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The abandoned wreck of MS World Discoverer in Roderick Bay, Solomon Islands. A zip line is visible extending to the shore (Sheridan Ward)
An international accord to clean up shipwrecks and other waste from commerce on the high seas already exists. The region should get on board.
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Sunk costs: Pacific shipwrecks and the urgent call for the Nairobi ConventionSunk costs: Pacific shipwrecks and the urgent call for the Nairobi Convention
It is estimated that there are 3,800 shipwrecks scattered across the floor of the Pacific Ocean. Most date from the Second World War. However, shipwrecks are not an issue consigned to the past. In the last decade, a global average of 73 ships with a displacement of more than 100 tonnes became stranded each year – and many of these ships are subsequently abandoned due to the exorbitant costs of shipwreck removal, especially in remote locations.
The impact that unaddressed shipwrecks have on local communities and their environment can be devastating. The Pacific – and world – needs a unified approach to dealing with shipwrecks as soon as they occur.
Pacific shipwrecks have been in the headlines in recent months. In October, HMNZS Manawanui ran aground on a reef and sank near Tafitoala in Samoa. The New Zealand government is currently extracting diesel fuel from the vessel and is scheduled to remove equipment, weapons, ammunition and other debris. New Zealand has also pledged a wreck assessment to study the reef and marine environment. Concerns about the ongoing impacts of the shipwreck on the livelihoods of the local communities are being voiced, with many communities lodging requests for compensation while they are unable to safely fish in the waters surrounding their homes.
The Manawanui is an exceptional case involving a government-owned military ship, but is especially notable for the rapid response by the authorities. Most shipwrecks are commercially owned vessels, and often involve slow responses, lengthy legal battles, or complete abandonment of the shipwreck.
Six years after the 2019 heavy fuel oil spill in Kangava Bay, Solomon Islands, local communities are now taking their bid for compensation to the courts over damage to the UNESCO World Heritage Site and the largest raised coral atoll in the world. No wreck remains, but the damage to waters and concerns over food safety will linger.
The wreck of HMNZS Manawanui off Samoa (NZDF)
In other cases, wrecks are never removed. In April 2000, a German passenger ship World Discoverer carrying 112 passengers and 80 crew hit a rock in Sandfly Passage, Solomon Islands. To prevent the ship from sinking fully, the captain decided to beach the vessel in Roderick Bay. For the past 25 years, the local village of only a few hundred people have put up with the mess.
On a recent visit, they told me of several pressing concerns. The ship was drained of fuel, and villagers assured that the fuel tanks were completely cleaned. Yet fuel continues to visibly leak into the water around the wreck and has been getting worse in recent years. The children swim in the oily water and climb the ship to jump off it or swing from a homemade zipline from the ship, despite the risk of cuts from rusted metal. The coral around the ship is crushed and almost completely dead. Villagers also still rely on the fish in these waters for food, despite the potential health risks.
The Solomon Islands government doesn’t have the capacity to pay for the removal, especially in such a remote location, and the company that owned the vessel is not legally obliged to take any further action. The villagers, while concerned about the health of their waters, environment, and livelihood, have had to accept that the wreck will remain.
The challenge for the future is to seek ways to ensure similar situations don’t occur. One option is to strengthen international accords. The Nairobi Convention on the Removal of Wrecks provides a legal basis for shipwrecks within a signatory states’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) to be removed if they present a risk to navigation or the marine environment. This convention was adopted in 2007, entering into force in 2015, and is driven by the need for consistency internationally. There are presently 70 signatory countries – up from 42 in 2015 – covering 79% of global merchant shipping (by tonnage).
Importantly, under the Nairobi Convention, registered ship owners and their insurers are financially and legally responsible for locating, marking, and wrecking ships that have been sunk or stranded. They are equally responsible for recovering sea containers that are lost overboard, with the possibility of imposing criminal offences for failure to comply. The convention removes legal loopholes and provides tighter definitions from its outdated predecessor.
The Nairobi Convention would have clarified any doubt and provided an avenue to deal directly with the ships’ insurers to manage compensation.
Cook Islands, Marshall Islands, Niue, Palau, Tonga, and Tuvalu are all original signatories to the Nairobi Convention, with Nauru entering in 2020. Australia is yet to accede to the convention, but a government spokesperson confirmed legislative amendments are being worked through to see Australia join. Solomon Islands also took the initial steps in 2018 to align its domestic legislation with the convention in preparation for accession. The protections under this convention could offer further assurance to Fiji, Kiribati, Micronesia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, and Vanuatu should these countries also choose to accede. This should be a maritime priority for the Pacific region in the face of the vulnerability and challenges of maintaining such expansive EEZs.
There have been three recent incidents within Australia’s EEZ that would have been covered under the convention. In 2018, the YM Efficiency, flagged from Liberia, lost 81 containers within 30 kilometres of the Australian coastline, for which the remediation cost the Australian government close to $20 million. As the ship owner disputed there had been a wreck, the Australian government had to go through the courts to determine fault and seek compensation. In 2020, the APL England, flagged from Singapore, lost 50 containers, for which $22 million was reimbursed to the Australian government. In the same year, Navios Unite (Liberia) lost three containers that sank immediately, with the Australian government covering the costs of a 1,600 square kilometre aerial search to confirm there were no outstanding hazards.
For each of these cases, the Nairobi Convention would have clarified any doubt and provided an avenue to deal directly with the ships’ insurers to manage compensation.
Containers askew on board the APL England (AMSA)
The Nairobi Convention doesn’t provide an answer to the thousands of shipwrecks currently located in the oceans – consequently, this means it doesn’t pose a threat to any underwater heritage sites, including historic shipwreck sites. However, it provides a uniform mechanism to address future wreckages and maritime accidents and loss of cargo into the ocean.
The increased variability of weather – especially in the Pacific – is also cause for concern, with three major container loss events occurring in the Pacific in recent years. In 2020, One Apus (Japan) lost 1,816 containers northwest of Hawai’i, while in 2021 the Maersk Essen (Denmark) lost 750 containers northeast of Hawai’i, and the Maersk Eindhoven (Denmark) lost 260 containers.
Growing rates of freight shipping globally and increasingly volatile weather patterns exacerbated by climate change further contribute to the risk of ships being wrecked or abandoned within the Pacific region.
The “Blue Continent” concept refers to the the 22 Pacific Island countries and territories that manage 20% of the world’s EEZs. Taken together with areas managed by Australia and New Zealand, this is almost 30% of the world’s EEZs for a region that homes less than 1% of the world’s global population.
There is a need for greater protection to support our oceans and ensure that states and communities can access appropriate avenues to have wrecks removed, without putting the financial burden of this on small island states with limited fiscal resources. Australia, Fiji, Kiribati, Micronesia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu would all benefit from accession to the Nairobi Convention, and should hasten their efforts. This could save millions of dollars and protect small communities from the experiences Roderick Bay has been living with for the past 25 years.
About the author
Sheridan Ward
Sheridan Ward is a researcher on non-militarisation and countries without sovereign military institutions.
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