What Crew Members Say About Marco-Polo

The Swedish state was compensated for the Coast Guard's costs in connection with the oil spill from the 'Marco Polo', which ran aground in Pukavik Bay off the coast of Blekinge on Oct 22, 2023. SEK 35.6 million has been paid by the ship's insurance company. The Coast Guard's compensation claim covers the authority's efforts, readiness with ships, and costs for other equipment and personnel. For this, the shipowner and the insurance company, paid almost SEK 36 million. The fact that the state, and thereby the taxpayers, received compensation follows from international regulations. At least 60 tons of oil had leaked into the sea, which was the beginning of an environmental response, which lasted for 19 days. A total of approximately 75 people were on site from the Coast Guard during the operation, including divers. In total, approximately four kilometers of dredging was carried out. The operations were carried out in collaboration with, among others, the Blekinge County Administrative Board, Sölvesborg Municipality, Karlshamn Municipality, the Swedish Maritime Rescue Society (SSRS), the Western Blekinge Rescue Service, the Home Guard and the Swedish Agency for Civil Protection and Emergency Preparedness (MSB).The compensation will be reported directly to the treasury. The decided water pollution fee of 1.4 million SEK (in accordance with the Act on Measures against Pollution from Ships, based on the gross tonnage of the ship and the amount of oil released) has been appealed by TT-Line to the Stockholm District Court.

Two years after the 'Marco Polo' ran aground in Hanö Bay on Oct 22, 2023, causing a major oil spil, a report now showed that there still were significantly elevated levels of carcinogenic toxins, the so-called PAHs, in the area of Hällevik. Along the coast in Pukavik outside Sölvesborg there are long beach meadows with sensitive flora and fauna and very high natural values. To investigate whether the soil and vegetation are affected by chemical substances, the County Administrative Board and IVL Swedish Environmental Institute carried out sampling in May. The results showed that although there were hardly any visible traces of the oil, hazardous substances were still spreading in the soil that affect plants and wildlife. The highest levels were found in the Spraglehall nature reserve. This means that domestic cattle will no longer graze on the coastal meadows in the southern parts of the nature reserve and thus the landscape is not kept as open as before by the Blekinge County Administrative Board. The ban on entry remained in an area that included the northern parts of Krokås and the southern part of Spraglehall Nature Reserve.

TT-Line's insurance company has agreed to pay just over 51 million to MSB for the clean-up after the 'Marco Polo' ran aground. So far, the authority has demanded 64.8 million. The clean-up on the beaches is being led by the affected municipalities, which in turn are being compensated by MSB. The clean-up at sea was carried out by the Coast Guard, which has not yet reached an agreement with TT-Line's Norwegian insurance company, Gard.

The bill for the clean-up of 60 tons oil, after the 'Marco Polo'ran aground off the Blekinge coast is growing. So far, the MSB has paid out SEK 64 million to the municipalities affected. The most money has been paid to the municipality of Sölvesborg, where the hardest-hit stretch of coast is located. There are also claims for an additional SEK 2 million from Sölvesborg, Karlshamn and Kristianstad that have not yet been paid. The starting point of MSB was to get back all the money it has spent from the shipping company's insurance company, since the assessment was that the compensation claims from the municipalities were reasonable. Clean-up costs could rise further if new oil were discovered.

The shipping company TT-Line has taken note of the recommendations following the major oil spill from the 'Marco Polo' after it ran aground off Blekinge in October 2023. This was the assessment of the Swedish Maritime Accident Investigation Board, which is was now closing the case. The board assessed that the TT-Line has followed the six recommendations given by the Swedish Maritime Accident Investigation Board after the incident. Among other things, more training for personnel and emergency drills were recommended. The Swedish Maritime Accident Investigation Board has also proposed that the government should investigate how major shipping accidents can be better handled.

Since the 'Marco Polo' ran aground in Hanö Bay on Oct 22, 2024,, the municipality of Sölvesborg has invested significant resources in removing the heavy oil from beaches and nature. Most of the oil is now gone, but traces of pollution are still appearing and could cause problems. A total of 60tons of heavy oil were spilled, which led to a major environmental disaster with dead seabirds and injured marine mammals. Despite the fact that the most urgent efforts are complete, the Sölvesborg municipality continues to find oil lumps and stains. In mid-March, it will intensify the work more and go through the stretches once more. The clean-up effort has cost approximately SEK 55 million, mainly financed by the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency. The shipping company TT-Line paid SEK 1.6 million to the County Administrative Board in Blekinge. Some areas are already open to visitors, but the formal end date is decided by the Blekinge West Environmental Association. If more oil is found afterwards, the municipality will still move out again. On the islands nearby, stained nesting sites have been cleaned, but more follow-up is expected with a time horizon of five to ten years.

The shipping company TT Line has responded to the Swedish Maritime Accident Investigation Board's criticism and expressed its deep regret over the oil disaster. The report had showed that the accident was caused by deficiencies in the crew and the ship's equipment. The TT-line has now provided its statement on the criticism and mentioned, among other things, that it has updated its safety management system (SMS) based on its thorough analysis of the incident and will review and analyze the SHK report carefully with a focus on further improving the SMS by implementing appropriate conclusions.

On Feb 17, 2025, the investigation report by the Swedish Maritime Accident Investigation Board into the grounding of the 'Marco Polo' off Blekinge, when the ferry approached Stillerydshamnen in Karlshamn on Oct 22, 2023, was published. It pointed to a lack of safety cultur as one of the reasons. The Swedish authorities' handling of the was is also criticized. The GPS equipment was broken and the helmsman thought he was out on the open sea off Hanö. In fact, the voyage took place inside Hanö and the ship ran aground twice with ten-minute intervals - but the personnel on board did not understand this. Approximately 60 tons oil leaked out, the beaches along Listerlandet in Blekinge were soiled and birds were injured. A contributing cause of the accident was that the bridge crew relied solely on one navigation method. This deviates from the international principles which state that all available navigation aids should be used. fter the first grounding, personnel in the engine room feared that the ship had collided with something, but this was not communicated to the personnel on the bridge. The personnel should have made a more thorough analysis of the fault alarm and thus received a correct situational picture earlier. Then perhaps the second grounding could have been avoided and the authorities could have been alerted earlier. The Swedish Accident Investigation Board saw the failure to detect various deviations as a sign of deficiencies in the safety culture. In addition, the crew had too little training on both the navigation system and the safety organization system. The personnel’s contact lines to the shipping company’s personnel ashore also broke down during the grounding, which may also have delayed the alert to the Swedish authorities. The Swedish authorities' handling of the accident may also have contributed to the worsening of the consequences. The Swedish Maritime Accident Investigation Board pointed to shortcomings in communication and cooperation between, for example, the Coast Guard and municipal rescue services. The sharing of information about the oil spill and the accident site was made more difficult due to what the Swedish Maritime Accident Investigation Board called "legal challenges". The government is therefore urged to appoint an inquiry into how society's ability to handle major ship accidents can be strengthened.