CIEL Group
Message from Jean-Pierre Dalais - MV Wakashio: Thank you for your engagement
Dear colleagues,
THANK YOU all for your help and amazing energy over the past few days to protect our coastline from the oil spill of the MV Wakashio.
CIEL’s mobilisation
There has been an incredible contribution from all the Group’s clusters to participate in this national effort. Colleagues and volunteers from all over the country joined us at Falaise Rouge and Anahita during the weekend to manufacture the floating booms and help contain the oil reaching the shores. Special thanks to:
- The 3,500 volunteers who came at Falaise Rouge and Anahita during the weekend.
- CIEL Textile for providing 500 kg of wool wastes, more than 5,000 kg of knits fabrics and 13,000 mts of woven fabrics, in addition to dromes, face masks and other equipments.
- Sun for mobilising staff and providing boots and gloves.
- Alteo for supplying 91.5 tons of cane trash and providing protective equipment including boots, gloves and eye goggles.
- C-Care for supplying 500 overalls as well as gloves and protective masks in addition to having medical teams on site.
- Bank One for donating 250 pair of boots.
All these efforts were also carried out with the invaluable support of other private companies and NGOs.
The Outcomes
- At least, 3, 500 volunteers joined us to produce + 10km of artisanal floating booms enabling partial containment of the HFO.
- Endangered animals’ species from Ile aux Aigrettes have been rescued and given shelter at Ferney Wildlife Sanctuary.
- Priority areas have been earmarked for the clean-up.
Update as at 11th of August
- We understand from authorities that the oil leaking from the boat has stopped. The remaining oil (approx. 2000 tons) is expected to be removed from the boat within the next 48 hours. The risk remain however that the boat does not hold safe for the pumping of the HFO to be completed in time.
- There is little oil slick in the lagoon as the oil is now mostly on the shores.
- Thankfully, the oil has not reached Anahita and Ile aux Cerfs and preventive booms have been installed should the oil move up north again.
- The region of Ferney/Falaise Rouge/Vieux Grand port has been sadly impacted and the clean-up has started but will likely take time.
- The reputation of Mauritius as a tourist destination has been hit hard and coordinated efforts will be needed to allow us to recover from it.
Next steps
The crisis committee we have set up is monitoring and coordinating the situation in concertation with the authorities and NGOs to facilitate the cleaning of earmarked priority areas.The production of the floating booms has been temporarily put on hold and no volunteers are needed for now. A protocol is currently being designed for the cleaning of the shores and we will let you know how you can support this effort.
I am extremely thankful of the incredible job done by the core team under the leadership of Guillaume Dalais. The response of the Group’s clusters was as impressive and they all deserve our salute.
We remain fully mobilised and do all we can to clean-up and protect this coastline the best we can.
You can follow all developments and find all the practical information as the situation evolves on the special page which has been created on Facebook: MV WAKASHIO – Mobilisation Rivière des Créoles-Vieux Grand Port.
Together, Let’s Go Beyond!
Best regards,
Jean-Pierre Dalais
Group Chief Executive, CIEL
