Oil in Transportation - Adverse Impact on the Sea

Abstract

In the cycle from production to consumption there is liquidcargo which is mostly transp01ted by sea. Optimisation oftanker dimensions since the sixties has required constructionand exploitation of ever bigger vessels and the tendmcy ofstricter responsibilities: 'objects of higher responsibility'. Today,liquid cargo makes up almost half of all the cargo transportedby sea. Transportation of such stagge1ing amounts isve1y complex both from the aspect of general safety during navigationand in operations at the te1minal, since such cargo representsharmful substances according to the SO LAS Conventionregulations (rule VII/2). The awareness of the threat to the humanenvironment, land, shores and sea, stimulates developmentand affirmation of ecology as science of very strict bansand requirements towards evety activity which may be a potentialsource of wider pollution. The effects of oil on the sea regardingcomposition and properties may be chemical, physicaland biological, disturbing as a rule the natural balance of theecosystem at all levels. Special significance lies in the study ofthe influence that oil, its products and surface active substances(dispersers) have on the lwvae and ova of sea organisms - themost sensitive phase of life cycle in the sea, which mostly live inpelagic environment.