Young: Oil spill vessel owners could be 'rogues'

ENERGY Minister Stuart Young says Government has been advised by some of its international partners that the owners of two vessels involved in the February 7 oil spill off Tobago's southeast coast could be members of a group of rogue vessel owners who breach international maritime laws with impunity.

Young added that evidence before the Government at this time shows the owners of these vessels have no affiliation with TT.

He made these comments at a news conference at the ministry at Tower C of the Port of Spain International Waterfront Centre on May 6.

The two vessels reportedly involved in the spill are the barge Gulfstream (currently overturned on a reef near Cove) and a tug boat called the Solo Creed, which was reportedly towing the Gulfstream towards Guyana before the incident happened.

Young said efforts to locate the owners of both vessels are ongoing.

After saying Government got a favourable response from the UK-based International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds (IOPC) to cover some of the costs of cleaning up the oil spill, Young said, "An important element of this exercise has been us trying to trace and to track the owners and those responsible for this vessel."

The Works and Transport Ministry's Maritime Division, the Coast Guard, the Canadian government and other entities have been collaborating closely in this exercise.

Young said the division has engaged the service of an international satellite company "which has been doing all that is reasonable and can be expected to trace those who are responsible for those two vessels."

He referred to the vessels reported in the news concerning the oil spill.

Young said the names attributed to the barge and tug boat, Gulfstream and Solo Creed, respectively, may not be the real names of the vessels.

"We have also been provided with documentation that suggests changes in name (of the vessels)."

The Foreign and Caricom Affairs Ministry, he continued, has been seeking information from Tanzania, Nigeria, Panama, Aruba and Curacao "for assistance in tracing and tracking those responsible and, in particular, the owners of these vessels."

Young said, "Unfortunately, despite all those efforts, we have not been able as yet to ascertain, with any degree of certainty, who the owners are."

He said Government has received information from some of its international partners as to why the identities of these vessels' owners have been difficult to determine so far.

"It became apparent that there is an industry taking place out there in the maritime industry where you have these rogue owners who are doing exactly what the owners of the Solo Creed and the Gulfstream did, which is they are not submitting proper documentation. They are not submitting proper ownership, may or may not have insurance, may or may not be transporting legal or illegal fuel."

Young said, "At this stage, it looks like they may have picked up fuel from Venezuela."

He added, from documents available to him, the vessels were en route to Guyana when the incident happened.

"We have from the authorities in Guyana requests by the Solo Creed for pilots to come and assist them into Guyana during the period when it actually turned up on the shores of Tobago.

"We are pursuing all of the leads that we have. We have received as well assistance from the US. The Canadian government got involved and they are assisting."

He said all the evidence to date shows that neither the Solo Creed nor the Gulfstream were destined for TT.

Young added this evidence also ends all speculation of local ties to either vessel.

He said these vessels have no local ties, were not contracted by TT nationals and the fuel on the barge was not destined for TT.

Young told the media, "Every vessel basically has a tracking device and these (rogue) vessels turn them off."

He said no vessel is supposed to be legally at sea without its tracking device being switched on.

Young said further discussions need to be held with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) about what steps can be taken to police the activities of rogue vessel owners.

He added that the Works and Transport Ministry's Maritime Division has jurisdiction to do verification on vessels entering local waters legitimately.

While it has been determined that the Gulfstream was carrying a certain cargo of an oil-type substance, Young said there is no evidence of any other illegal items on board.

He said such evidence would have surfaced by now if this was the case.