In 1993, the WRCC responded to the “Braer” oil spill, a passing tanker not “en route” to Shetland. It ran aground on the south coast of Shetland in extreme weather conditions, broke up and lost its entire cargo of crude and fuel oil of 87,000 tonnes.
The WRCC Contingency Plan, prepared but not published at this stage, was implemented as an integral part of the Shetland Islands’ Contingency Plan in dealing with the effects of the spill.
The tough lessons learned from that experience are still remembered today. Now the Shetland Contingency and Sullom Voe Harbour oil spill plans are updated annually and have also been used as a basis to assist others trying to cope with wildlife response events which have occurred overseas.
