| The catalogue of shipping disasters off the shores of Europe is a lengthy one: the Torrey Canyon, the Amoco Cadiz, the Erika and the Prestige, to name but a few. After the Erika sank off the coast of Brittany in 1999, two major packages of European legislation were introduced to raise maritime safety standards. However, the foundering of the Prestige off the coast of Galicia in 2002 raised further questions, prompting the European Parliament to set up a special committee to examine the lessons to be learnt from this latest disaster.
The single hull Maltese-registered oil tanker Erika, which sank off the French coast on 12 December 1999, causing major sea and shoreline pollution, was in some ways not an obvious candidate for disaster: her statutory certification was in order and she had successfully undergone various inspections. The conclusion of experts was that single hulls did not offer enough protection, that inspection methods were inadequate and that more needed to be done about flags of convenience. In response, the European Commission introduced two legislative packages, known as Erika I and Erika II.
Erika I - single hull tankers head for the scrapyard
Under an EU regulation adopted in 2002, single hull oil tankers were to be phased out from EU waters, in favour of much safer double hull vessels, by 2015 at the latest, with the deadlines depending on the size, type and age of the ship. The cut-off dates were decided in conjunction with the International Maritime Organisation. Parliament agreed to the dates but managed to exempt smaller oil tankers on the grounds that supplies to the Community's island regions might otherwise be jeopardised.
On 13 November 2002, barely a few months after the regulation was adopted, the Prestige disaster occurred, prompting the EU to introduce a fresh timetable to outlaw single hull tankers more quickly. Large old tankers, like the Erika and the Prestige, will now be banned by 2005, while smaller and more recent ones cannot be used in EU waters after 2010. An immediate ban was also introduced on using single hull tankers to transport heavy fuel oil (the most polluting type) to or from Community ports.
Thorough checks on the physical condition of ships in EU ports are the best way of enforcing safety standards. Under new EU rules (the Port State Control directive), inspections will be tougher and more frequent: around 4,000 "hazardous" ships out of an average of 11,000 inspected every year will undergo rigorous inspections, compared with only 700 at present. And ships carrying dangerous cargoes, such as oil, gas and chemicals, will be banned from entering Community ports if they fly the flag of a blacklisted state and have been detained by port authorities more than twice in the past two years. In the teeth of strong resistance from EU governments, MEPs added a rule that ships must carry a voyage data recorder (or "black box"), to provide information for use in an accident investigation. These rules must be implemented by July 2003.
Governments delegate the power to carry out structural safety checks of ships to firms known as "classification societies", which have the necessary technical expertise. But the EU decided these societies needed to meet higher quality standards. European and national authorities will now grant or withdraw recognition to these firms after looking closely at their record on safety and preventing pollution. Following a suggestion by Parliament, classification societies may not be controlled by shipowners, shipbuilders or other commercial shipping organisations, in order to avoid conflicts of interest. These rules too must be implemented by July 2003.
Erika II - better scientific support and communications
In June 2002 two further measures to improve safety at sea were adopted. Parliament warmly endorsed the creation of a European Maritime Safety Agency, to be based in Lisbon, which will provide scientific and technical support to help Member States enforce Community legislation and will evaluate the impact of maritime safety legislation. An EU information system has also been set up to enable sea traffic to be monitored more effectively. Ships sailing in EU waters will have to fit identification systems that automatically communicate with coastal authorities. Data on dangerous cargoes will be more easily available and Member States will have greater powers to intervene if there is an accident or risk of pollution.
MEPs investigate Prestige disaster
The oil tanker Prestige sank off the coast of Galicia on 19 November 2002 after drifting around for six days in atrocious weather conditions. The environmental and economic damage was enormous, with the fishing and tourism industries particularly hard hit.
Following the disaster, the European Parliament decided to set up a temporary committee to investigate this and other accidents at sea. MEPs held public hearings with maritime experts as well as talks with the European Commission and the Spanish authorities. They also met Prestige captain Apostoulos Mangouras, who was - and still is - detained in Barcelona.
In a report adopted in April 2004, Parliament criticised the Spanish authorities' handling of the disaster, in particular their decision to tow the vessel away from the Galician coast instead of to a port of refuge. As to the future, MEPs urged EU governments to set up a European coastguard service, which would oversee maritime safety and the marine environment, force vessels to stick to designated shipping routes and coordinate action if there is an accident at sea. Parliament also pointed the finger at several existing and new EU Member States for failing to apply European or international legislation on maritime safety. It stressed the need to encourage ships to fly Community flags rather than flags of convenience of countries which do not meet vessel inspection and safety standards. The importance of drawing up plans to provide places of refuge for ships in distress was underlined. And MEPs also called for better working conditions, safety and training for seafarers.
The human factor
Experts told the temporary committee that the EU's response to recent maritime disasters must not overlook the human factor. They said the prime causes of tanker casualties were not structural weaknesses but human error. This point is addressed indirectly in another piece of legislation on minimum training standards for sailors from non-EU countries, an issue of great importance as around one third of seafarers employed on EU-registered vessels come from outside Europe. MEPs approved these new rules but they have also emphasised repeatedly that greater efforts are needed to make seafaring and other maritime occupations more attractive to young Europeans. If progress is made on these fronts, the combination of stricter legislation and better trained seafarers should make Europe's shipping lanes a great deal safer.
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