'Floating dustbin' Byzantio nominated on Greenpeace-list

4 December 2002 - Greenpeace activists stamped a warning sign on the ship Byzantio, chartered by the same company that contracted the ill-fated oil tanker Prestige that sank off the north-western coast of Spain earlier this month. The French government has called the ship a "floating dustbin".The sign clearly shows the single-hull tanker is ready for scrapping. The Byzantio was added to the list of soon-to-be-scrapped ships, while activists chained themselves to the mooring lines of the oil tanker Byzantio for 28 hours in Rotterdam harbour.

A Netherlands judge ordered the activists to cease or face a penalty of 250,000 Euros per day. According to the judge hearing the case, the Byzantio complies with all maritime regulations and in his opinion, it is "highly unlikely the ship will sink."

There is definitely something wrong with a system that allows substandard ships to sail, the same system that allowed the Prestige to sail. It is one clear example of why the system needs to change and new, stricter regulations need to be adopted. These types of vessels should not be sailing the world's oceans.

In the afternoon, the Greenpeace activists painted the message "EU Act Now" on the hull of the Byzantio to communicate to the EU Transportation, Telecommunication and Energy Ministers meeting in Brussels Friday who will be discussing maritime safety, among other issues.

Greenpeace wants full and unlimited liability throughout the chain of responsibilities, including the owners, managers and operators of a vessel and of any charterers or owners of the cargo. Additionally, Greenpeace believes that the EU must immediately ban the use of single hulled tankers and exclude ecologically sensitive areas from shipping routes.

Our oceans must not endure another Prestige.The 26 year-old Byzantio, like the Prestige, is a single hulled vessel sailing under the Maltese flag. The ship was chartered by the Russian-owned trading company 'Crown Resources' to transport 53,000 tonnes of oil between Tallinn and Rotterdam. Crown Resources is the same company that charted the Prestige oil tanker which recently broke up and sunk of the coast of Spain spilling thousands of tonnes of oil into the sea.

At one point during the day's events, Greenpeace representatives held talks with Aegean Shipping Company - the owner of the Byzantio - asking them to make a blueprint for an unlimited liability formula for the Byzantio, but the proposal was turned down when the company went to court.