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Lack of laws, lack of awareness sink Lanka’s right to make claims over MT New Diamond fire
NARA has conducted several expeditions to the location of the ship to collect samples to conduct tests on whether environmental damage has been caused due to the incident
In the aftermath of the incident involving the stricken oil supertanker MT New Diamond, authorities here have acknowledged local laws have not been properly updated to meet such potential disasters.
While the current Marine Pollution Prevention Act did not limit Sri Lanka’s ability to place claims, the Act was still severely limited in other ways, Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) Chairperson Dharshani Lahandapura told the Sunday Times.
“The basics are missing and we have not ratified six major conventions,” she revealed.
She also added that the current Act has no provisions to prosecute any attempts to degrade Sri Lanka’s marine environment. She cited a recent incident where a well known company had been exposed during their attempt to dispose chemical waste into Sri Lanka’s seas. The lack of any provision had severely impaired the MEPA’s ability to penalise the guilty parties.
While there are deficiencies in local laws, in the incident involving MT New Diamond, Sri Lanka would have still been entitled to one-fourth of the ship’s value and cargo under the Law of Salvage if authorities had been more aware, Maritime Lawyer Dr. Dan Malika Gunasekara alleged.
In coming to the rescue of the ship’s crew and protecting the country’s maritime environment, the Sri Lanka Navy had performed the role of statutory salvor. The reward however, is entitled to those performing the role of contractual salvor. In this case, that is Boskalis Smit Singapore Pte Ltd, the Singapore based company appointed by the ship’s Greek owners.
“What Sri Lanka should have done is to sign the proper legal documents to take the Singapore based company onboard under our supervision,” said Dr. Gunasekara, adding that failure to do so meant that the company has been given a free hand to function as the contractual salvor, making it eligible for the reward.
“The opportunity to claim the reward is now lost. All we can do now is to claim the costs incurred towards the operation.”
Ms. Lahanadapura though, stated that the Singapore company had been appointed the contractual salvor while the ship’s captain was still onboard the New Diamond. “As long as the captain is aboard the ship, they will remain the highest authority in it,” she explained. At the time of the rescue the owners of the MT New Diamond had appointed their contractual salvor while the captain was aboard the ship and before he had waived his authority as captain over to the Sri Lanka Navy. Thus, claim to the cargo was automatically transferred from the captain to the contractual salvor from Singapore. She also added that this was one of the reasons why legal action against the captain was filed.
On Wednesday, the Attorney General’s Department also submitted an interim claim of Rs. 340 million to the lawyers representing the owners of the oil tanker for costs incurred in rendering assistance to the vessel after it first caught fire on September 3.
The stricken tanker was still under Sri Lankan Jurisdiction, especially where marine resource destruction and pollution were concerned, Navy spokesman Captain Indika De Silva told the Sunday Times. “Sri Lanka has the authority to enact the provisions of the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea where necessary as well,” he said. As of Friday afternoon the MT New Diamond was 63 nautical miles off of Batticaloa and was being surveyed by two ships of the Sri Lankan Navy only.
Meanwhile, the National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA) has conducted several expeditions to the location of the ship to collect samples to conduct tests on whether environmental damage has been caused due to the incident.
Shyamali Weerasekara, Principal Scientist of the Environmental Studies Division of NARA revealed that the agency had been part of three research expeditions on the sea surrounding the MT New Diamond.
The first was done in collaboration with the Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) and the University of Ruhuna on September 8. Water samples were collected from the area surrounding the ship, mostly from the stern area where the ship sustained fire damage. “These samples are currently being tested in laboratories for oil and grease content, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, and heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, and cadmium. In-situ tests had been done aboard the ship to check for dissolved oxygen, sturdiness, salinity, electrical conductivity and total dissolved solids. GPS location information of the sample collection spots was also gathered. A second multidisciplinary NARA team led by Dr. Prabath Jayasinghe also approached the vicinity of the oil spill to gauge environmental impacts and possible damage. The team, which consisted of water quality management experts, marine biologists, environmentalists, coral reef specialists and oceanographers, submitted a preliminary report of observations to the Chairman of NARA Prof. A. Navaratnerajah.
A third NARA team conducted surveys of socio-economic impact on segments like fisheries. Fishermen from the area were interviewed and information was collected for the assessment of a coastal area impact should a leak occur. Thirteen impact locations were identified off the east coast and water samples were collected for quality checking.
Final reports on the research being conducted is expected next week.
| Captain of supertanker committed a criminal offence: AG’s Dept. By Ranjith Padmasiri The Captain of MT New Diamond failed to activate the fire suppression system onboard the vessel when the fire initially began and also did not promptly inform relevant authorities of the emergency, the Attorney General’s Department charged. Deputy Solicitor General Dileepa Peiris told the Colombo Magistrate’s Court on Thursday (17) that through his actions, the tanker’s Greek Captain, Steiros Ilias (60), had committed a criminal offence as well as offences coming under Sections 25, 26, 38 and 53 of the Marine Pollution Prevention Act of 2008. As such, the AG had taken steps to name him as a suspect in this case, he added. He further told the court that an oil layer with a thickness of 2 metres and 400 metres in width, had been observed over an area measuring 2 nautical miles near the stricken vessel. Accordingly, there has been marine environmental pollution over a 2 nautical mile area, he asserted. Taking the submissions given by the AG into consideration, Colombo Additional Magistrate Priyantha Liyanage ordered that the suspect be produced in court on September 28. This was after DSG Peiris notified the court that the ship’s captain and crew were currently undergoing quarantine in Galle and would be released from quarantine on September 24. As such, the AG’s department requested court to order that the suspect be produced in court on a date falling after September 24. | |