Pollution Incident at UK’s Felixstowe Port Prompts Warnings

Officials issued a warning on Wednesday, May 14, to the public reporting that there was an ongoing “pollution incident” at the Port of Felixstowe. Few details were provided but reports said it prompted a “pollution response procedure” to contain the spill.

The East Suffolk Council, the local government authority, posted alerts saying that it was working with partners in response to a “suspected deposit of soot into the water at the Port of Felixstowe.” Other reports warned that the shoot was also airborne and being carried by the wind. It was unclear which vessel might have been involved and if its was a release of scrubber washing from an emissions filtration system or from elsewhere o the vessel.

Residents and the public were being warned to stay away from any soot. However, they were told if they came in contact with the soot on their skin or clothing, they should “remove all contaminated clothing and wash the skin, using soap and water, for 10 minutes.”

The East Suffolk Council later said that there was no evidence of pollution having reached the shoreline at Felixstowe. “Due to the direction of the wind, some sooty residues were reported on parked vehicles in Harwich. We can now confirm that any pollution of water should disperse naturally,” the Council advised.

While the local government declared the incident closed, officials said there would be an investigation into the source of the pollution and a review of the response.

Located on the southeast coast of England, Felixstowe is the largest container port in the UK, handling nearly half the country’s container volumes. It also handles RoRo and break bulk cargo.