Puget Sound's Rustbuckets
Nearly half the oil tankers plying Washington waters would be banned from Europe for being too old.
[Its interesting to see Eric coming to the defense of the tanker business. Why would he do it ... even stooping to making up stuff thats easily disproven? Only thing I can figure if you want to ban offshore drilling in the US, that defacto means you are favoring importing more and relying more on shipments into our ports by foreign tankers. ]
Eric Scigliano
published: January 01, 2003
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Six weeks ago, Puget Sound's nightmare came true again, off the coast of Europe. The Prestige, a single-hulled, 26-year-old tanker carrying more than 60,000 tons of heavy fuel oil, split and sank off Spanish Galicia. For Europeans still recovering from the Erika wreck three years ago, this was one spill too many. The European Union's commissioners called for an immediate ban on single-hulled tankers carrying crude and other heavy oils. France, Spain, and Portugal, the countries in the spill's path, leaped ahead and banned single-hullers more than 15 years old. Asian and Greek shipping companies, which operate many older tankers, howled. French and Spanish warships responded by escorting two persistent rustbuckets out to sea.
What if such a rule were enforced here? That would be a dream come true for those who worry about the marine environment. If you fret more about the price of gas, it might be a nightmare: Nearly half the tankers plying Washington's waters could dock here no more. According to data collected by the state Department of Ecology, only nine of 41 U.S.-flagged tankers working here in 2002 would pass Europe's age test;
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Fast operators especially like to divert the pipes that collect oily sludge from their tanks and engine rooms, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars for proper in-disposal, dump it at sea, and lie in their logs. Two months ago Kenyon spotted oil left over from ocean dumping dribbling into Tacoma harbor from the tanker Kaede, which is registered to a Panamanian firm and operated by a Singaporean one. Just before Christmas, in a signal case, these companies agreed to pay a federal fine of $750,000, undertake "comprehensive environmental compliance," and serve probation; the Kaede's chief engineer, who also pleaded guilty, awaits sentencing.
KENYON DOESN'T DOUBT that other operators likewise dump oil, fake their logs, and skate through often-cursory inspections. These shady shippers register with "flag of convenience" nations and quasi-nations with minimal to nonexistent inspection capabilities. Wenk recalls one flag state that required just two things from owners wishing to register ships: a check and a phone call. Even "some of the oil majors with newer ships will use flags of convenience," says Kenyon. "It saves them hundreds of thousands of dollars on maintenance."
And so the Prestige-shocked Europeans also want to exclude flag-of-convenience tankers, defying "freedom of the seas" tradition. If they do, notes Kenyon, dodgy operators "are going to be pushed out of that market, and we're going to see them here." If they're not already here: Last year, 35 tankers flying the favorite flags of convenience—Panama, Liberia, and the Bahamas—sailed to Washington. So did others nominally based in Malta, Myanmar, landlocked Luxembourg, the Marshall Islands, the Isle of Man, the Netherlands Antilles, and that famous maritime center, the "French Antarctic Lands."
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But there is some accountability in the system. Says spokesman Dan Cummings of British Petroleum, a leading Alaska-Washington oil shipper: "BP inspected the Prestige in 2000, found it totally unacceptable, and didn't use it."
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