the toxic truth - Greenpeace

the toxic truth
Was sediment dumped?
Sediment waste residues appeared to have
been generated not only in the slop tanks
but also in the cargo tanks during the caustic
washings. This waste layer was not sampled
in Amsterdam in July 2006 14 and was possibly
partly dumped in Abidjan (though evidence
for this is limited). The remaining sediment
became the subject of a dispute between the
owner (Prime Marine Management) and the
charterer (Trafigura) of the ship in September
2006 in Estonia. The dispute appeared to
be related to the cost of proper cleaning of
the tanks without damaging them. 15 That
these sediments were indeed produced is
in line with what can be expected from the
chemistry of the process, which must have
produced a considerable volume of sediment
(and the Norwegian Gexcon report shows that
“precipitated waste” was produced by similar
processes at Vest Tank). 16
The victims represented by Leigh, Day &
Co in the UK class action believe that the
waste generated sediments and that these
sediments were also dumped in Abidjan, in
addition to the aqueous and organic phase, a
waste that they refer to as ‘sediments’. Based
on the limited information Greenpeace and
Amnesty have available, we understand that
the victims in the group litigation estimated
that, in total, the waste dumped in Abidjan
consisted of 253m 3 aqueous phase, 174m 3
organic phase and 100m 3 sediments. 17
According to these estimates, the sediments
would then be expected to comprise the
following amounts:
total sour sulphur 45 tonnes
sodium merCaptides 43 tonnes ± 2 tonnes
sodium bisulphide 2 tonnes ± 2 tonnes
sodium Carbonates Small quantity not quantified
Trafigura disputed the presence of the
sediments, arguing that NFI did not report
finding any mercaptide sediment. 18
“ The major difference between the rival cases
being the claimants’ allegation that the slops
contained a further 45 tonnes of sulphur, thereby
maximizing the quantity of materials in the slop
19
which could potentially cause injury. ”
Summarizing, this means that there are at
least two theories about how much waste
from the different layers were dumped:
Aqueous phase/
spent caustic
Oily phase/organic
phase/hydrocarbon
phase
trafigura uK Claimants
344 253
183 174
Sediments 0 100
ToTAL 527 cbm 527 cbm
Because the class action case was settled, we
do not have information on the arguments of
the claimants for the dumping of sediments.
However, testimony from one of the truck
drivers does suggest that sediment from the
waste may have been dumped in Abidjan 20 :
“ I managed to fill up the tank only half way,
in other words between 10,000 and 15,000
litres. At that point, the liquid was very heavy –
almost like liquid mud. It was a sort of thick and
reddish mud. ”
An expert working in the oil industry consulted
by Greenpeace believes it is very likely
that during the voyage to Africa part of the
sediment was dissolved due to the movement
of the ships. It is also believed possible
that part of the sediment not dissolved was
dumped in Abidjan, provided a “stripping
pump system” was on board the vessel that
would have been able to remove (part of) the
bottom layer. 21 Evidence is, unfortunately,
insufficient to evaluate this possibility.
209
ANNEX I