the toxic truth - Greenpeace

222 Amnesty internAtionAl And greenpeAce netherlAnds
ANNEX NotEs
1. NFI expert report, Ministry of Justice, Netherlands
Forensic Institute, 29 January
2007, Odour incident, APS Amsterdam.
2. Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, National Commission
of Enquiry on the toxic waste
in the district of Abidjan, 15 November
2006, French version. In the annexes
the AVR analyses are included dated 3
July 2006.
3. ATM Afvalstoffen Terminal Moerdijk,
Analysis of sample 3 July 2006. Date of
report publication, 8 September 2006.
4. Amnesty International English translation
of verdict on Trafigura Beheer
BV, LJN (National Case Law Number):
BN2149, District Court of Amsterdam,
13/846003-06 (PROMIS), para 8.3.3.9.
5. NFI measured a pH of 14 and AVR and
ATM Moerdijk measured a pH of 12.9.
6. “On the same day, Mr Marrero emailed
Captain Kablan confirming the contents
of the conversation by stating: Trafigura
wished to disclose of 528m 3 of slops
from the Probo Koala ariving at Abidjan
on 19 August 2006. Trafigura Amended
Defence 5 December 2008 (Yao Essaie
Motto & Others v Trafigura Limited and
Trafigura Beheer BV in the High Court of
Justice, Queen’s Bench Division, Claim
No. HQ06X03370), paras 163 and
163.1.
And the Amsterdam court evidence says:
“The report from Dr Geoffrey Bound of
Minton, Treharne & Davies Ltd dated 6
April 2010 states the ratio of the oil and
water fractions in the slops in Abidjan
(p5):
“2.6 In summary, I have concluded that
the slops onboard the Probo Koala prior
to its arrival in Abidjan comprised 183m 3
of hydrocarbons derived from the Brownsville
cargoes (weighing 137 mt) and
344.8m 3 of aqueous solution (weighing
379 mt and representing 199m 3 of added
caustic wash solution combined with
other water delivered with the cargoes) as
follows…”
Note: This evidence can only be used in
the Trafigura case; it is excluded from the
Chertov and Ahmed cases.
It must be pointed out that Bound arrives
at a total amount of 527.3m 3 , whereas
there were still about 544m 3 in the slop
tanks in Amsterdam. Captain Chertov
states, in his “letter of protest” of 5 July
2006 that over 16m 3 less was returned
to the Probo Koala than was delivered
to APS.
We also refer to an email message
from Gampierakis (Falcon Navigation)
to Ahmed et al of 26 July 2006 stating
that the captain found that 528,308m 3
of slops were on board at that point
(360,260m 3 in the port tank and
168,048m 3 in the starboard tank).
Source: p28 from Evidence Overview for
Trafigura Beheer BV, N Ahmed, S Chertov,
Facts: section 174 of the Dutch Penal
Code and section 225 of the Dutch Penal
Code. This evidence is part of the files of
the Dutch public prosecutor.
7. NFI expert report, English, 10.1 p35/63.
The analysis by CIAPOL (part of the
Ministry of Environment of CDI) in Abidjan
of traces found on the quay alongside
the Probo Koala after the dumping of the
waste show a figure of 0.6% of hydrogen
sulphide which is in the same range as
NFI results.
8. NFI expert report, English 2.1.2 Analysis
of the watery phase, p 43/63 and
44/63.
9. Trafigura Responses to Amended
requests for Clarification of the Defence
Pursuant to Part 18 of the CPR 03 Dec
2008.pdf (Yao Essaie Motto & Others
v Trafigura Limited and Trafigura Beheer
BV in the High Court of Justice, Queen’s
Bench Division, Claim No. HQ06X03370)
10. Carter-Ruck Reply, in the High Court of
Justice Queen’s Bench Division, Claim
No. HQ09X02050 between Trafigura
Limited v British Broadcast Corporation
served 20 November 2009. Para 51 and
69. Reasons why Trafigura does not consider
the CIAPOL/SIR results a reliable
analysis include: “The sample was taken
from material said to have been dumped
on the wharfside in Abidjan and not
from the Slop tanks themselves, with an
obvious potential for cross contamination.”
And: “There is no indication in the
results as to the method of testing, particularly
whether the presence of hydrogen
sulphide was recorded as a result of a
acidification process or a process which
required all sulphides to be measured as
hydrogen sulphide.”
11. Analysis of chemical composition is
based on the Amsterdam NFI Chemical
Analyses. Weight is based on 379
tonnes (344.8m 3 ) aqueous slops at a
density of 1.1 for 10 per cent caustic.
12. The NFI report labels the 0.5% as Hydrogen
Sulphide. Trafigura gives it a different
description in their list (Inorganic Sulphur
(Sulphide and Bi-Sulphide as S) as NFI
identified the H2S in a mixture which had
been acidified.
13. Analysis of chemical composition is
based on the Amsterdam NFI Chemical
Analyses. Weight is based on 137
tonnes (183m 3 ) at a density of 0.75
measured in Abidjan by CIAPOL on 22
August 2006 (from a sample drawn on
21 August 2006).
14. The sampling of the waste present in
the slop tanks of the Probo Koala in
Amsterdam was carried out using a jar
that was lowered to the bottom. This
wouldn’t necessarily have detected any
sludgy sediments. To test for sediments,
they would have had to use specialist
sampling equipment (absolute bottom
sampler), designed to pick up sediments
from the bottom of tanks. The choice of
NFI to take a running sample was deliberate
as it would give a better reflection
of the composition of the waste than the
combination of a top, middle and bottom
sample (p 9 NFI report Expert Report
“Op 3 juli 2006 heeft het NFI (dhr
Bakker) de politie (dhr. J.vd Kamp) geadviseerd
over de monsterneming, Door het
NFI is voorgesteld om, indien praktisch
mogelijk, monsters te nemen over de gehele
diepte van de te bemonsteren tank
(zogenaamde running sample), omdat
een running sample in principe een completer
beeld van de samenstelling van de
lading geeft dan de combinatie van een
top,- midden, en bodemmonster. English
translation: “On 3rd July 2006 NFI (Mr
F Bakker) notified the police (Mr J vd
Kamp) of the sampling exercise. NFI proposed
that, insofar as possible, samples
should taken from all depths of the tank
concerned (so called running samples),
because in principle a running sample
provides a clearer picture of the cargo’s
composition than the combination of a
top, middle and bottom sample.”
Police officer J vd Kamp has confirmed to
Greenpeace that they had not sampled
the sediment of the Probo Koala waste,
21 March 2012.
15. This was reported during the criminal
court hearing in Amsterdam, on 10 June,
2010 and the judge read out an email
saying: “It is very likely that we find solid
residues in the cargo tanks and slop
tanks due to the caustic washings, these
may include caustic soda, sodium sulphide,
sodium hydrosulphide and sodium
mercaptides.”
16. Report Accident investigation following
the Vest Tank explosion at Slovag, Revision
O3 – English version, Bergen, 26-09-
2008, p18: “T3 (4000m 3 , ID 18 m, TT
16 m) contained about 270m 3 liquid at
the time of the accident: 50m 3 precipitated
waste from the treatment of coker
gasoline, 205m 3 waste water from tank
T61, and 14-15m 3 hydrochloric acid (filling
of acid from a tank truck was going
on when the accident occurred)”,p27,
p62: “From October 2006 to March
2007, the company Vest Tank had periodically
treated shiploads of a petroleum
product called coker gasoline in order to
reduce the content of malodorous sulphur
containing components, especially
mercaptans (thiols). The essential chemical
principle behind this process was the
high solubility of mercaptans in alkaline
solutions of sodium hydroxide and water
(caustic soda), compared to the solubility
in coker gasoline. The cleaning process
took place in two atmospheric storage
tanks, T3 and T4, and resulted in the
precipitation of solid waste that over
time accumulated in the bottom of the
tanks. The amount of dissolved or precipitated
waste eventually reached a level
where it was no longer possible to treat
further tank loads of coker gasoline.
The purpose of the process that went
on when the accident took place was to
dissolve the precipitated waste in tank
T3, and at the same time reduce the pH
value in the alkaline solution, by adding
hydrochloric acid.”
17. Carter-Ruck Reply, in the High Court of
Justice Queen’s Bench Division, Claim