EU Commissioner Dimas denounces actions of tanker Probo Koala

Greenpeace action praised

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The European Commissioner for the Environment, Stavros Dimas, has sharply denounced the actions of the tanker ship Probo Koala. Speaking on Thursday at a press conference at the Estonian harbour of Paldiski on the Gulf of Finland, Dimas said that the ship had operated in an unethical and criminal manner.
      The vessel is believed to have caused a toxic disaster in Ivory Coast when it left a load of hazardous waste there for disposal. Eight people reportedly died as a result.
      Dimas also says that the toxic substances on board were a hazard for members of the crew, who have been found to have 60 times the normal level of certain chemicals in their bodies.
     
The dumping of hazardous waste in Africa is not necessarily as unique as the attention focused on the Probo Koala case might suggest. Dimas estimates that up to half of the sea transports of hazardous materials could be illegal.
      Dimas seees the latest case as a cautionary example to others. He also promised to upgrade the implementation of EU legislation on hazardous waste transport.
      The European Commission says that the ship has violated EU legislation banning the transport of waste from EU ports to third countries.
      However, the EU does not have the right to impose punishments. Such measures are the respnsibility of individual member states.
      The case is now being investigated by Estonian police and environmental authorities, under the direction of the state prosecutor.
      Estonia's Minister of the Environment Villu Reiljan said on Thursday that he is convinced that the ship tried to take advantage of the lack of experience of the new EU member state, and to leave its bilge and waste water, which contained toxic substances, in Paldiski.
     
Samples of liquids taken from the Probo Koala were analysed at a new and efficient fuel analysis laboratory, which was opened in the capital Tallinn in mid-August.
      The ship wanted to discharge its bilge and waste water before embarking from Paldiski earlier this week.
      Estonian police stopped the ship on Wednesday after an analysis of the water used to wash the tanker's storage tanks were found to contain the same substances that had caused the toxic disaster in Ivory Coast.
     
The environmental organisation Greenpeace had prevented the ship from leaving Paldiski on Tuesday, using an icebreaker and rubber rafts to blockade the vessel. Dimas and Reiljan praised the actions of Greenpeace in the matter.
      In addition to transport of hazardous waste to third countries, the Probo Koala is suspected of having functioned as a floating oil refinery, picking up raw material from the Latvian port of Ventspils, from where it returned to Paldiski on September 14th.
      The Swiss Trafigura Beheer shipping line, which owns the vessel, has denied any wrongdoing. The majority of the company's shares are in American hands. The company is registered in The Netherlands. It had leased the tanker, which was built in 1989, from a Greek company. The vessel sails under the Panamanian flag.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Estonia holds tanker - poisonous substance found in vessel (28.9.2006)
  Greenpeace blockades toxic tanker in Estonian harbour near Finland (27.9.2006)

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