THE Green Party has called for compulsory pilotage into Cork port to prevent serious accidents, following the grounding of the British cargo ship Tomfield on rocks at Roches Point, Cork, at the weekend.
The Department of the Marine meanwhile has begun an investigation into what caused the grounding.
An inspection of the damage to the ship was carried out by the salvage company Celtic Sea Divers yesterday on behalf of the owners, Field Shipping. The vessel has been extensively damaged and its outer hull will require sealing before it is refloated. An attempt to refloat the ship could be made on Thursday.
The ship's six crew members were airlifted to safety following the incident on Sunday morning.
Since then, about 35 tonnes of diesel oil have escaped from the vessel but it has rapidly dispersed in the rough, seas. A small quantity of heavy oil was still in the vessel but was not expected to pose a pollution threat.
The Cork Incident Response team went into action immediately the ship went aground and was ready with chemicals to disperse any oil and safeguard areas where it might gather on shore.
Green Party councillor in Cork Mr Dan Boyle yesterday said the incident posed serious questions about the transit of materials through Cork harbour. Recent changes in harbour legislation increased the risk because they gave harbour authorities the option not to insist on using local pilots to steer ships through harbours.
"Given the volume and the volatility of substances transported through Cork harbour it is imperative that incidents like this should not occur, but the potential exists for a greater accident to happen unless lessons are learned and changes are put in place", said Cllr Boyle.
The Cork Harbour Master, Capt Pat Farnan, said that all larger vessels entering the port took a pilot on board about two miles outside the harbour, but smaller ships like the Tomfield, which had experience of the port, did not take a pilot on board until inside the harbour mouth. The vessel was not in a compulsory pilotage area, according to the harbour rules.
"The shipping channel is not narrow, there is a good approach and an accident like this is very rare, given that we get about 3,000 ships a year coming to Cork. There is no need to change the conditions that operate at present," he said.
Reports that the vessel experienced steering difficulties before grounding under the Roches Point automatic lighthouse could not be confirmed, but a fishing net attached to the propeller of the vessel was visible at tow tide.