Greenpeace continues to campaign

against unsafe oil tankers

in the aftermath of the disastrous Prestige spill

off the coast of Spain.
After delaying the departure of the Byzantio,

chartered by the same company,

Crown Resources,

that chartered the Prestige,

Greenpeace activists confronted the ship

off the coast of Denmark

and then attached a banner and climbed the ship

when it docked in Rotterdam this afternoon.
As well today,

Greenpeace activists "decorated" the headquarters of Crown Resources in Zug,

Switzerland

with waste from the Prestige spill.
More than ten thousand people from around the world

have sent letters to the International Maritime Organization.

This is the fastest response ever to a Greenpeace international cyberaction.

Thank you to everyone who has participated.
If you haven't sent your letter yet, please do so now here:
https://act.greenpeace.org/ams/e?a=imo1&s=fsh

Thank you also to the more than 1200 people who wrote to the Estonian trasport minister last Friday.
You can join the over 500 people who have posted comments on the Prestige spill here:
https://act.greenpeace.org/1037731467
You can also donate to our campaign to replace fossil fuels with clean energy sources here:
https://www.greenpeace.com/forms/gpiconpre.html
We are now awaiting the outcome of the European Union transport ministers meeting taking place in Brussels over the next two days.

Please check https://www.greenpeace.org for the latest news.

Here's the latest news release:

Greenpeace protests against "Floating Dustbin" in Rotterdam Harbour

Rotterdam,

4 December 2002

- Greenpeace activists today

continue to highlight the threat of unsafe transport vessels

in the world's oceans.

Activists climbed the now infamous "floating dustbin",

the Byzantio,

a 26 year old,

single hulled vessel

transporting over 50,000 tonnes of oil

and hung a banner,

which read "oil hazard" onboard.

Other activists were set to paint the same words on the hull of the ship.

Today's action comes in the

run-up to tomorrow's

Transport,

Energy and

Telecommunications

EU Council Ministers'

meeting in Brussels.

  They are expected to announce measures for improving maritime safety

to reduce the risk of accidents. 

On December 12 and 13

the EU Heads of Government

will meet

and will be discussing the issue of maritime safety.

On December 3rd,

the European Commission requested

that member states

speed up the implementation

of safety measures

adopted after the Erika oil spill

three years ago.

But

these measures will not be sufficient

to prevent another disaster,

says Greenpeace. 

The EU Commission also published a list of

66 vessels

that have been classified as

"highly dangerous",

ironically,

neither the disastrous Prestige,

nor the Byzantio appear on this list.

"When are politicians going to wake up

and realise

that tackling this mess

goes beyond mere suggestions,"

said Marietta Harjono of Greenpeace. 

"Now is the time for European governments

to take action and stop these old rust buckets

from causing more damage to the oceans. 

Now is the time for immediate implementation of effective safety measures."

Greenpeace is demanding

full and unlimited liability

throughout the chain of responsibilities,

including the owners,

managers and operators of a vessel

and of any charterers or owners of the cargo.

  Additionally,

Greenpeace

is demanding

that the EU

immediately ban

the use of single hulled tankers

and

exclude ecologically sensitive areas from shipping routes.

Concurrently,

activists in Switzerland

have sent a message to

Crown Resources,

the company that has chartered both

the Byzantio and the Prestige:

Clean up your mess now!

pointing to the fact that

as charterers of the Prestige

they should be held responsible

for the ecological disaster.

On Friday, November 29

Greenpeace

began to highlight

the imminent passage of the

Byzantio

through the same route

as the ill-fate Prestige

that broke off and sank

off the coast of Spain

earlier last month. 

Greenpeace activists

delayed the Byzantio's departure from Tallinn, Estonia

during 5 hours. 

Two days later,

Greenpeace activists

in inflatables

escorted the Byzantio through the Danish Belts,

drawing attention to the dangerous shipment

by hanging banners with the word "Hazard" on the hull.

VISIT THE CYBERCENTRE

Please don't forget to visit the Greenpeace Cyberactivist Community at:
https://act.greenpeace.org

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