No compo yet as oil still present on reef & beaches

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Six years after the Solomon Trade Oil spill on Rennell no compensation has been paid and oil is still found to be present on the reef and the beach at several locations within Kagava Bay.

The Minister of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology Trevor Hedley Mahaga revealed this in Parliament on Monday when responding to questions from the Leader of Opposition Matthew Wale on the issue.

On the question of whether the ship owners have paid compensation, Mahaga said despite initial apologies from the ship’s owner, King Trader Ltd., and its insurer, Korea Protection and Indemnity Club (KP&I), neither the affected communities nor the Solomon Islands government have received compensation.

He added in response, the government and landowners have filed a lawsuit in January 2025 against five companies: King Trader Ltd., KP&I, Bintan Mining Corporation, Bintan Mining (SI) Ltd., and MS Amlin Marine MV, seeking damages estimated between US$14 million and US$38 million.

Cleanup Efforts

Mahaga told parliament that in the aftermath of the spill, the governments of Australia, New Zealand, and the Solomon Islands collaborated on cleanup operations. Korea P&I, the ship owners’ insurer contracted Resolve Salvage for spill response operations. ​ An intensive 15 weeks clean-up operation conducted from early March to 26 July 2019. At the end of the cleanup operation, two Korean clean-up contractors Sooil and Dong Yang took over the cleanup operations until the end point inspections stages. Solomon Islands Government and the contractors agreed on the cleaning termination points and recommendations for remaining clean up.

Furthermore, he said that a second phase Environment Damage Assessment (EDA) was proposed to assess the recovery of the polluted area. However, he added, this did not eventuate until this year 2025 when the Australian Government provided funding support to the EDA Phase 2 work which was conducted last month by an international consultancy group in collaboration with Ministry of Environment, Climate Change Disaster Management and Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources.

 The minister added that the core work completed from this Assessment are as follows : Over 100 underwater transects of fish, invertebrates and benthic cover; 290 samples of marine sediments, fish and invertebrates for hydrocarbon and TBT analysis; detailed underwater and UAV surveys of the extent of grounding area impacts and there were community meetings at both Lavangu and Avatai.

As a result, some initial observations are as follows:

• Oil (tarballs/patties) is still present on the reef and the beach at several locations within Kagava Bay.

• The main grounding area has not recovered as much as would be naturally expected.

• They have identified several new areas of the reef that the ship impacted and caused significant damage to it.

• The rubble the ship blasted into the lagoon from propellor wash has spread over a larger area of the lagoon with limited recovery.

• Significant reduction in clam populations across many of the lagoonal areas (there could be several non-Solomon Trader drivers for this).

• The community area generally frustrated about the lack of information for the past 6 years. Based on observations of oil still on the reef/beach the community expressed a need for further clean up.

• The recovery of the reefs within the grounding area could be supported with some active rehabilitation efforts (there was strong support for this at the community meetings, although one member rightly asked where funds for such an initiative would come from).

• On the positive side, the oil on the shoreline has largely weathered and only patchy areas still present.