(Français) Marée noire dans la Crau : rupture de l’infoduc de la Préfecture des-Bouches-du-Rhône
(Français) Marée noire dans la Crau : rupture de l’infoduc de la Préfecture des-Bouches-du-Rhône
“Shipbreaking” #16
The shame remains but the crime scene has disappeared.
In October 1992, the Renata (then named MC Ruby) was owned by MC Shipping Company, a subsidiary of the Vlassov Group based in Monaco; her ship manager was V Ships, another subsidiary company of the group. The ship was loaded with cocoa in Ghana and was bound for Le Havre, Amsterdam and Hamburg. During the trip, nine stowaways were discovered, stripped of their money and confined in the forepeak ; they were brought up on the deck by night, then struck and thrown on the high seas between Takoradi and Le Havre. The only survivor alerted officials in Le Havre. On December 9th 1995, at the end of a four week trial, the master and the chief-mate were condemned to a life sentence and three other members of the Ukrainian crew to 20 years of detention. Neither the Vlassov group, nor their subsidiary companies (MC Shipping and V. Ships) have been sued, in spite of the degraded conditions imposed on the crew and the many additional traffics on the ship which were highlighted and known to all. The significant bond between the ship management and the crew was not retained. See« Coke en stock », La Flèche, hiver 1996 and « Le désert des Barbares » communiqué de Robin des Bois, 9 décembre 1995.
