WRITTEN QUESTION E-3668/02 by Emmanouil Bakopoulos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Cause of the wreck of the Prestige.
Date: 2002-12-18
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Galicia, man-made disaster, oil pollution, tanker, transport accident

10.7.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 161 E/129

In this context, on 20 December 2002, the Commission sent Parliament and the Council a proposal for a
regulatio (2) prohibiting the transport of heavy oil products in single hull tankers leaving or bound for
ports of the Union and to speed up the timetable for phasing out single hull tankers adopted as part of the
Erika-I package.

The Commission has asked Parliament and the Council to examine this text as a matter of urgency with a
view to it being adopted at the Transport Council of 27 March 2003.

(1) COM(2002) 681 final.
(2) COM(2002) 780.

(2003/C 161 E/132)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3668/02

by Emmanouil Bakopoulos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

Subject: Cause of the wreck of the ‘Prestige’

(18 December 2002)

According to a report in Lloyd’s List of 25 November 2002, on the same day as the tanker the Prestige
foundered, another ship in the same area had spilled its cargo of 200 17-metre long logs into the sea.

According to Lloyd’s List, given the heavy seas that day, it is possible that the Prestige was hit by one or
more logs, creating a hole in the ship’s hull which caused it to founder.

Has the Commission examined the possibility that a previous shipwreck was also the cause of the wreck of
the Prestige with all that that entails?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(7 February 2003)

On 13 November 2002, in the middle of a storm, the tanker ‘Prestige’, en route from Latvia to Singapore,
requested emergency assistance after a large breach opened in its starboard hull. The crew later reported
that the ship had started listing after what they described as a loud noise was heard, as if the tanker had hit
a floating object.

Though aware of the article the Honourable Member is referring to, the Commission would stress that it is
not for it to determine what caused the loss of the Prestige. That is a task for the competent authorities of
the States concerned by the disaster.

The Commission is nonetheless following the investigation into the causes of the disaster very closely.
Accordingly, it is involved as an observer in the ad hoc audit of the American Bureau of Shipping (the
Prestige’s classification society) being conducted by the International Association of Classification Societies.
It is also in contact with the national authorities which have opened enquiries: the Bahamas, Spain and
France.

With a view to the hearing which Parliament’s Committee on Regional Policy, Transport and Tourism
intends to hold during March 2003, the Commission will send Parliament an interim report on the
information it has on the accident.

(2003/C 161 E/133)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3669/02

by Emmanouil Bakopoulos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(18 December 2002)

Subject: Tanker accident

Last month, a tanker belonging to a well-known Norwegian company was involved in an accident when it
was struck by the periscope of a US nuclear submarine (the ‘Oklahoma City’) causing serious material
damage which necessitated repairs. I would recall that a similar accident also occurred last year on the high
seas off Hawaii, again caused by a US submarine, resulting in the loss of nine sailors’ lives.