Fresh bid for increased maritime safety

Date: 30/11/00

By Simon Coss

TRANSPORT chief Loyola de Palacio will come forward next week with more proposals to improve EU maritime safety.

She will unveil a package of measures christened the 'Erika Two' proposals after the Maltese-registered oil tanker which sank off of Brittany a year ago, polluting much of France's Atlantic coast. "The aim of the plan is to build on the momentum created by our original Erika initiative," said an aide.

The Commission's first set of maritime safety rules, presented shortly after last year's disaster, is expected to be approved by transport ministers next month. The plan has been given added urgency by last month's Ievoli Sun disaster, in which yet another Italian-registered tanker carrying toxic chemicals sank in French coastal waters.

Erika Two will have three main goals. Firstly, it will call for a Union-wide 'liability' fund to be created to help pay for the damage caused by oil spills in EU waters. Tough new financial penalties levied on polluting companies would provide the money necessary for the fund.

It will also call for improved coordination between national agencies responsible for maritime safety in Union waters, arguing that improved traffic control and clearer rules are required to govern when and where ships can take to sea. In the wake of the Ievoli Sun spill, for example, France called on its EU counterparts to ban vessels from setting sail when extremely bad weather has been forecast. The Italian tanker sank after encountering a violent storm predicted well before the ship left port in the UK.

The final plank of the Erika Two plan will be a call for the creation of a Union-wide maritime safety agency which would be responsible for coordinating shipping safety and ensuring harmonised standards are enforced.

Transport chief Loyola de Palacio is set to come forward with more proposals to improve EU maritime safety.