Oil spills

The issue

Large-scale oil spills may have documented, long-lasting impacts on human health and/or the environment. Spill incidents also have the potential to cause severe injuries and fatalities. Our business may suffer financial damages through fines and recovery operations, as well as reputational damage. The risk of oil spills is highest in terms of likelihood in relation to fuel transfers. In terms of environmental impact, vessel collisions carry the highest risk profile along with land-side bulk hydrocarbon and chemical handling.

What we do

We continuously monitor and report oil spills of any size. We have a target of zero oil spills over 10 m3.

We have a global operating standard for Spill Prevention, Control and Response for our terminals and inland service depots, with spill risks assessments and improvement plans for each site.

Our efforts are focused on continuously strengthening our culture and processes around safety, risk management and hazard identification as well as our emergency response procedures. All Maersk businesses have prepared spill response plans and have process safety procedures in place to prevent such spills. Training is carried out on both prevention and response.

Learn more 2019 progress.