Relieving the perils of shipping

By Teresa Kuchler

Date: 09/06/05

The long-awaited 'Erika III package' on maritime safety has finally left the harbour but the final draft, which was supposed to go before the Council of Ministers on 27-28 June, still has some waves to overcome because of delays in translation of the document. Once the package is adopted, probably during the UK presidency which begins in July, the EU hopes to eradicate dangerous shipping.

It was not until dead birds covered in thick oil were filmed by cameras that the EU took action against the toothless safety rules surrounding international shipping.

International directives were full of loopholes and Panama-flagged oil barons could sail barely seaworthy old tubs filled with crude oil without being asked any questions.

But in only three years European coasts were hit by two severe accidents. Images hit TV-screens of rescue workers in gas masks wading through black mud, trying in vain to rescue what was left of coastline vegetation. Fishermen's livelihoods were wrecked within the few hours it takes for an oil tanker to split in two and spill its black poison in the open sea.

The widespread sea and coastal pollution associated with the loss of oil tankers Erika in the Bay of Biscay in 1999 and Prestige off the coast of Galicia, Spain, in 2002, also described as the 'Spanish Chernobyl', forced the EU to highlight the need for a tighter grip on substandard shipping and pollution in European waters.

In the aftermath of the Erika accident, the EU rushed to ban all single-hull tankers carrying crude oil from entering or leaving European ports. The first 'Erika' package on maritime safety was proposed in 2000, soon followed by 'Erika II' in 2002. The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) was established to supervise the implementation of new legislation, but only became operational when it was too late. The Prestige oil tanker spilled out 77,000 tonnes of oil into the sea and ruined 500 kilometres of the northern Spanish coastline, known for its rich bio-diversity.

Spaniard Loyola de Palacio, then the European commissioner for transport, told newspapers that the Prestige should never have been allowed to sail in the first place: "The sea belongs to all Europeans and it is time that we take all measures we did after Erika," she said.

The new Erika III package contains harder rules on port state authority control, enforces entry bans on ships which are well below EU standards and proposes new measures for the investigation of maritime accidents. It extends the role of the EMSA and regulates acceptable standards of seafarers working conditions.

The European Sea Port Organisation (ESPO) welcomes the 'Erika III' package, although it admits that some of its members have suffered from teething problems while implementing the first and second Erika packages.

In June 2004, the European Court of Justice declared that France had failed to fulfil its duty to carry out inspections of incoming ships, which was one of the new obligations for member states that was introduced by the first Erika package. France blamed the failure on shortage of personnel able to carry out the inspections.

Ricardo Aguilar, spokesperson for Oceana in Europe, a Madrid-based non-governmental organisation advocating policy changes to reduce the pollution of the seas, says that in addition to Erika III, the EU needs a system to penalise those guilty of negligence at sea. The Union also needs equipment to detect substandard ships via satellite before they reach European coastlines.

"If those directives are not implemented, then the Erika III package is useless. If a state cannot find let alone punish the wrong-doers, then what we have with Erika III is information only, not a powerful operational tool against pollution," he says.

Last month the European Commission announced that the EMSA would receive €154 million to create a European anti-pollution vessel armada that member states could call upon when they cannot recover pollutants from their coastlines on their own. EMSA also wants to develop satellite images to detect vessels committing illegal dumping offshore.

Article reports on EU action in the field of maritime safety, especially the imminent adoption of the so called Erika III package.