On the 28th of January 2007, the cargo ship Sierra Nava ran aground on a rock in the bay of Algeciras (Cádiz), just off the Getares beach, in the middle of a heavy storm. The bunker fuel tanks were damaged and there was significant oil spill heading for the beach. SCR, as the associate of MTI in Spain, contacted the company representing the ship to handle the incident in the general media. A meeting was immediately set up with the ship owners and the PI club (insurance brokers from London) in Madrid to work out the crisis strategy.
Crisis Management
Client: Auxiliar Marítima – Representatives of the ship, Sierra Nava.
Timing: January – April 2007
Communication Objectives
- Minimize negative coverage.
- Engage public opinion in the belief that the company was very concerned about the incident and doing everything possible to solve it quickly.
- Provide constant updates to the media by feeding technical information and daily progress up-dates.
Implementation
On day 1 a holding statement was issued to all the press stating the ship’s situation, situation of the crew members, information about the ship itself, details on the health of crew, the damage caused and what was being done.
From then on daily contact was maintained with all journalists covering the incident and SCR sent a team member to the site to organise and handle the media feeding her with up-to-the-minute information supplied twice a day by our head office in Barcelona.
After two months, when it became clear that it would be seriously difficult to remove the ship from the rocks without it breaking up causing major pollution, the decision was taken to bring a singular crane down from Scandinavia to lift the ship off the rocks.
From then on and until the ship was finally re-floated after four months, we kept the media busy with stories, technical details and pictures of the crane. The ship was finally re-floated and taken to port.
Results
The Industry Minister personally congratulated the company on a case well-handled.