the toxic truth - Greenpeace

the toxic truth
In order to be able to carry out the caustic washing directly on
board a ship, Trafigura first needed to purchase caustic soda.
In early April 2006, Trafigura approached Univar, a supplier in
the US. 64 An email to Univar dated 6 April 2006 described the
process that Trafigura intended to undertake, and gave some
details about disposal of the waste:
“ This gasoline component will be washed (removal of
mercaptans) with the caustic soda en-route to final destination
port (2/3 days), La Skhirra/Tunisia (North africa). The Caustic
Soda will be allowed to settle and will be drained into a caustic
suitable sumptank on arrival at disport which will be taken
away by a chemical treatment company for re-treatment/safe
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disposal. ”
The clear implication of this email is that Trafigura intended
to have the waste treated in Tunisia. However, Univar was only
willing to supply caustic soda on receipt of contact details for
the chemical treatment company that would dispose of the
waste once it arrived in Tunisia. 66 Univar also warned Trafigura
that the product would be “hazardous” and that Dangerous
Goods Certification would be required. 67
Subsequent internal emails between Trafigura executives
suggest that the company was experiencing difficulties in
the US with the purchase and loading of caustic soda on to a
ship. 68 One email suggests that this was because ship owners
were reluctant to carry out ship-to-ship (STS) operations in US
coastal waters because the mooring arrangement of the ship
made these operations:
“ too risky in the US with all the USCG [US Coast Guard]
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attention should something go terrible [sic] wrong. ”
Amnesty International and Greenpeace have asked Trafigura
to provide more information regarding the operations it was
intending to undertake in US coastal waters. The company did
not respond.
It appears the difficulties of purchasing and loading the caustic
soda in the US may have been insurmountable. In any event,
Trafigura purchased the caustic soda from a Dutch company
called WRT. 70 Caustic washing was then conducted on board
the Probo Koala.
tHe proBo Koala
The Probo Koala was what is known as
a “Products Ore-Bulk-Oil” vessel that
transports ores, hydrocarbons or other
bulk cargoes. 56 It was owned by a company
based in the Marshall Islands,
called Probo Koala Shipping Inc 57 and
sailed under the Panamanian flag. 58 A
Greek-based company, Prime Marine
Management, appears to have played
the role of management company
for the ship at the time of the events
described in this report. 59 Trafigura
time-chartered (a form of lease) the
Probo Koala on 25 October 2004. 60
From 3 April 2006 to 3 October 2006,
the Probo Koala was under the control
of its master, Captain Chertov. 61 A
company called Falcon Navigation,
Trafigura’s Athens “branch”, was
charged with the day-to-day management
of the ship and received instructions
from Trafigura Ltd and Trafigura
Beheer BV. 62 After the dumping, the
Probo Koala was renamed the Gulf
Jash, and in August 2011 it was again
renamed the Hua Feng. 63
flags of
convenience
The Probo Koala was registered in
Panama under a “flag of convenience”.
This means that there is no
connection between the nationality of
the ship’s owner and the nationality of
the flag that it flies. Many states that
provide flags of convenience have a
poor record of enforcing regulations
that apply to ships. Greenpeace
argues that this must change so that
activities on board ships and at sea
are better regulated, more transparent
and better accounted for.
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Chapter 2