(Trinidad Express) Trinidad and Tobago has arrested the Solo Creed tug in African country Angola, eight months after the vessel is believed to have abandoned the Gulf Stream barge and caused the oil spill disaster off Cove, Tobago.
Finance Minister Colm Imbert made the announcement yesterday as he wound up the Appropriation (Financial Year 2025) Bill, 2024 in the Senate, at the Red House, Port of Spain, saying the Government had tracked down the tug and arrested it.
As he neared the end of his contribution, he told the Upper House he had been passed a note that was a public announcement from the Office of the Attorney General.
Imbert said the Attorney General (Reginald Armour) had asked for it to be announced that on October 18, through the Office of the AG, “Trinidad and Tobago arrested the tug, the Solo Creed, in Angola, which was the abandoned barge off Tobago that caused so much damage in Tobago”.
Imbert then declared, “That is performance, PNM style! We tracked down that barge and we arrested it.”
Government has since February been trying to locate the owners and operators of the Solo Creed.
The Gulf Stream was found capsized off Cove estate on Tobago’s south-western coast, spilling oily fuel, on February 7.
The majority of the south-western coast was impacted.
The vessel spewed hydrocarbons for over three months, causing a Tier Three spill, before the leak was plugged with assistance from international consultants.
In February, the Ministry of National Security said according to the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard at the time, the Gulf Stream was being towed by the Solo Creed, which had appeared briefly on the Coast Guard’s radar and then disappeared.
Available records showed the vessels were headed to Guyana and had passed through Panama, but never arrived in Guyana.
In May this year, the Government advised that the Solo Creed had been seized in Angola by its navy.
Clean-up operations have cost millions of dollars.
Up to August, close to 60,000 barrels of fuel had been removed from the sea and coast, including from the eco-sensitive Cove reef area.
Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Chief Secretary Farley Augustine, in May, said the THA would seek some US$30 million in compensation through the International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund.
In July, the THA received $50 million from the fund.
Energy Minister Stuart Young, whose ministry also assisted with clean-up operations, had also estimated costs around US$20-$30 million.
For weeks following the spill, several beaches remained closed to the public and some residents were evacuated, impacting fisherfolk and businesses.
In August 2024, the Gulf Stream was successfully refloated and towed to Trinidad following months of technical challenges as local and foreign experts attempted to move the vessel without causing further spillage.
