Sydney Harbour oil spill It's ships of shame ... again The following article was published in "The Guardian", newspaper of the Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, August 11th, 1999. Contact address: 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills. Sydney. 2010 Australia. Phone: (612) 9212 6855 Fax: (612) 9281 5795. Email: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Webpage: http://www.peg.apc.org/~guardian Subscription rates on request. ****************************** The big media coverage of the oil spill in Sydney Harbour last week omitted one crucial piece of information: the ship involved, the "Laura D'amato", is a flag of convenience ship -- one of the many ships of shame currently plying the oceans and seas crewed by cheap, non-union labour. The oil spill at the Shell refinery, originally estimated at 80,000 litres but now revealed to be 300,000 litres, was a "shipping and environmental disaster in the making", says the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA). The Sydney Coastal Councils Group has also weighed into the disaster pointing out that it is less than six years since the last major oil spill at the Shell refinery. The Group has called on the Carr Government to take steps to ensure such an incident is never repeated. "The "Laura D'amato" was a shipping and environmental disaster in the making -- a foreign flag vessel, with a third world crew of convenience", said MUA Acting National Secretary, Paddy Crumlin. "It [the ship] was about as Italian as fried noodles." The union says the Sydney Harbour spill conformed to the same sort of scenario which has been repeated over and over again in all major maritime disasters. "Last night's debacle is just another example of how cheap, cost-cutting measures can backfire", said Mr Crumlin. "Here we have an Australian refinery importing foreign crude oil when Australian-produced crude oil is available. They do this for no other reason than that the ship is providing rock-bottom bargain basement freight rates." Before the decline in Australian shipping, brought about by Howard Government funding cuts, Australian harbours were largely insulated from maritime disasters. Before the election of the Howard Government Australian shipping had been run and assisted through funding, operating in the national interest, economically, environmentally and socially. "Now we have a government that has suspended all funding to the industry and is advocating the abolition of cabotage (cabotage restricts foreign vessels carrying our domestic coastal trade)", said Mr Crumlin. He said the Government is also considering ways to crew Australian ships with cheap "guest" labour. Even the Government's own commissioned reports have recommended reinvestment in the Australian shipping industry, but the Government refuses to act on them. Disgrace Sydney Coastal Councils called the spill a disgrace. "We acknowledge that the harbour has always been a working port, but these facilities [oil storage and refineries] are stretching their welcome", said Councillor Patricia Harvey. "Control systems must be fail-safe." The Group is calling on the Carr Government to take the lead in auditing all potential hazardous storage facilities adjacent to Sydney Harbour. Councillor Harvey said there has been at least 11 oil spills in Port Jackson alone, ranging from the major oil multinationals such as Caltex and Shell to numerous other commercial and naval installations, in addition to a number of other liquid storage facilities. "The Group is very concerned with the reported response delays and confusion that transpired on Tuesday [August 4] night in the harbour", said Clr Harvey. "It is very alarming that it took more than 45 minutes for any official notification of the spill to authorities. The NSW Fire Brigade had to rely on their own investigations to determine the source of the foul odours." The Group says it is not good enough to have pollution management plans; they must be able to be put into action, whereby staff at potential pollution facilities are properly trained and contingency processes are put in place and adhered to. "Why weren't they implemented on Tuesday night? With a huge fleet of vessels expected in 2000 we must act now to prevent such pollution and ensure contingencies are in place." The Group points out that Sydney Harbour is already being significantly polluted via sewage overflows and stormwater pollution. In light of the oil spill the Australian Institute of Marine and Power Engineers have called for the compulsory deployment of oil containment booms for all oil tankers before they load or discharge oil. "Oil companies must be compelled to roll out their own oil containment booms around the visiting tankers every time they tie up in our ports", said the Institute's Sydney Branch secretary, Martin Byrne. "No matter how many precautions are put in place on board these foreign flag tanker ships, there is always the possibility of an accident as occurred on the "Laura D'Amato" last Tuesday night." Mr Byrne said it makes little sense requiring the emergency services to respond to spills after they have happened as the spill will spread rapidly even in favourable conditions. The Institute believes the oil companies should be forced to take the obvious precautionary step of rolling out their own booms around the tankers before any oil cargo pumping commences. "Indeed, this precaution should apply to the bunker barges which move around our ports supplying fuel oil to ships at the various wharves", said Mr Byrne. He said Japan had introduced such controls over a decade ago. The Guardian 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills. 2010 Australia. 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