| what's up |

| "erika":  martime history made |

After a seven year inquiry, a Paris court recently held oil giant Total responsible for the sinking of the ‘Erika’, ordering it to pay millions of euros in damages. The judgment marks a significant moment in the realm of maritime law.

 

The ‘Erika’, a 24 year old corroded tanker, was charted in December 1999 by the worlds’ fourth largest oil group, Total, to carry 30 800 tonnes of viscous heavy fuel oil to Italy. Just four days into her voyage, fractures began to show and spread in the vessel off the Pointe de Penmarc'h in Brittany. In a horrifying unfold of events the vessel was torn in half and eventually sank in the Bay of Biscay, about 64km off the French coast, its departure marked by the presence of a massive oil slick of 20 000 tonnes of toxic fuel cargo in the sea.

 

Two weeks after her sinking, the shoreline became polluted with oil, killing over 300 000 birdlife. The oil was described to be “like thick chewing gum, sometimes 30cm thick on the beaches”.  Consequently, bans were placed on fishing and the sale and consumption of seafood. The oil coated 400km of the coastline causing major economic loss to local industries.

 

The court ruled that “over 100 groups, including bird protection associations, fishermen, sea-salt producers and oyster-farmers, had a right to compensation for the environmental damage caused. The ruling means polluters can be held accountable for damage to the natural world, as well as to business and economic interests”. Total, the vessel’s Italian certification company which had declared the vessel sea-worth, the vessels’ owner and manager were all found guilty of negligence. Total was fined €375 000 and ordered to pay a share of nearly €200-million in damages to civil parties, including the French state.

 

Total was found guilty on the basis that it had failed to take into account the age of the ship and deficiencies in its maintenance. The court held Total’s “carelessness to have had a causal role in the sinking and, as such, provoked the accident”.

 

Total's attorneys argued that the Erika had an "undetectable flaw in its hull and that the oil giant should not be held responsible for ensuring the security of tankers leased from another party. The company argued that it chartered the ship in good faith, relying on official documentation certifying it as seaworthy. The trial lifted the lid on a murky world of offshore-registered tankers and labyrinthine ownership arrangements that made it difficult to establish responsibility for the disaster. The French oil company was accused of marine pollution, of deliberately failing to take measures to prevent the pollution, and of complicity in endangering human life”.

| contact us |

delport ward & pienaar

attorneys, notaries &  conveyancers
1st floor - cornerstone house

16 loop street

cape town

8001

 

telephone, cape town
+27-21-419.3733

 

telefax, general
+27-21-419.3743

 

telefax, conveyancing
+27-21-425.6782

 

telefax, collections dept
+27-21-421.6625

 

telephone, london
+44-20-8133.0337

 

telephone, washington dc
+1-202-657.6733

 

telephone, hong kong
+852-8139.7374

 

| info@dwp.co.za |

 

 

1st floor - cornerstone house, 16 loop street, cape town | docex 600, cpt | t, +27-21-4193733 | f, +27-21-4193743

info@dwp.co.za | www.dwp.co.za