From Beirut to Mauritius ... Disasters of misregulation of maritime transport

Between the terrible Beirut explosion that destroyed part of it, and the oil slick that is ravaging the island of Mauritius, there is one thing in common. It is the weakness of the regulation of the maritime transport sector, which transports 90% of global cargo, and it is the one responsible for these accidents.

With this introduction, Mediapart launched an interview that Lucy Delaport prepared with sociologist Claire Fleischer, who specializes in shipping, in order to shed light on this topic.

Before going into the focus of the matter, the editor recalled the tanker "Safer", which she considered a "floating bomb" on a beach not far from Yemen. It is a tanker that has been abandoned since 2015, and has the equivalent of a million barrels of crude oil, and threatens to explode at every moment.

And while the United Nations has raised the alarm about the danger that this ship represents in inflicting an unprecedented environmental and human catastrophe in the region, the Houthi rebels who control the beaches are currently preventing any interference in the matter. Because the Yemeni government claims ownership of the shipment.

She also reminded the editor of what caused the sinking of a Japanese tanker on 25 July off the island of Mauritius from the leakage of about a thousand tons of fuel oil, adding to that the terrible explosion of the ship "Rhosus" that blew a part of Beirut away from political responsibilities in that matter.

Scrambled responsibilities

The interview started with the issue of responsibilities in this complex sector, where the various actors in it jostle responsibility after each incident, between the owner of the ship (the owner) and the lessee (the person who operates it) and the flag state whose law applies to the ship.

The specialist in maritime transport stated that the ship is registered under a flag linking it to a maritime administration. But it is rarely the flag of the owner's country, and it may be called a "flag of convenience" because this process allows shipowners to evade taxes and laws in their own countries, which is particularly beneficial in terms of business or environmental standards.

Although the majority of ship owners come from the European Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, where controls and legislation are more stringent, 70% of the fleet is registered under flags of convenience, the most famous of which are Liberia, Panama and Malta.

The transport scientist cited the example of the vessel responsible for the oil spill in Mauritius, a Japanese tanker built by Nagashiki Kisen, and operated by another company, MOL, in which case the vessel operator is not the owner but a charterer, which means that he is responsible and must He must pay all maintenance, operating costs and supplies related to the ship.

At the moment, it seems that everyone is jostling responsibility like tennis, and although the investigation continues, there are concerns that the captain who is investigating him is now responsible for the sinking of the ship almost alone.

As for the ship Safer, which was abandoned off Yemen since 2015 and is flying the Yemeni flag, the situation appears more complicated than it is in the country suffering from civil war; Because the Yemeni flag management in this case is completely absent, says the scientist.

What explains the abandonment of ships?

The scientist said that the abandonment of ships occurs when the owner is unable or unwilling to pay the costs of operating them, whether it is maintenance costs, crew salaries, fuel to move the boat, port or stop costs, and often when the ship is abandoned instead of selling it in poor condition. , And you will not find a buyer.

Even if the owner finds a buyer, he will then have to find a classification company and an insurance company to certify and insure the ship, except that in most cases, if the matter is not steady, the ship has unpaid wages, debts to insurance companies and legal procedures, which makes disappearance usually easier than Resale of the "poisoned ship".

The scientist saw that the case of the ship Roussos, which was carrying the cargo that left the devastating Beirut explosion, represents the typical case of abandoning the ship, as its operator is a Russian businessman, and it is registered under the flag of Moldova that has not ratified the Maritime Labor Convention, and its owner works from Cyprus with a company based in the well-known Marshall Islands As from the country of "the flag of convenience".

The sign warned that the suspension of the provision of basic maintenance by the owner of the ship or the suspension of wages are warning signs of the possibility of abandonment, and then the seafarers can alert the International Transport Workers Federation through its inspectors to work in order to settle the payments due.

And since 2006, the port state has had control over the ships that it summons regardless of the flag state, and this is called port state control, which may find that the ship is in poor condition, and may detain it, as in the case of the ship Roussos, which was stopped in Beirut by the Lebanese port authorities After it was decided that it is not seaworthy while its owner declared bankruptcy.

Thus - the scientist says - part of the crew on board the ship was stranded for about a year, and they are on the back of this "explosive device" unable to disembark, and they are prisoners because they do not have the financial resources to return home, not to mention visa problems.

Low penalties

The scientist pointed out that the number of abandoned ships is increasing, and it now stands at between 40 and 50 abandoned ships every year. However, since the establishment of the database by the International Maritime Organization in 2004, there are 366 abandoned ships, of which 52 are still cases. Unresolved, either because of the flag state, ship owner, or insurance.

The scientist indicated that measuring the impact of the health crisis on the sector is still difficult, although there is already a greater than expected decrease in maritime transport traffic, as the owner of the Japanese Shipyard Company, Mall, announced that he had left about 40 ships in anticipation of a decrease in their activity by 25% of containers in 2020.

Fleischer explained the lack of interest in regulating maritime transport despite these amazing disasters. It is due to the fact that the first meaning in it are seafarers from countries with a low standard of living, in addition to the fact that the operators are very strong, and the shipowners do not want the public authorities to pay much attention to them.

As a result, maritime law is not expected of much; But it develops most of the time as a response to human or environmental crises that accelerate the adoption of international agreements that are essential to curbing violations.

The sociologist concluded that penalties for violations of maritime law are still low compared to the risks, and that the real problem lies in the weakness of monitoring tools, although it has been partially addressed since 2006 with some agreements.