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The International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation (ITOPF) has reported that ten oil spills of more than seven tonnes were recorded from tanker incidents in 2024, which was the same number as in 2023.

This bring the average for the 2020s so far to 7.4 tanker spills per year, which ITOPF said is ‘a dramatic reduction from the numbers reported in earlier decades but currently slightly higher than the average for the 2010s (6.3 spills per year)’.   

Six of the ten incidents in 2024 resulted in spills of more than 700 tonnes (and were therefore classified as ‘large’ spills). These mostly involved spills of fuel oil and occurred in South America, Asia and Europe. The four other incidents (classified as ‘medium’ spills) also involved spills of fuel oil. Two occurred in Europe, one in Asia and one in North America.

The total volume of oil lost from tanker spills in 2024 was approximately 10,000 tonnes - which was up on the 2,000 tonnes spilt in 2023 but down on 2022's 15,000 tonnes.

To give some context, in the 1970s, there were 543 medium spills and 245 spills large spills - and the average yearly volume of oil spilt was 319,500 tonnes. 

Commenting on the findings, the federation said that: ‘Despite some annual fluctuations, ITOPF’s statistics show that the number and volume of oil spills from tankers have now largely stabilised at a low level.’  

ITOPF said that this trend ‘reflects the positive changes driven by the shipping industry and governments to improve tanker safety and standards of operations’.

More detailed information on last year’s oil spills is available the Statistics page of the ITOPF website and the full Oil Tanker Spill Statistics report for 2024 will be available in a couple of weeks.

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