Latest oil spill prompts outcry over single-hulled freighters

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- They're derided as "environmental timebombs" and "floating garbage dumps." Yet more than half the world's 10,000 oil tankers are the old-style, single-hulled variety despite outcries after every disastrous spill, from the 1989 Exxon Valdez in pristine Alaska to this week's sinking of the Prestige off the verdant coast of Spain.

A U.N. treaty banning single-hulled tankers entered into force this year -- but the phase-in period stretches to 2015.

Until then, European Union officials say their efforts to impose stricter inspections are being subverted by shipowners who steer clear of EU harbors or avoid dropping anchor when they refuel or pick up supplies. Yet oil they spill can wash ashore anyway -- as the cleanup crews scooping sludge from Spanish beaches Wednesday can attest.

"These vessels now avoid European ports because they know it's risky for them," said Gilles Gantelet, spokesman for EU Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio.

Authorities in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, which has the world's busiest port, say they have the same impression.

"It's quite obvious that older vessels, those with very bad maintenance, do not enter the port of Rotterdam because the risks are too big for them," said Minco van Heezen of the Rotterdam Port Authority.

Those that don't pass muster can be fined or even "chained up for a long time," he said.

The number of dockings -- and repair work -- done by Dutch shipbuilders has declined over the past few years, said Ruud Schouten of the Netherlands Shipbuilding Industry Association.

"It's the same in other west European countries," he said. "Regulations are tougher here than some other parts of the world, (so) if you have a vessel which is not up to the standards, then it's better to go elsewhere."

The Prestige was loaded in St. Petersburg, Russia, and Latvia and was en route to Singapore when it ruptured in stormy weather last week. It split in two and sank Tuesday, about 150 miles from Spain.

An estimated 1.6 million gallons of fuel and oil have been spilled into the Atlantic Ocean, threatening rich fishing grounds.

According to the American Bureau of Shipping, which validates a ship's seaworthiness, the tanker's last annual inspection was done in May in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, said Stewart Wade, vice president of the Houston-based agency.

"At the time of this incident, the Prestige was fully in compliance with all of our requirements," he said.

The International Maritime Organization, a U.N. agency whose motto is "safer shipping, cleaner oceans," has no information about "ships avoiding particular ports," said spokesman Lee Adamson in London.

"That's not to say it's not happening," he added.

But he said inspections are carried out under the auspices of the country whose flag the ship is flying. "The owner wouldn't just choose," he said. "The flag state authority would have to give its approval."

The Prestige was owned by a Liberian company but registered in the Bahamas, a so-called "flag of convenience" known as a tax haven. Adamson said his agency has no data on the safety records of ships registered there.

Since inspections are carried out by ABS surveyors, "the standards should be the same worldwide, said Edmond Brookes, deputy director-general of the British-based Chamber of Shipping. But as to whether they are in practice, he said, "you'd have to ask the flag states."

The ship's operator, Universe Maritime, denied the vessel had been avoiding EU ports. A spokesman at the company's offices in Athens, Greece, said the Prestige had been sailing mainly between the Persian Gulf and the Far East for the past three years.

"It's not a case that an owner is trying to avoid anything, but if it's picking up fuel, oil in Russia in this case, then it's not going to call at a port in Europe on the way through," the spokesman said on condition of anonymity.

The ship did stop in the British outpost of Gibraltar for refueling last June, but authorities there say it did not enter the port. It put in a few days earlier at the Greek port of Kalamata, but Greek officials said because it was "in transit," it was not subject to inspections.

The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, attacked such distinctions as a disingenuous way to "get around safety measures by playing with words or the number of meters between the vessel and the port."

French President Jacques Chirac said Wednesday he would raise the issue of maritime security at next month's EU summit. Chirac criticized European officials for not taking a tougher stand against such "garbage ships."

France, however, along with Ireland, is being sued by the EU Commission for not carrying out enough port inspections.

De Palacio herself, visibly angry at a news conference Wednesday in Strasbourg, France, demanded EU governments, who are responsible for their ports, deal with what she termed "environmental timebombs."

New rules requiring more inspections, especially of older, single-hulled tankers, don't take effect until next year, but she urged countries to start now.

"We've wasted valuable time," she said. "Pollution knows no borders."