Minister Foulkes said on Monday that Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Limited will undertake all costs associated with removal of the oil tanker, known as "The Ficus".
The minister spoke at a press conference he held in conjunction with the National Oil & Chemical Spill Contingency Advisory Committee to provide an update on the situation.
"I am advised that upon learning of the incident Shell immediately actioned a response team which is focused on controlling the situation and keeping the local authorities up to date on all matters relating to this ongoing situation," Minister Foulkes said.
He said there were no reports of injuries or pollution of Bahamian waters as a result of the incident.
"In the interest of protecting the environment and simultaneously maintaining the integrity of the vessel and its cargo an intensive evaluation of the situation was conducted by an experienced salvage company, SMIT International, which advanced a proposal for re-floating of the vessel by offloading a quantity of the vessel’s cargo," Minister Foulkes said.
Captain Jeremy Hudson, oil fleet manager at Shell International, said Shell is monitoring the incident closely for any adverse effects.
"Within minutes of the incident happening, Shell reported it to the local Bahamian authorities and at the same time fully manned its London Shipping Incident Room," he said. "A response team consisting of engineers, naval architects and other nautical experts was assembled."
Captain Hudson said he flew into Nassau from London with a team of senior marine experts to manage the response.
"The team was soon joined by a number of world-class environmental experts, including coral and marine life specialists. A state-of-the-art oil spill response vessel, the Florida Responder, is now at the scene as a precautionary measure," he said.
Captain Hudson assured that investigations are "going to plan".
"Due to the complexity of the operation and our commitment to ensuring it is done as safely as possible, we need to ensure that all preparations are made," he said. "We then anticipate the entire process will take a number of days to complete successfully."
Captain Hudson said officials had not yet determined why the tanker ran aground, but he said a full internal investigation was launched.
Minister Foulkes said the appropriate environmental measures were being put in place to ensure that the offloading operation and subsequent removal of the vessel would have minimal or no effect on the delicate marine ecology of the area.
"My ministry headed by Captain Anthony Allens, the BEST Commission and the Department of Environmental Health Services are working closely with Shell’s environmental consultant to ensure that any damage to the environment is minimal or non existent," he said.
"I am also advised that the BEST Commission will be conducting a reef damage assessment once the tanker has been removed. The details of this assessment will be made available to the press once it becomes available to my ministry."
The vessel ran aground off Goulding Cay around 9am last Wednesday, officials said, adding that the ship was heading to Clifton Pier and there were 25 staff members on board.
- Austin DWI - New York DWI