Your story "Death ship departs Tallinn, leaves behind toxic waste" accused
Trafigura of not making proper arrangements to safely dispose of waste
products from its chartered ship, the Probo Koala, in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
Indeed, it implied that the Probo Koala's voyage was to deliver a cargo of '
toxic waste' from Estonia to the Ivory Coast. In fact, the Probo Koala had
carried a cargo of gasoline from Estonia to Nigeria. Abidjan is one of the
largest and best equipped refinery ports in West Africa. It was the next
suitable port on the journey back to the Baltic for the disposal of the
ship's waste products, or "slops".
In Abidjan, a Government-certified
company was contracted by the ship's agents to receive the slops and deliver
them for safe disposal according to normal industry practices. The slops
were offloaded in daylight into road tankers at a petroleum berth under the
supervision of port, customs and environmental authorities on 20 August. The
Probo Koala left Abidjan with all normal clearances from the port authority
two days later.
What happened to the slops after they were offloaded from the ship is a
matter for the Ivorian investigators. Trafigura is distressed at the deaths
and illnesses which have occurred in Abidjan and is co operating fully with
the Ivorian authorities in trying to establish the facts of what happened.
Trafigura has traded in West Africa for more than 10 years and is confident
that the Company behaved correctly and ethically at all times with regard to
the Probo Koala.
Your story also said that Estonian tests has found that illegal refining of
gasoline had occurred at sea aboard the Probo Koala. This is mistaken and
muddled. The Estonian authorities have made it clear that the slops aboard
the ship were related to normal processes for ship of this type. It is not
possible to "refine" oil at sea. A ship is not an oil refinery. But
different types of gasoline can be mixed aboard ship to meet the particular
requirements of different customers. This is not unusual or illegal.
Trafigura
