Vale, Polaris and Ibama decided to use a technique that makes marine bacteria absorb oil to combat leaks on the ship

Who is Brazilian and follows the case of the ship Stellar Banner, with ore cargo from OK, is concerned about the environment and anxiously follows the outcome of this story. The ship is stranded 100 km off the coast of Maranhão. with about 290 thousand tons of iron ore, in addition to four million liters of fuel and oil.

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After the captain deliberately ran the ship aground on a sandbar, more than 333 liters of oil had already leaked from the ship and spread over an area of ​​0,79 km², according to Ibama. Afraid of an environmental tragedy of greater proportions, representatives of Polaris (owner of the vessel), Vale (which supplied the ship) and the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama), decided to use the technique of 'mechanical dispersion' in which marine bacteria absorb oil already spread in the water.

What few know, however, here in Brazil is that the South Korean Polaris Shipping, owner of the ship and contracted by Vale to transport the ore to China, has a history of shipwrecks with Vale and inspection problems on its vessels with China.

The company also owns the ship Stellar Daisy, which sank in the Atlantic Ocean in 2017 after being loaded with 260 tons of ore at the Maritime Terminal on Ilha de Guaíba (RJ), which belongs to Vale and was also heading to China.

On board the Stellar Daisy were 24 crew members, including Filipinos and Koreans. According to the Uruguayan Navy, an emergency call was made six days after the ship left Brazil, about 3.700 km from the port of Montevideo, Uruguay. 2 crew members were rescued alive in a boat and the bodies of the other 22 were not found until today.

In relation to the certification of its vessels, Polaris Shipping has also had problems, a year after the sinking of the Stellar Daisy the company was notified by the Ministry of Maritime Affairs of South Korea after 22 unauthorized changes were found on the ship Stellar Eagle, with the flag of the Marshall Islands, during a safety inspection in the port of Rizhao, in China. The ship was not allowed to leave port until safety items were up to standard.

As you can see, this time Vale and Polaris' problems will be with the Brazilian authorities. By Renato Oliveira