Microplastic pellets from North Sea cargo ship collision found washed up on shore

Marine and Coastguard Agency

THE CARGO ship that crashed into an anchored jet fuel carrier near Hull, England last week was transporting containers of microplastic pellets which have washed up on shore following the collision.

The UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) on Monday confirmed sitings of plastic nurdles, classed as a microplastic, in the waters around the Norfolk and Lincolnshire coast in England and at “disparate locations along the shore” between Old Hunstanton and Wells-next-the-Sea in Norfolk. The MCA says it is “likely” that the nurdles entered water at the time of the collision between the Portugal-flagged Solong vessel and US-flagged Stena Immaculate, which was carrying jet fuel for the US military. Ernst Russ, the German owner of the Solong, confirmed that it was carrying “a number of containers” of plastic nurdles on its journey from Grangemouth, Scotland to Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

Plastic nurdles, which are melted down to make plastic products, are not toxic but are harmful to marine life when ingested. An expert told TCE that they can also release toxic chemicals when they burn. It has not been confirmed if any plastic nurdles burnt in the fire resulting from the collision, but Ernst Russ said in a statement that they believe that “intense heat during initial firefighting efforts” led to “the release of some contents”.

Jonathan Paul, a senior lecturer at the Department of Earth Sciences at Royal Holloway University of London, told TCE that “nurdles are a real disaster for the environment”.  

The MCA said that a “retrieval operation” of the nurdles is ongoing. However, Paul doubts the environmental effects can be completely mitigated. “Remediation will never be entirely effective, as the little pellets are so light they float about on the surface of the water and are spread highly effectively by tides and wind.

“Even worse is that if the nurdles were burnt in the explosions, they release all sorts of toxic ‘forever chemicals’ into the sea.

“I suspect a large volume of nurdles will eventually wash up on the UK coast, or farther afield.”

Paul called for involvement of local communities in remediation efforts, which can “greatly enhance the speed and the effectiveness of clean-up operations on the beach, essentially involving various grades of large sieves”.

The MCA is urging anyone who spots nurdles on the Norfolk coast to alert them.

Ernst Russ said in a statement that they are working “to mitigate any long-term impact on the marine environment. In doing so, they continue to assist and liaise closely with HM Coastguard and all other parties”.

The Solong’s captain, 59-year-old Russian national Vladimir Motin, was charged with manslaughter last week. He is due to appear at the Old Bailey in London on 14 April.