Motor Tanker Haven

Troodos Shipping leased the VLCC (very large crude carrier) MT Haven, formerly known as Amoco Milford Haven (a company run by Loucas Haji-Ioannou and his son Stelios Haji-Ioannou). Six Cypriot crew members were killed and up to 50,000 tonnes of crude oil were spilled into the Mediterranean in 1991 when the ship, which was carrying 144,000 tonnes (1 million barrels) of crude oil, burst, caught fire, and sunk off the coast of Genoa, Italy. It burned for three days before splitting in two and sinking.

The Italian authorities responded rapidly, dispatching hundreds of workers to battle a hard-to-reach fire and deploying more than 10 kilometers (6.2 km) of inflatable barriers around the vessel to contain the leak. These barriers were sunk a meter below the surface. In an effort to lessen the impacted coastline area and facilitate intervention, MT Haven was to be hauled along the coast on day two. A steel rope was wrapped across the rudder as the bow descended below the water's surface, and tugs exerted towing pressure. The ship's back, however, became rapidly apparent, and the bow part came to rest in 450 meters of water.

The Italian authorities launched a massive cleanup effort, which greatly reduced the disaster's scope. The harm might have been far greater if cleanup measures had not been made. While additional oil was pumped out of the burning ship, most of the oil that had been spilled was burnt on the surface. However, during the following ten years, the pollution severely harmed the fisheries along the shores of both France and Italy.

When: 1991
Where: Italy
Oil spilt: 45 million gallons