More than 1,000 people were involved in the clean-up

Milford Haven Port Authority has said it will dispute the claim which was lodged just two days before the sixth anniversary of the event which caused devastating damage to the environment, tourism and fishing industries in west Wales.

More than 72,000 tonnes of oil poured into the sea after the 147,000-tonne Norwegian-owned tanker struck rocks at the mouth of the estuary near St Ann's Head at 8.07pm on February 15, 1996.

The Sea Empress oil spill was the third-largest tanker spill in UK waters after the Torrey Canyon, off Cornwall in 1967, and the Braer, off Shetland in 1993.

Around 120 miles of coastline were polluted in the Haven and between Cardigan Bay and Pendine Sands, including the holiday resorts of Tenby and Saundersfoot.

Tens of thousands of sea birds were killed by the oil pollution

An official inquiry partly blamed the inadequate training and inexperience of a port authority pilot who had never before handled such a big vessel close to low tide.

More than 1,000 personnel were involved in the huge clean-up operation on land and sea, which was estimated to have cost at least �60m.

Damage to the tourism industry was put as high as �46m as more than 200 holiday businesses claimed compensation.

Commercial fishing, banned for six months afterwards, suffered losses of up to �10m.

Pollution victims

The compensation claims proceedings against Milford Haven Port Authority were issued at the Admiralty Court in London, a division of the High Court, on Wednesday.

The fund claims that since the 1996 incident, it has paid �26.7m in compensation to victims of the pollution.

It also claims the ship's insurers, Skuld, have paid about �7.4m.

The port authority has already said that it was expecting a claim to be lodged before the deadline of Friday, which is six years to the day of the disaster, and it will dispute it.