Reading practice 5. 4EOI. With the key.

OIL TANKERS. Floating Disasters.

Oil keeps the world moving but, ironically, it has to be transported. And in huge quantities, otherwise it would not be profitable. One of the most common ways of moving it is by sea. Every year approximately 1,800 oil tankers navigate the world’s oceans, carrying thousands of tonnes of this valuable fuel. This is part of the billion-dollar business surrounding the so-called “black gold” and, as usually happens with operations involving such huge amounts of money, there are vested interests and greed.

The Exxon Valdez, the Erika, the Prestige- it seems that with catastrophic regularity one of these “giants of the seas” sinks, provoking both ecological and human disasters. The story is starting to sound awfully familiar (old boat, unskilled crew, accident, uncontrollable spill, coasts quickly covered in oil, etc.), but that does not mean that strict measures are taken to prevent these catastrophes. It seems that governments are reacting very slowly to the issue. According to environmental organisations, too slowly.

People wonder, when one of these disasters occurs, why these unsafe vessels are allowed to sail our seas. How can an old, rusty boat transport this dangerous load avoiding international law- or are the laws simply too mild?

There are two answers to this question. The first has to do with the tricks that shipping companies use to avoid oil tanker safety regulations. The second relates to the regulations themselves and the way they are enforced. For instance, a boat arriving at any port in the world has to be checked, by law, by the harbour inspectors. However, in many ports there are times (such as weekends) when no-one is on duty. Any rusty hulk can get past the controls just by arriving at an off-duty moment. Also, the strong competition between ports means that some of these inspections are very light in order to encourage ship owners to return.

Oil tankers are the responsibility of the state in which they are registered (whose flag they fly). That does not mean that ship owners or managers have the same nationality as the boat. The Prestige, for example, was owned by a Greek company, operated by a Swiss-based organization and registered in the Bahamas. Most ship owners know how useful the “flags of convenience” are. They make money easier to hide and it is very difficult to pin down responsibilities when something happens. It has also been reported that some ship owners blackmail the private companies responsible for inspecting a ship in order to give it insurance and permission to sail. On top of all this, it is common practice to hire crews without qualifications: they are much cheaper, but also much less safe.

After the sinking of the Erika in December 1999, the European Union tried to bring in a ban on single-hulled tankers in European waters from 2005. However, the regulation could not be passed because of opposition from Greece, Britain and the Netherlands. The ban was postponed until 2015, a date which, according to Greenpeace spokeswoman Maria José Caballero, is too distant. On the other hand, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), which is in charge of setting safety standards at sea, also recommends that its members phase out single-hulled tankers by 2015. However, while the IMO sets the standards, it is up to the flag state to implement them and some just do not do it.

The problem is that there is no international law enforcing this matter. Each country does what suits it best. In Europe, for example, 18 countries signed the Paris Memorandum, agreeing to carry out more thorough checks of the vessels. After the Exxon Valdez disaster, the United States immediately banned single-hulled vessels from its waters and drew up the Oil Pollution Act, a compensation system of unlimited responsibility for the oil companies in the case of an ecological disaster. This has put an end to the trick of bribing insurance companies. On the other hand, these local measures send the old tankers to European, African, South American or Asian waters instead.

Soon after the Prestige disaster, talks started within the EU to speed up the establishment of a European Maritime Safety Agency, which would have much greater powers  to control oil tankers in European waters. There are also plans to create a maritime police force to board ships which present a danger. Without waiting for the rest of the EU to endorse them, France and Spain have agreed to check all ageing single-hulled vessels in their waters and to force them out if necessary. Pressurised by the consequences of the Prestige disaster, the Spanish government has banned single-hulled oil tankers from all of its ports. However, pressure groups insist on the urgent need for international regulation in this matter because, when such accidents occur, it is not worthwhile thinking logically. The stricken Prestige, for example, had not visited a European port for up to two years before it sank, inflicting terrible damage on Galicia´s beautiful coast.

                                                              

    ( Adapted from SPEAK UP )

TASK I. VOCABULARY: What do the words in bold type mean in this context? Choose the correct definitions.

1. pin down                                           a) avoid                       b) demand

                                                              c) order                                    d) elude

2. phase out                                           a) suspend                   b) put off

                                                              c) allow                        d) use

3. drew up                                             a) refused                    b) objected

                                                              c) wrote                        d) cancelled

4. endorse                                             a) encourage                b) support

                                                              c) reject                        d) inspect

TASK II. TRUE or FALSE ?

5. In spite of the strict regulating laws, oil boats still provoke natural disasters.

6. Some ports are to blame for not enforcing the safety regulations.

7. Some ship owners get permission to sail in an illegal way.

8. The International Maritime Organization  is the only responsible for setting the safety standards and carrying them out.

9. The Oil Pollution Act has reduced the number of old tankers all over the world.

10. After the Prestige disaster, maritime laws and regulations are unlikely to stay the same.

KEY:

1. B                2.A             3. C            4. B

5. FALSE                6. TRUE             7. TRUE             8. FALSE

9. FALSE                10. TRUE