Press Releases - ABLE

COMPANY BACKS ‘HYPOCRISY’ ATTACK ON SHIPS CRITICS
22/10/03

The Managing Director of Able UK has welcomed comments from a senior UK Euro MP attacking the ‘hypocrisy’ of those criticising the contract to recycle redundant American vessels at the company’s TERRC (Teesside Environmental Reclamation and Recycling Centre) at Graythorp.

At the same time Mr Peter Stephenson rounded on attempts by the European Environment Commissioner—and groups opposing the decision by the United States Marine Administration to send the vessels to Able for recycling—to suggest that there was the risk of major oil spills from the vessels.

Speaking in the European Parliament the Yorkshire and Humber MEP David Bowe, who is Labour’s European spokesperson on the Environment, said it was difficult to separate facts from fiction in claims being made about vessels…and that there was ‘an odour of hypocrisy’ in the confusion.

He added “These are the facts…these ships do not contain any more toxic materials than any other normal cargo ship. The only asbestos on them is the asbestos you would find around any engine on any ship. The only oil in them is the oil you find in the tanks that fuel them—they are not petrol tankers. They have very little in the way of PCBs and other hazardous substances. They have a seaworthiness certificate which was granted to them before they left harbour—and they would not have left harbour unless they had it.’

Mr Bowe went on to tell Environment Margot Wallstrom that she should be ‘asking what is going to happen to the 100 and more ships that are leaving EU waters this year to be dumped and destroyed in the Third World in a totally unacceptable manner, rather than making remarks about things being done properly by the British.’

The MEP’s comments followed strong support for the project from Lord Whitty, the Minister with responsibility for transport and the environment, during a recent debate in the House of Lords.

Said Peter Stephenson “I am pleased that people like David Bowe and Lord Whitty are attempting to inject some sense and objectivity to balance the kind of scaremongering we have seen from other organisations and individuals over recent weeks.

“What I find alarming is that a senior figure such as the European Commissioner should be making comments which clearly demonstrate she is not aware of the real facts. For example in the European Parliament she stated that ‘an American court has issued a temporary restraining order’ regarding the nine ships still to be moved from the James River. This is simply not true.

“She seeks to imply that these vessels pose a massive threat of oil pollution by comparing them to the ‘Prestige’ and ‘Erika’ tanker disasters—a similar line taken today in the latest claims from Friends of the Earth and their supporters in the Basel Action Network (BAN), who raise the spectre of a ‘major cataclysmic spill of oil’ and claim the ships are ‘floating timebombs.’

“The truth, as Mr Bowe points out, is very different. In truth these vessels contain only very small amounts of residual fuel oil in their tanks…even Friends of the Earth and BAN recognise that fact… whilst the Prestige was laden with 70,000 tonnes of oil when she was wrecked and the ‘Erika’ disaster led to a spill of 15,000 tonnes.

“The groups who have jumped on this bandwagon—and indeed the European Commissioner—are increasingly exposed for their double standards—attacking the United States Government and ourselves for wanting to recycle vessels in the best possible environmental conditions yet saying little or nothing about the huge number of vessels—Greenpeace puts the figure at 124 for this year alone—being exported from Europe to end their days in the appalling breaking yards of the developing world.”

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