WRITTEN QUESTION E-0414/03

by Heidi Hautala (Verts/ALE) to the Council

(17 February 2003)

Subject: Classification of the Stemnitsa, an oil tanker operating in the Baltic, as an ice-class vessel

The Stemnitsa, an oil tanker sailing under the Greek flag and operated by the Greek shipping line Minerva Maríne, has repeatedly been plying the Baltic this winter under exceptionally difficult ice conditions. The ship carries 100 000 tonnes of Russian crude oil at a time, which is loaded on at the new Primorsk oil terminal in Russia, towards the eastern end of the Gulf of Finland. It has been rated by the American Bureau of Shipping as an ice-class vessel, but Finnish experts do not consider this classification sufficient for the particularly gruelling ice conditions in the Gulf of Finland. Primarily on account of Russia's projected new oil terminals at Primorsk and Vysotksk, it is estimated that oil shipments through the Baltic will double every five years, increasing from the present 40 million tonnes to 160 million tonnes by 2010. From the ecological point of view the Gulf of Finland is a very vulnerable sea area and in social and economic terms an important shipping lane. The Finnish authorities have not found ways to prevent the Stemnitsa and other high-risk vessels from operating in the international waters of the Baltic.

In an interview with the Finnish News Agency on 4 February the newly appointed Executive Director of the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), Willem de Ruiter, said that the EU had no reason to intervene in the Stemnitsa's operations and was powerless to act. However, according to its own home page, the agency's task is to contribute to the enhancement of the overall maritime safety system in the Community in order to reduce the risk of maritime accidents, marine pollution from ships and the loss of human lives at sea. Under the regulation establishing EMSA the agency will be called upon to assist the Commission, where appropriate, in the preparatory works for updating and developing Community legislation in the field of maritime safety and prevention of pollution by ships, in particular in line with the development of international legislation in that field.

The Commission is a member of the Baltic Maríne Environment Protection Commission (Helcom) and could exert considerable influence with a view to securing agreement at the next Helcom Environment Ministers' meeting in summer 2003 on a proposal to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) that the Baltic be declared a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA) and that vessels sailing there should meet special requirements regarding ice pressure resistance and a double-hull structure. The Commission's prospects for bringing its influence to bear in Helcom and the IMO are all the greater because all the coastal states bar Russia will soon belong to the EU.

1. Will the Council back an initiative addressed to the IMO along the lines described above when the Environment Ministers of Helcom member countries meet in the summer?

2. Does the Council consider Mr de Ruiter's interview, as summarised above, to be in keeping with the regulation establishing the European Maritime Safety Agency?

Reply

(13 May 2003)

In response to the accident of the oil tanker Prestige, the Council (Transport, Telecommunications, Energy) adopted on 6 December 2002 Council conclusions on ships' safety and pollution prevention. Among other measures, the Council urged Member States with common interests in sensitive sea areas to identify and formulate coordinated proposals for the areas to be protected as Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO). In a similar way, it urged the IMO to develop the use of the instrument of designating Sensitive Sea Areas (SSA) and Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas (PSSA). An initiative by the Member States concerned, as outlined by the honourable Parliamentarian, on the occasion of the forthcoming meeting of the Helcom Environment Ministers would therefore be fully in line with the position of the Council.

As regards the transport of oil in the Baltic Sea in particular, the Council conclusions noted the Commission's intention to take the necessary steps to ensure the participation of the adhesion countries and other neighbouring countries, including Russia, in an agreement that heavy grades of oil should only be transported in double-hull tankers. In general terms, the Council expressed its support for the Commission's efforts to investigate the potential for technical cooperation programmes to assist the neighbouring countries, among which Russia was particularly mentioned, in their efforts to increase maritime safety and pollution prevention.

In addition, on 9 December 2002 the Council (Environment) in the Council conclusions on the Environmental disaster caused by the accident of the Prestige agreed on the need to further strengthening and improving the existing co-operation between the conventions for the protection of the marine environment, such as Helcom. It also expressed the necessity to reinvigorate the environmental activities of IMO aiming at reinforcing maritime safety and the prevention of pollution by tankers, and urged Member States to play an active and coordinated role at the meeting of the Maríne Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of the IMO in July 2003.

As regards the interview of the Finnish News Agency with the appointed Executive Director of the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), it is not within the Council's competence to evaluate his declarations.