question is whether a timely deployment of tug boats could have prevented the
break-up of the ship.

The accident occurred at 8pm local time (16:00 UTC +4) so it was dark but the
crew would have been awake. Tragic overconfidence.

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN3SyPM9m2U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN3SyPM9m2U)

------
mjberg01
What are the financial penalties for this? Cost of damages most interesting
angle and not mentioned in article.

Company and leadership on boat should be held liable to the greatest extent
possible. Set an example to curtail this sort of reckless behavior.

~~~
me_me_me
Company will blame it on the captain, and that will be the end of it.

Sadly this is our reality.

------
blueblisters
Somewhat related: this startup is supplying graphene based absorbent pads
called Sorbene to help clean up some of the mess:
[https://www.sorbene.com/](https://www.sorbene.com/)

------
codeisawesome
They couldn’t get the CEO to make a statement? A 2 minute rail delay gets an
immediate apology from the CEO in Japanese companies - I guess destroying
another country’s beauty and livelihood doesn’t warrant that.

------
totetsu
With so many seafarers not being let on shore(and not having wifi on board),
not being relieved, and working months past the end of their contracts, it's
only a matter of time before there are more accidents.

~~~
ComputerGuru
Until evidence points otherwise, this is just another spill in a long series
of marine ecology disasters and blame should not be allowed to be placed on
the coronavirus situation.

~~~
ornornor
I don’t think it has to do with the current epidemic.

------
LockAndLol
Since it's not happening in our backyard, I doubt the majority will care.
We'll keep buying our precious cars, voting against green and nuclear, and
continue our way of life unabated.

C'est la vie.

~~~
agumonkey
I wonder how much of globalism exists only because of distance-care
relationship

------
bryanrasmussen
I posted a related article a few days ago
[https://news.mongabay.com/2020/08/mauritius-grapples-with-
wo...](https://news.mongabay.com/2020/08/mauritius-grapples-with-worst-
environmental-crisis-in-a-generation/)

------
solutron
It's past time to move off fossil fuels. Join the EV revolution and let's use
the technology and engineering of the past to carry us to a future where we
can look back at the ancient relics of Industrialization V1 and wonder how we
were so primitive.

------
obayesshelton
Will anyone get fined and will the processed from the fine go to help the
local area?

~~~
doublerabbit
Of course. not.

They're throw some cleanup stuff at it, claim it's better and within a week
will all be forgotten.

------
0xdeadb00f
Oil spills may not statistically happen that often, but they happen way too
often. There has to be a way to prevent this from happening ever again.

~~~
Gibbon1
Easy, stop using oil.

~~~
altacc
Not so easy. Powering large ships for the ranges needed for global trade
without using fuel oil is currently an unsolved problem. There's a small EV
cargo boat with a range of only 50 miles. Battery density and ship efficiency
needs to be greatly improved before we can replace the engines and fuel tanks
in cargo ships.

(For clarification, the oil spill in Mauritius is the fuel oil from a bulk
carrier, not an oil tanker.)

~~~
BlueTemplar
Sails ?

~~~
altacc
There are various concepts for wind propulsion but even the most optimistic
think they’ll only provide some of the energy needed. Some kind of EV/wind
hybrid might be the answer but battery size is still a major issue.

------
nn3
Seems like a weird argument. So oil spills in unprotected areas are less
serious because nature there is already impacted in other ways? Won't make any
difference to the animals and plants in the end.

~~~
jand
> So oil spills in unprotected areas are less serious because

I do not think this is the point the author tried to make. I read this more
like "despite the minor amount of oil spilled compared to other spills, this
one will hurt like a big one".

