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LLoyd's List

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, 11 February 2002  --A less-than-welcome visitor is still berthed in the port of Amsterdam in a case which highlights the lack of international legislation surrounding scrapping.

Sandrien's fate has been watched by shipowners, governments and environmentalists around the world as the vessel was one of the first detained in the spirit of the Basle Ban, a ruling originally established to prevent industrialised countries dumping waste in developing countries.

Built in 1974, the 34,000 dwt chemical tanker, sailing under the Bolivian flag, was detained by order of the Dutch government on the grounds that there were hazardous materials, including asbestos, onboard.

Now Sandrien has been detained for a year and is on the Greenpeace top 50 'most wanted' list, with the environmental group urging its owners to clean it up before sending it to be scrapped.

Roelant Klaassen, a Rotterdam-based lawyer representing Mauritius-based owner Upperton, has previously argued that Sandrien was going to be trading and that she was not heading straight for the beaches of Alang and also that asbestos found onboard was an integral part of the vessel.

The government had always feared that if there was ever an interim court ruling Sandrien would sail away from the Dutch port without being cleaned.

Now that fear may become a reality as at the end of last year a Hague court provisionally ruled that the government detention order on Sandrien should be quashed.

The ruling by the Raad van State, the highest administrative court in the Netherlands, means that technically the vessel can sail again.

Greenpeace Netherlands has warned that it will do all in its power to stop the vessel sailing.

The Dutch government has now initiated a more in-depth court procedure to look into the matter but admits that this could take months if not years, and by then the vessel is likely to have left.

The government also asked the Shipping Inspectorate to take a close look at the ship. A race is now on to get Sandrien re-certified.

Kees Jan Groen, commercial manager of Shipdock, where Sandrien is berthed, says the vessel now will be inspected as required by the flag state.

It could undergo repairs at Shipyard but the firm is heavily booked in the next few months.

The owners are believed to be keen to send the vessel to Constanza in Romania.

Shipdock has not been able to use the berth due to Sandrien's detention and it has not been paid since February 2001, which is when Sandrien was due to leave before it was detained. The vessel has actually been in Amsterdam since August 2000.

He is frustrated at the fact there are no laws that mean either the vessel is cleaned up or at least moved.

In addition, Shipdock wants to be paid outstanding fees before Sandrien sails into the sunset.

Lloyd's List has reported that the vessel spent a year detained in the Italian port of Augusta but then trading as the Maria S and is controlled by Giuseppe Savarese, owner of the ill-fated Erika.

Next to the Sandrien is another vessel causing concern, the Otapan. Around 3,000 bags of asbestos were found ondeck which had been ripped out by the crew and the vessel was branded an environmental health hazard.

In this case the Dutch government paid to have the vessel cleaned up due to the environmental concern and possible threat to residents in north Amsterdam and is now left trying to recoup the costs of the operation from owners Compania Naviera Minera de Golfo (Navimin).

The 22,328 dwt chemical tanker has been berthed in Amsterdam since September 1999. Mr Groen says there does seem to be a heightened awareness of the possible risk of pollution, which will hopefully result in a momentum to get the vessel moved.

Because the vessel has been sealed off with no-one onboard, there could be possible leaks causing pollution, or at worst, the vessel could sink.

"We are hopeful that by the end of the year at least one of them will be gone," adds Mr Groen.