Feature story - 13 November, 2007
13 November, 2007. Greenpeace response team arrived Monday to the southern Russia to estimate the scale of the environmental disaster in the Kerch Strait after a fierce storm sank seven ships, including an oil tanker. According to local people, a 50km length of coastline appears to have been polluted with oil. Thousands of oil-slicked seabirds lay on the seashore unable to fly. Around 100 soldiers are deployed to remove the oil from the shore.
Thousands of oil-slicked seabirds lay on the seashore unable to fly.
At 8-30 this morning the river tanker, Volganeft-123, split
apart by 18-foot waves in the Kerch Strait was moved to port Kavkaz
harbor. The ship owner was ready to reload the tanker yesterday but
the customs denied to give him permit to reload oil without a new
customs clearance procedure which is a long process. The customs
authorities on site said the customs rules remain the customs rules
despite any accidents and storms. Finally the state bodies reached
an agreement with the customs to reload oil from Volgoneft-123.
Interestingly, that according to the Paris Memorandum of
Understanding on Port State Control, the river tanker Volganeft-123
is a dead ship. Why the company used the dead tanker to export fuel
oil form Russia to Ukraine across the strait remains unclear.
Below are the details from the section of the Paris Memorandum:
IMO number :
8230699
Name of ship :
VOLGONEFT-123
Call Sign : UGOY
Gross tonnage :
3471
Type of ship : Oil
Products Tanker
Year of build :
1975
Flag : Russia
Status of ship :
Dead
Last update :
2004-07-26