Maersk Supply Service has been asked by the Maritime Prefecture of the Atlantic to take additional measures to analyze and investigate the contents of hydrocarbons in the tanks of the sunken wrecks Maersk Searcher and Maersk Shipper. The monitoring request lasts for three years. Maersk will need to analyze the hydrocarbons, ballast water and sediments in the M24 and M25 tanks of Maersk Searcher by July, later taking samples from Maersk Searcher’s other tanks, as well
as the five tanks of Maersk Shipper. Maersk Supply Service is also being asked to assess the surrounding marine environment to a radius of 50m around the two wrecks.
Maersk Searcher and Maersk Shipper sank in bad weather 80nm west of Brest, France in late December 2016, while being towed to a Turkish scrapyard.