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Greenpeace boards single-hull tanker in Gibraltar

Greenpeace activists sample spilled crude oil from the sunken Prestige tanker. Enlarge Image

Leaked oil blackening Spain's coastline

A ruptured tanker carrying 77,000 tons of fuel oil, almost twice the amount that spilled from the Exxon Valdez, has split in two and sunk off of Spain's coast.

A Greenpeace activist inspects the spilled crude oil from the sunken Prestige tanker. Enlarge Image

Stop the next oil disaster

If it had been within your power to prevent the Prestige oil spill, would you have taken a moment to do so? We can't undo the damage of the Prestige, but we may be able to stop the next disastrous spill.

Greenpeace activists stop the single-hulled oil tanker 'Byzantio' in the port of Tallinn, Estonia, preventing it from leaving with its cargo of 50,000 tonnes of oil. Enlarge Image

Byzantio: rustbucket oil tanker

In the seaside town of Tallinn, Estonia, 20 Greenpeace activists prevented the next oil disaster from leaving port until port authorities arrested them and let the ship go. Chained to the mooring lines of the rusting, 26-year old Maltese-flagged, Greek-owned tanker Byzantio were some of the same activists who last week were cleaning up after the Prestige oil spill in Spain. They would rather have stopped this oil from leaving port than be cleaning it up on another beach.

Greenpeace action against the single-hulled oil tanker 'Byzantio' on its way from Tallin with its cargo of 50,000 tonnes of oil. Greenpeace inflatables attemp to stop and enter the ship displayinga banner reading HAZARD Enlarge Image

Rust bucket oil tanker continues hazardous journey

The tanker left Estonia under the cover of darkness on Friday, but not before 20 Greenpeace activists braved the cold attempting to stop the Byzantio. The Byzantio is 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. But this new hazard to the seas will not be allowed to pass quietly. More Greenpeace activists intercepted the ship as it passed the straits between Denmark and Germany.

Greenpeace activists halt movement, by climbing up the mooring ropes of the single-hulled oil tanker Byzantioin the port of Rotterdam, The Netherlands yesterday Enlarge Image

Prestige leaking, but activists protesting another rustbucket are stopped

The first images of the sunken oil tanker off Spain are out. Black oil is oozing out of the Prestige contrary to the Spanish government's assurance that it would freeze up and solidify at the bottom of the ocean. If it continues the Prestige could coat Spanish beaches for years to come.

Greenpeace activists display, at the site of the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen, a banner reading Oil Hazard EU Clean up your act, referring to the infamous Prestige oil tanker disaster in Spain. Enlarge Image

Another tanker carrying oil in the Baltic runs aground

We said it was only a matter of time, and it seems we were right. Another tanker carrying 55,000 tonnes of fuel oil ran aground in the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda overnight. There are conflicting reports whether the vessel is leaking oil but authorities will attempt to tow it into port. Much further south, off the coast of Spain, the Prestige, which broke up and sank a month ago, continues to leak oil, as much as 125 tonnes every day.

The International Maritime Organisation's most visible action in response to the Prestige oil spill: a move to evict Greenpeace. Enlarge Image

IMO seeks to remove Greenpeace

One year following the Prestige oil spill, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has done nothing to prevent further catastrophes. Instead, the organisation is trying to remove the consultative status of one of its most outspoken critics: Greenpeace. Here's what you can do to help ensure the IMO has to factor in the voice of the planet and its people when it makes decisions, rather than just the voices of vested interests in the shipping industry.

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