Removal of oil from Swedish shipwrecks

Abstract

Oil leaks from shipwrecks can affect organisms living in the vicinity (Lindgren, 2015), but can also spread to other areas through water currents (Ljungman & Mattson, 2011, Höglund 2019). Removing oil from a wreck, while costly, is often far less expensive as having to clean up after a potential oil spill resulting from a major leak (MSIR, 2012, Etkin, 1999). These wrecks have deteriorated for decades and there is often limited knowledge on volume and type of oil still onboard. (SMA, 2011) By removing the oil, a potentially catastrophic oil spill is avoided. Any wreck could collapse during a storm or from corrosion. (Landquist et al., 2017) This occurred at the end of 2018, when the wreck Finnbirch started to leak oil from a bunker tank still containing oil.