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Total Fina Elf (Brittany, France)(Erika Oil Spill)
Company details Total Fina Elf
2 place de la Coupole
92400 Courbevoie
France
Phone : +33-1-4744-4546
Chairman of the board : Thierry Desmarest
Location of damage 450 kms of coast line polluted with heavy fuel oil (bunker C oil) from
south Brittany to Oleron Island in the gulf of Biscay
Company activity Oil transport
Type of incident Accident > major oil spill, estimated between 15,000 and 18,000
tonnes of heavy fuel oil spilled 244 .
Type of damage Marine pollution
Seashore pollution, heavy impacts on marine and bird life.
Range of damage,
amount of loss
Overall damage was officially estimated as FRF 3 billion (EUR 450
million).
However there are consequences which cannot be estimated in
narrowly defined financial terms: depletion of sea bird life,
degradation of sandy sea shore, degradation of seashore
biodiversity, long term impact on tourism. By the end of March 2000,
a total of 61,000 soiled birds from 58 species had been collected, of
which less than 2,700 survived 245 . Shellfish, crabs, and some
bottom-dwelling fish were shown to have accumulated hydrocarbons,
and sale of these species was restricted for a time 246 . Unofficial
estimated tourism losses as high as EUR 1.5 billion (USD 1.36
billion) were published in the French press in February 2000.
Who is responsible Mixture of responsibility :
- The ship owner is responsible because it did not fully comply
244 Out of a total of 30,000 tonnes.
245 Cedre, http://www.ifremer.fr/cedre/_private/actualities/les_precautions_a_prendre.htm and La lettre du Cedre n o58:
nouvelles de Mars 2000, http://www.ifremer.fr/cedre.
246 See ITOPF updates of 10 March and 19 May 2000, http://www.itopf.com/news.html.
247 International agreements, particularly the 1992 International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage (CLC)
and the 1992 International Agreement on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution
Damage (Fund Convention), govern the regime for liability and compensation for oil pollution damage caused by oil tankers
in French waters. Under Article III of the 1992 CLC, the charterer of a ship has no liablity and no authority to undertake any
spill response of its own. The shipowner has no legal authority to undertake oil spill response. However, the shipowner is
liable for "any pollution damage caused by the ship as a result of the incident". There is strict liability to the shipowner for
any spill from its vessel, regardless of fault - though the shipowner may limit the extent of its financial liability (in the case of
the Erika, this was limited to approximately EUR 10 million or US$ 9.07 million). Additional compensation was available from
the 1992 IOPC Fund (which is financed through annually fixed contributions based on a set sum per tonne of oil imported for
all importers of the IOPC member countries, including a contribution from the TotalFina group). The 1992 IOPC Fund can
make up to EUR 180 million (approx. US$ 163 million at the time) available for a single incident. After intense public
pressure, the French government agreed that it would only claim its spill response expenses, estimated at EUR 50 million
(US$ 45.3 million) when private victims had received payments form the IOPC Fund. EUR 40 million (US$ 36.2 million) were
made available as emergency subsidies to meet the urgent needs of fishermen, shellfish farmers and the tourism industry.
The TotalFina group committed to provide atotal of EUR 104 million (US$ 99 million) for pumping oil from the wreck,
treatment and disposal of oily waste, cleanup of inaccessible coastal areas, and restoration of the ecological balance of
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