Thirty years since the Sea Empress incident

This week marks the 30th anniversary of the Sea Empress incident, one of the most significant oil spills to affect the United Kingdom.

On 15 February 1996, the Liberian-registered tanker Sea Empress (77 356 GRT), carrying more than 130 000 tonnes of crude oil, ran aground at the entrance to Milford Haven in south-west Wales. Although the vessel was quickly refloated, it grounded several times in persistently severe weather conditions. In total, approximately 72 000 tonnes of crude oil and 360 tonnes of heavy fuel oil were released. The incident had a devastating impact on the region’s coastline, with significant consequences for tourism and the fishing industry. A temporary fishing ban was imposed in affected areas, disrupting local livelihoods and economic activity.

At the time of the incident, the United Kingdom was Party to the 1969 Civil Liability Convention (CLC) and the 1971 Fund Convention. As a result, a total of 1 034 claims were submitted following the spill, and compensation totalling £36.8 million was paid to around 800 claimants. Of that amount, £7.4 million was paid by the shipowner’s insurer, the Skuld Club, and £29.4 million by the 1971 Fund.

The Sea Empress incident was one of the last major incidents to occur under the original international liability and compensation regime established by the 1969 CLC and 1971 Fund Convention. As participation in the regime expanded and it became evident that the compensation limits were, in some cases, insufficient to meet the full scale of damages arising from major incidents, the international maritime community, through the IMO, adopted the 1992 Civil Liability and Fund Conventions. These introduced significantly higher limits of compensation, up to 203 million Special Drawing Rights (SDR) for 1992 Fund Member States.

Whilst the frequency of major oil spills has declined considerably due to safer shipping and tighter regulation, risk has not been eliminated and the IOPC Funds is currently dealing with 15 open cases. With approximately two billion tonnes of oil transported by sea each year, a robust international liability and compensation framework remains essential to ensuring prompt and adequate compensation in the event of future incidents.

Today, 123 States are Members of the 1992 Fund and an additional layer of compensation is available to 33 States that have ratified the Supplementary Fund Protocol, increasing the total amount available for a single incident to 750 million SDR — approximately USD 1 billion at current values.

Since their establishment, the IOPC Funds have been involved over155 incidents and paid some £823 million in compensation.