Prestige sinking and compensation

[John Arton]

The tanker Prestige split in two off the coast of northern Spain, spilling around 63,000 tons of oil into the sea and devastating the coastline of northern Spain and France. This was after both Spain and France refused the vessel entry into a port of refuge when the captain initially asked for assistance. He was later jailed for his part in the tragedy and now both Spain and France are to be awarded billions of euros in compensation.
https://gcaptain.com/spains-supreme-...eid=3b737aa316
Rgds
J.A.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi John.
It is possible that the spillage might have been better contained if the ship had been given refuge in a port with facilities to contain it, such is life these days.
Cheers des

[John Arton]

A year after the Prestige disaster my ship was undergoing a OCIMF vetting inspection and the inspector was telling me that he had carried out an inspection on the Prestige at the load port where it loaded her last cargo and he told me it was in a terrible state and in his opinion was unseaworthy. I said , why did you not stop the ship, he said he had no power to do so. I said, why did he not report the vessel to the port state and they would have been able to detain it. His reply was, not my job.
Rgds
J.A.