Two old, black-listed tankers to set sail in Europe
Date: 25-Nov-02
Country: UK
Author: Stefano Ambrogi and Raj Rajendran
Both tankers, due to sail at the end of the month, are single-hulled vessels, a design now encountering growing opposition from European leaders after the single-hulled Prestige broke up in heavy Atlantic seas this week.
One of the ships, the 26-year-old Byzantio, was recently detained for failing a port inspection and is on charter by Crown Resources, the Russian-owned trading company which also chartered the Prestige.
The other tanker, the 22-year-old Express, is set to follow exactly the same route as the doomed Prestige, past the oil-covered coast of northern Spain on the way from the Baltic Sea to Asia.
They also fly the Maltese flag - a registry recently placed on a safety "black list" by one of the world's leading port inspection authorities, the Paris Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
Within the black list, Malta is classed as a "medium risk" flag.
The sunken 26-year-old Prestige was flying a Bahamas flag, on the "white list" of the Paris MOU.
The fresh shipments came as a debate raged in Europe about whether to bring forward a ban on aging single-hulled tankers.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar and EU Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio led growing calls for a crackdown on unseaworthy ships.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac agreed Friday to push for stricter measures at the European Union's Copenhagen summit next month.
COLLISION
Oil market sources said Crown had chartered the Byzantio to carry 50,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil, the same oil that now covers Spanish beaches, from the Estonian port of Tallinn to an unspecified destination on the European continent.
According to Lloyd's Marine Intelligence Unit, this ship was involved in a collision with another tanker in the Mediterranean in April.
In August it was detained for seven days in Dublin, Ireland for various faults, including a lack of fire fighting equipment and deficient certificates for masters and officers.
Separately, U.S. firm Koch Shipping booked the Express to carry 80,000 tonnes of fuel oil from Tallinn with an option to discharge in Asia, shipping bookings show.
If it sailed to Asia it would follow exactly the same route as the Prestige.
The Japanese-built Express has been certified seaworthy by the American Bureau of Shipping, the same classification society that gave the Prestige a clean bill of health, records show.
A Koch spokeswoman said that in a recent report by a major oil company the vessel had been assessed in the top 23 percent of vessels reviewed.
The other vessel is classed by Norway's NV Norske Veritas.