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Europe closes seas to dangerous tankers
Recently, on a Parisian television program reminiscent of our “Dolls,” a puppet presenter asked the question: “What is a classic example of globalization?” The answer was: “Sea tanker transportation! The ship was built in South Korea, owned by a Greek billionaire and sails under the Bahamian flag, with Russian oil and a Ukrainian crew...”The recent death of the oil giant Prestige off the Spanish coast , flying the Liberian flag and unknown to whom it belonged, caused Europeans to sound the alarm. The Spaniards, Portuguese and French are especially concerned about the environmental disaster off the coast of Galicia. At the Spanish-French summit in Malaga, Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar and President Jacques Chirac decided to ban navigation within a 200-mile zone (360 km) along the coasts of their countries by ships that pose an increased environmental hazard. This category includes all ships older than 15 years, with a single-layer hull and transporting materials with a high degree of risk: energy, fertilizers, chemical dyes, etc. “This decision comes into effect from tomorrow,” said Jacques Chirac. - It is irreversible and cannot be discussed. Adequate measures will be taken against violators.”
The Prestige, whose wreck made almost the entire Spanish Atlantic coast a disaster zone, was built a quarter of a century ago and did not have a double hull. But these are the types of tankers that are now in the majority. It is noteworthy that the tanker Byzantium, similar to the sunken Prestige, will receive 53 thousand tons of fuel oil in the port of Tallinn on November 27-28. Moreover, as the press secretary of the Tallinn port Erik Sakov told the RBC agency, the ship was chartered by the same company Crown Resources, which is an oil trader of the Russian Alfa Group. Port officials say the tanker should not pose an environmental threat because it underwent an independent inspection in Rotterdam on November 19. However, these assurances cannot reassure Europeans; on the contrary, they only add fuel to the fire.
Jacques Chirac and Jose Maria Aznar will insist that the agenda of the EU summit in Copenhagen, scheduled for December 12-13, includes the creation of a European Maritime Safety Agency, as well as a special fund for the restoration of the environment of countries affected by tanker accidents . A few days ago, the European Commissioner for Transport and Energy, Spaniard Loyola de Palacio, called for an immediate ban on oil tankers over 23 years old entering European ports. This problem will most likely be discussed on December 5-6 at a meeting in Brussels of European ministers, whose competence includes the issue of maritime safety. Previously, EU states planned to introduce such strict measures only by 2015. However, the death of the Prestige was a catalyst for making draconian decisions.