BfR-Wissenschaft 
75 
The Maltese tanker TASMAN SPIRIT grounded at the entrance to Karachi Port, Pakistan in 
the early hours on 27 th July 2003. She was carrying 67,800 tonnes of Iranian Light crude oil 
destined for the national refinery in Karachi. There were also 440 tonnes of heavy fuel oil in 
aft bunker tanks. 
The area in the vicinity of the incident had a number of sensitive sites that had either been 
contaminated or were under threat of contamination, including the commercial port, the fish 
ing port, salt pans, and also crucially, the Indus River Delta, which is home to the largest arid 
mangrove forest in the world. This highly sensitive habitat acts as a nursery ground for com 
mercially-exploited species of fish and protected species such as the Indus Dolphin can be 
found there. 
At the time of the incident there was no national contingency plan for oil spill response or 
resources and expertise for dealing with them, and on the basis of ITOPF advice, personnel 
and equipment were flown in from Oil Spill Response Ltd (OSRL) in the UK and East Asian 
Response Ltd (EARL) from Singapore to assist with the response. The involvement of OSRL 
and EARL was funded directly by the P&l Club. 
The condition of the grounded tanker deteriorated as she was subjected to continuous stress 
from the heavy swell of the prevailing south-west monsoon and by 11 th August she began to 
show signs of breaking up. During discussions with the Pakistani authorities, and in prepara 
tion for the likelihood that the tanker would break up in the rough seas and release large 
quantities of oil cargo, ITOPF advised that the most effective approach to respond to a large- 
scale release of oil would be to carry out widespread aerial dispersant spraying of oil at sea, 
despite the fact that the waters surrounding the grounded tanker were relatively shallow. This 
advice was based on the fact that the oil type was a light crude oil, which would be expected 
to have a tendency to disperse naturally in the choppy seas driven by monsoon winds, and 
that the degree of risk posed to the sensitive Indus River Delta mangroves by floating oil 
slicks was considered to be relatively high in comparison with the risk of dispersed oil affect 
ing resources in the shallow waters near to the grounding site. 
Approval for large-scale dispersant use was given by the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) and the 
Pakistan Environment Protection Agency, and by the time the vessel broke in two overnight 
on 13 th August releasing several thousand tonnes of oil OSRL and EARL had been mobilised 
to Karachi, along with a C-130 Hercules aircraft from Singapore and a specialised ‘ADDS 
Pack’ (Aerial Dispersant Delivery System) for large scale aerial dispersant application. An 
additional 100 tonnes of dispersant were also provided to Pakistan by the UK government to 
assist with the response. Much of the spilled oil quickly stranded on Clifton Beach, the main 
recreational beach in Karachi, but significant quantities remained afloat both inside and out 
side Karachi port. In total, it is estimated that some 30,000 tonnes of oil was spilled from 
TASMAN SPIRIT. 
Between 15 th and 17 th August dispersants were applied to freshly released oil using the Her 
cules aircraft, guided towards the heavier slicks by observers within an aerial surveillance 
aircraft. The approach proved to be effective at dispersing large quantities of floating oil at 
sea, with observers noting that quantity of oil visible on the sea surface was significantly re 
duced as a result. 
By 18 th August some 25,000 tonnes of crude oil cargo had been recovered from the vessel’s 
tanks by the appointed salvage company, and at that stage approximately 14,000 tonnes 
remained as the ship continued to break up in the heavy monsoon swells. An additional large 
release of oil occurred on 29 th August when aerial dispersant spraying was carried out again. 
By this point some 31 tonnes of dispersant had been sprayed onto floating oil from the C-130 
and an additional 6 tonnes were sprayed from response vessels near to the grounded casu 
alty. Aerial dispersant spraying operations were eventually stopped shortly afterwards as it