EXPLORING ENVIRONMENTAL-EFFECTS OF ACCIDENTS DURING MARINE TRANSPORT OF DANGEROUS GOODS BY USE OF ACCIDENT DESCRIPTIONS

On the basis of 1776 descriptions of water transport accidents involvi ng dangerous goods, environmental problems in connection with releases of this kind are described and discussed. It was found that most deta iled descriptions of environmental consequences concerned oil accident s, although most of the consequences were described as reversible chan ges. It was shown that crude oil releases, on average, are approximate ly five times larger than releases of oil products and that oil produc t releases are approximately five times larger than other chemicals. O nly 2% of the 1776 accidents described contained information on conseq uences to living organisms, and only 10% contained any information on consequences to ecosystems. A relationship was found between the minim um kilometers of shore polluted and the tonnes released in the case of shore pollution from oil accidents. Oil slicks were shown to be five times longer than broad. Gravity scales used to describe and evaluate environmental consequences were discussed.