12 
Global Trends in Ship-Sourced Marine Pollution 
The largest ever spill on ITOPF’s records was the ATLANTIC EMPRESS (287,000 MT) In 1979 
(Fig. 3). The Incident occurred In the Atlantic Ocean about 10 miles off the coast of Tobago. It Is the only re 
corded collision between two fully laden Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC). Figure 3 provides an overview 
of the total volume of oil spilled from tankers since 1970. It clearly demonstrates that one large Incident can 
contribute significantly to the total volume of oil spilled In one year and therefore this may not be the best 
Indicator of trends. For example, the ABT SUMMER Incident In 1991 contributed 260,000 MT (37%) of the 
total of 700,000 MT spilled that year. 
Fig 3: Quantities of oil 
spilled from tankers 
over 7 MT 
AtlAhlTirFMPnm. 
jTf.flootiilnh I 
ЛАТ tUMMFR 
Ш|.|ШГпилгъ 
ITAÜTIMOÜF ПЕИ'.-FP 
■IW.WU temisi 
ULULO« HI r 
la.iWTunimi 
I по о Э- 
The total volume of oil spilled has reduced dramatically from the 1970’s until 2010. Fig 4 provides a break 
down of the quantities of oil spilled per decade. It shows that just over 55% of the total quantity spilled was 
In the 1970’s compared with only 3.5% In the period 2000-2009. 
Some likely reasons behind this reduction are the Implementation 
of International conventions such as the International Convention 
for the prevention of pollution from ships (MARPOL 1973, 
amended 1978)and the International Convention for the safety 
of life at sea (SOLAS 1974), both adopted by the IMO. In the 
United States the Oil Pollution Act (OPA 90) was quickly 
adopted following the EXXON VALDEZ (1989) Incident. 
These conventions have led to many Improvements In safety 
management as well as ship design amongst others. 
Fig 4: Oil spilled from tankers per decade as a percentage of the total