EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 84/122

(2004/C 84 E/0159)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3963/03

by José Ribeiro e Castro (UEN) to the Commission

(5 January 2004)

Subject: Geroi Sevastopolya — Safety at Sea

The Russian petrol tanker Geroi Sevastopolya (‘Heroes of Sebastopol’) — a 24-year-old single-hull vessel transporting 50 million tonnes of fuel oil — is following a course similar to that of the ‘Prestige’, which one year ago caused an environmental disaster in Spanish waters, and over the next few days it will sail through international waters close to Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Portugal.

The Californian company Westport Petroleum has chartered the vessel in question to transport its cargo from Latvia to Singapore via the Strait of Gibraltar, the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal, taking three or four weeks for the journey.

Having inspected the vessel, inspectors appointed by the Commission concluded that there were no grounds for preventing the vessel from setting sail.

The Spanish and Portuguese navies have announced that they will not authorise the Geroi Sevastopolya to sail through their exclusive economic zones.

The Commission has expressed its intention to keep a close eye on the vessel's progress (even if it remains within international waters) and at the most recent Council meeting of transport ministers it called upon the ten acceding countries to enforce the ban on single-hull vessels with immediate effect, without waiting until 1 May 2004.

In view of the above, would the Commission answer the following questions?

— What information does the Commission hold regarding the Geroi Sevastopolya's current progress?

— Does the Commission still believe the vessel to be seaworthy?

— What flanking measures and emergency action has the Commission taken or is it intending to take?

— What response has it received to the call it issued to the acceding countries?

— What recent action has the Commission taken vis-à-vis the Member States and its international partners with a view to agreeing and implementing more stringent and more effective rules governing safety at sea?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(17 February 2004)

The Commission's attention was drawn to the case of the Russian single-hull tanker Geroi Sevastopolya, which was due to leave the Latvian port of Ventspils bound for Singapore, carrying around 50 000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil along the coasts of Europe on its way.

On 6 December 2003, the ship left the port of Ventspils and passed through Danish territorial waters, where a deep-sea pilot came on board and a patrol of Danish marines escorted the ship until it rounded Skagen, the northernmost point of Denmark, on 9 December 2003. The ship then entered the North Sea, passing through German and Dutch territorial waters. On 11 December 2003, the ship negotiated the Strait of Dover and entered the Channel in the British area of jurisdiction. The ship left the Channel on the evening of 12 December 2003 and, within the jurisdiction of the French Maritime Prefecture of the Atlantic, headed into the Ushant traffic separation scheme. The Geroi Sevastopolya then steered a course for the Cape of Good Hope, choosing to reach Asia via the southern route rather than use the Strait of Gibraltar and the Suez Canal. The Geroi Sevastopolya left European waters on 18 December 2003.

A team of inspectors from several EU countries, coordinated by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), inspected the ship before it set sail from Ventspils. The inspectors found no grounds warranting detention of the vessel by the Latvian authorities.

A crisis group was set up between the Commission and the EMSA to track the ship from the time it set sail from the port of Ventspils until it left European waters. The EMSA remained in permanent contact with the competent maritime authorities of the countries whose waters the ship passed through, and received regular reports from them on the tanker's situation and exact position.

With regard to the accession countries affected by the Geroi Sevastopolya affair — particularly the Baltic countries and especially Latvia — the Latvian authorities cooperated fully to facilitate the work of the team of inspectors coordinated by the EMSA, which acted with the assistance and under the responsibility of the Latvian inspectors who had inspected the vessel in the context of port State control. Moreover, on the basis of an Estonian proposal, the Environment Ministers of the three Baltic Republics have adopted a proposal to bring forward the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 1726/2003 (1), which entered into force in the EU on 21 October 2003, prohibiting the transport of heavy grades of oil by single-hull tankers.

The Commission wants to strengthen Community legislation on maritime safety still further, both by adopting the post-‘Prestige’ measures and by preparing a new series of measures by mid-2004 aimed at strengthening maritime safety. The Union will also continue to act in the framework of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to increase maritime safety at global level. Following a new EU proposal, unanimously supported by the accession countries, the IMO adopted an amendment to the Marpol Convention in December 2003 incorporating, at international level, provisions similar to those of the abovementioned Regulation (EC) No 1726/03.

(1) Regulation (EC) No 1726/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 July 2003 amending Regulation (EC) No 417/2002 on the accelerated phasing-in of double-hull or equivalent design requirements for single-hull oil tankers, OJ L 249, 1.10.2003.