MARITIME OIL TRANSPORT AND TANKER ACCIDENTS - 1950-2015 REVIEW

Abstract

The evolution of the maritime transport of oil and hydrocarbons in general is closely linked to the oil industry and therefore moves within an economic framework and interests at international level.

Maritime accidents involving oil tankers are a serious problem due to the spills of polluting substances into the sea that they cause, and although it is an international problem that reached its peak with the accidents and spills of the 1970s, awareness of it has not been raised until a few years ago.

The prevention of maritime accidents, the development of appropriate regulations to minimise risks and the quantification of the effects on the environment, as well as the economic and social impact of these spills, requires an in-depth analysis of the causes and effects that have led to accidents involving these ships over the past decades, and at this precise moment, an assessment of how the sector has evolved and where we stand with respect to past times and how to face the future that lies ahead.