Trafigura Captured by Mercaptan and Hydrogen Sulphide
While the Gulf Jash, ex-Probo Koala, is leaving the oily waters of the Gulf of Mexico and while the Aristos II, another tanker chartered by Trafigura, is being scrapped on the muddy beaches of Chittagong in Bangladesh, the judgement of the Amsterdam court course is showing a new light on the dark side of traders and marine traffic.
The misinformation by the multinational Trafigura is denied. According to their spokespeople, lawyers and their spin doctors everything which happened in Abidijan is “a myth”. Amsterdam’s judgement confirms that the waste from the Merox desulphurisation onboard the Probo Koala was toxic and dangerous. Four years after the Probo Koala’s stop in The Netherlands, this judgement puts an end to the alleged irresponsibility of Trafigura. In spite of the breaking up of responsibility in place in shipping, each link in the chain, on land and at sea, has been grasped by the justice.
Trafigura lies
At the witness stand in the Amsterdam courtroom, Trafigura steers the truth as ruthlessly as it steered the Probo Koala. Trafigura’s defence lawyer declared that all the damages caused by refining at sea of Petroleos Mexicanos’ hyper sulphurized naphtha and all the health risks from the desulphurization waste could be only a “myth” spread by ecologists, journalists, and politicians. In his opening defence he stated that “It has not been proven that the events in the Ivory Coast [the spreading of Probo Koala’s waste in Abidjan] cause serious harm to the health of the population, or that they could have done”.
Black Whales
Subjet : BP Oil Spill
The cumulated amount of oil in the ocean is estimated to range between a low bracket of 300,000 and high a high bracket of 500,000 tons. The Gulf of Mexico has a surface area of 1,500,000 km²; on May 2nd fishing was prohibited within a closed area of 17,000 km². Today, the no take zone extends to 225,000 km². The sale of potentially contaminated seafood must be forbidden to avoid any risk of poisoning Americans.
Yet, other mammals feed exclusively on seafood in the Gulf of Mexico and its adjacent seas. According to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), 29 species of marine mammals are present in the Gulf of Mexico. In “normal” conditions, they are exposed to the risk of collisions and to acoustic disturbances caused by maritime transport and the numerous offshore oil and gas platforms. Amongst marine mammals, the most vulnerable are the Manatees. Threatened with extinction, these pacific and slow moving sea cows are already victims of propellers from ships and recreational crafts. Manatees are extremely sensitive to oil spills and to the saturation of their preferred food : underwater meadows of sea grass.
Hunting down the Onyx (6)
The Onyx has finished her last round of liar’s dice. The old Finnish car ferry already renamed in September before her depart from Vaasa has become too notorious under this patronymic. She was renamed “Kaptain Boris” after calling at Port-Rashid (Dubai).
Her new official owner, Red Line Shipping Ltd is hiding in the tax haven of the Marshall Islands. The ex Onyx, was previously flying a Saint-Kitts and Nevis flag which is ranked on the Memorandum of Paris’ black list as a flag of “high risk”. She has gone down a notch again and is now under a Sierra Leona flag which is listed in the Top 5, flags of “very high risk”.
The Eventful Life of a Family.
Subject: Disabled Ship in Cherbourg
Disabled in Cherbourg due to propulsion damages, the Baco Liner 1, the eldest of the family, launched in 1979, has been detained for three days in the Port of Antwerp (Belgium) in June 2009 with 34 deficiencies of which 11 are relative to the propulsion and auxiliary equipment.
The 24 Baco Liner 2 Filipino crewmembers had been taken hostage for three weeks in February 2007 near the port of Warri in Nigeria by the group « Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta ». No ransom was paid. The kidnappers declared that the ship transported smuggled weapons and ammunitions. A spokesperson from Baco Liner denied comments.
