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local
news
Arnold
Cassola warns
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Malta's
ageing ships in the spotlight
By Miriam
Dunn
If
the wind had been blowing in a different direction, the repercussions
of the sinking of the Maltese-registered Balu on Tuesday and its
shedding of 8,000 tons of sulphuric acid could have been much more
far-reaching, said Arnold Cassola,
secretary general in the European Federation of Greens.
The 24-year-old tanker, which was 5795 gross tons and 120 metres
in length, sank on Tuesday in the Bay of Biscay, on its way from
Norway to Spain. An investigating team is interviewing the 23-man
crew, which disembarked in Portugal after being rescued from the
ill-fated tanker.
Environmental experts said they believe the sulphuric acid should
dilute, minimising or at least containing damage, while initial
reports cited bad weather as a factor which appeared to have contributed
to the accident.
But Dr Cassola yesterday stressed that image-wise, the incident
was still "extremely damaging" for Malta.
"This is the third in a line of incidents for Maltese-registered
ships, which have involved the RIINA inspectors," he said.
"We have had the Erika, the Kristal and now the Balu. Psychologically,
we cannot ignore the impact of this."
Yesterday, both the Malta Maritime Authority and the Transport ministry
remained tight-lipped about the cause of Tuesday's accident, saying
they were waiting for further details of what caused the Balu to
sink before issuing further comments.
But a spokesman for one of three industry groups which have just
unveiled measures aimed at making it easier to identify unsafe ships
cited Tuesday's accident as an example of why such measures were
needed.
The three bureaux are responsible for inspecting commercial vessels
and setting safety standards for 51 per cent of the world's fleet.
Referring to the Balu incident, Stewart Wade, vice president of
marketing development and communications at the Houston-based American
Bureau of Shipping, said: "This is an indication of why we're
taking these steps."
ABS was one of the three international shipping bureaux that developed
10 safety points, which included increasing the number of surveyors
who conduct inspections of some types of vessels. The reforms also
included requiring two surveyors to inspect tankers and bulk carriers
older than 15 years.
Dr Cassola yesterday highlighted the fact that a number of European
Union countries were moving towards a 15-year cut-off for a ship's
age limit.
"We have to give some weight to the fact that the Erika was
25 years' old and the Balu was 24 years' old," he said.
The sinking of the Erika in December 1999 is still very vivid in
the minds of players in the maritime industry and environmentalists.
French authorities, in particular, will express concern about this
latest incident, aware of the damage that the Maltese-registered
tanker caused when it broke in two off the coast of Brittany, spilling
millions of gallons of oil into the Atlantic and onto the region's
beaches and rocky coast.
Asked whether he was concerned that yesterday's incident, after
the Erika disaster, could place relations with France under strain,
Transport minister Censu Galea told our sister paper, The Business
Times, that this should not be the case if, as appears, the ship
sank because of weather conditions and the problems the sulphuric
acid may cause can be contained.
"We are very aware of the problems that the Erika incident
caused," he said. "But in this case, the accident appears
to be due to the elements and the ship was relatively small. Moreover,
thankfully, due to the nature of sulphuric acid, it will not be
carried ashore, although the sinking will cause some localised problems."
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