WRITTEN QUESTION P-3398/02

by Carlos Ripoll y Martínez de Bedoya (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(22 November 2002)

Subject: The Prestige incidence off the Galician coast

On Wednesday, 13 November, the oil tanker Prestige on route from Latvia to Gibraltar was damaged and destabilised, apparently by the heavy seas caused by the storm off Finisterre. The Spanish authorities were as a result forced to activate appropriate rescue and safety proc-edures, thus preventing an ecological and environmental disaster of unforeseeable dimensions, whose consequences could have been far worse than was actually the case

Given that the available information indicates that the Prestige underwent compulsory inspection in Rotterdam Harbour in 1999, during which anomalies were detected, and that there is no news of the vessel's being re-inspected, despite the fact that it has called at Community ports.

Does the Commission believe that there has been a dereliction of duty on the part of some authority or body responsible for inspecting and checking vessels of this kind?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(16 January 2003)

As the Honourable Member indicates, the loss of the Bahamian-flagged oil tanker Prestige off the Galician coast triggered a major ecological disaster.

On 13 November 2002, the Prestige, caught in a storm while sailing from Latvia to Singapore, radioed for help after a large breach opened in its starboard hull. The crew members reported the ship to be listing following what they described as a loud noise, as if it had hit a floating object. At this stage, it is nonetheless hard to be certain about the precise cause of the accident.

The Prestige's last inspection under the port State control rules appears to have been in September 1999 in Rotterdam. It revealed minor anomalies, which were put right before the ship set sail.

After this, the Prestige barely called in at Union ports, with the exception of Kalamata and Gibraltar during its last voyage to the Baltic. It also called into port in Latvia and Russia, though no further inspections were performed on those occasions, either under the Paris Memorandum or pursuant to Directive 95/21/EC on port State control(1).

The Commission has written to the competent authorities of these various States for information on the lack of inspections during the ship's recent calls into ports under their jurisdiction.

In any event, in its communication of 3 December 2002 the Commission reminded the Member States of their inspection obligations. It asked them to recruit enough inspectors to check at least 25 % of ships, as required by current European rules. It also requested them to achieve a sufficient level of inspection in all their ports and anchorage areas to prevent them becoming ports of convenience. It will be presenting proposals in this respect.

The Commission also intends to remain particularly vigilant regarding the 25 % level. Two proceedings are already under way, against France and Ireland, for repeated failure to observe Community obligations in this area.

(1) Council Directive 95/21/EC of 19 June 1995 concerning the enforcement, in respect of shipping using Community ports and sailing in the waters under the jurisdiction of the Member States, of international standards for ship safety, pollution prevention and shipboard living and working conditions (port State control) OJ L 157, 7.7.1995.