The tug at the centre of a devastating oil spill off Trinidad and Tobago has escaped arrest in Africa and avoided satellite-backed efforts to track it down.
The Tanzania-flagged, 538-gt Solo Creed (built 1976) has been missing for nearly six months after being held responsible for towing a decrepit barge that capsized, sank and spilled bunker fuel in February 2024.
The tug released its lines to the barge, Gulfstream, and disappeared for several months, sparking a global hunt for the vessel and its still unidentified owners.
It did not broadcast AIS signals for more than 100 days before it was found in May in Angola and arrested for breaching a number of oilfield exclusion zones. Its whereabouts were first identified by online investigative unit Bellingcat.
The Trinidad and Tobago government said it conducted a “relentless pursuit” of the tug and secured an order to seize the ship. Guards were put on board.
However, it has emerged that the Solo Creed disappeared again late last year, according to the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds.
“To date, its whereabouts are still unknown, despite the authorities in Trinidad and Tobago employing the services of a satellite company to try to track the vessel,” an official told a meeting of the 121 member states in London.
The Solo Creed was believed to have been towing the Gulfsteam from Venezuela to an industrial plant in Guyana when it sank about 16 km off Tobago before coming to rest 200 metres offshore.
Before its voyage, the unregistered and uninspected barge had been beached for seven months to stop it from sinking and had to be pumped out. It was leaking oil even as it left the port.
The slick spread more than 800 km across the Caribbean Sea and polluted beaches, coral reefs and mangroves. Traces of oil were found as far away as the Caribbean island of Bonaire.
Nearly 300 claims have been made, totalling more than $30m to IOPC Funds, with many from the fisheries sector.
About 33,000 barrels of oil were recovered from the wreck of the Gulfstream.
TankerTrackers said the Gulfstream was seen in Pozuelo Bay, Venezuela, during the final week of January last year.
Sanctions problem
If confirmed to be from Venezuela, the authorities will likely require permission from the US sanctions regulator before any buyer will touch the oil, a meeting of the IOPC Funds heard on Tuesday.
The official said: “The latest situation is that the authorities are facing difficulty selling the oil due to the unknown origin.
“No one knows for certain precisely where the oil came from, and this causes problems for a sale on the international markets, where the provenance of the oil needs to be known.”
The ownership of the tug remains unknown.
A representative for the Japanese delegation said: “It is unfortunate that the owner of the barge and the tug have not been identified.
“It is especially a pity that the tug, which was once under arrest, has been missing.”
The 38-metre tug was operating out of Panama, according to the Trinidad and Tobago coastguard.
But Panama told the meeting in London that the tug was not entered into its register and its owner was not a “legal entity” established in the country.
It said it had not been approached for information about the ownership.
“We restate our firm commitment to cooperate in any investigation,” the delegation said.
The casualty led to the IOPC Funds publishing new guidance to help coastal states during investigations into oil spills from uninsured and unsafe shipping.
It said that states should consider using satellite images and oil “fingerprinting” as part of their response to quickly identify those responsible and to try to hold them to account.
Where there are questions over the source of the pollution, the guidance highlights how countries can accurately tie spills to vessels through ship tracking, satellite imagery and tests to match a cargo with a spill.
IOPC Funds pays out to businesses and individuals from its 122-nation membership that have been affected by oil pollution events after shipowners have fulfilled their liabilities.
Read more
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- Caribbean oil spill probe names and shames tug and barge
