Seven years after its shipwreck, the tanker Erika arrives tomorrow at a court in Paris for a rather long voyage: a trial that will last around four months in what is France’s first ever environmental trial.
It could also end up being one of the costliest: there are no less than 70 civil parties, around a hundred lawyers, 14 interpreters and 15 people or companies being charged with sea pollution and with having risked the lives of others.
One could also call it the trial of Total, the oil company.
The trial will also see the involvement of a couple of the principal actors in the French presidential campaign – Philippe de Villiers is appearing on behalf of the Vendee employees, and Segolene Royal on behalf of the region of Poitou-Charantes.
19,000 tons of oil, 150,000 birds
Like the Titanic, Erika shifted to a vertical position in its last minutes and the last part to go down was the rear of the ship. On 13 December 1999, the ship flying the Maltese flag and carrying 31,000 tons of crude oil, which had left Dunkirk on its way to Livorno in Italy, succumbed to Force 8 winds and six metre waves.
Two days earlier, on 11 December at 2.08pm, its Indian captain, Karun Mathur, launched an SOS. Half an hour later, he withdrew the alarm and said he was on top of everything. He even refused the help of a British naval vessel.
During the night, the storm got worse and oil began to leak from the ship. On 12 December, at 6am, the captain launched a new SOS. But it was too late.
The ship broke up and part of the crew climbed into the only safety boat while the others were saved by helicopters.
A tug boat, the Abeille Flandre, tried to pull the ship out to sea so as to avoid polluting the coast, but the ship disappeared among the waves 30 miles south of the tip of Penmarc’h (Finistère).
Between 15 and 17 December no operation to pump out the oil could be done for the sea was still too stormy. On Christmas Day, the first beach, that of Belle-Ile began to be polluted, followed by the south of Brittany and by 31 December the île de Ré. On 30 December, TotalFina finally accepted to unlock funds amounting to 40 million francs to pay for the pumping out of the oil.
The rest was catastrophe: 19,000 tons of oil poured out from the ship, 400 kilometres of beach were soiled, 150,000 birds died, 250,000 tons of soiled sand picked up.
There was a veritable Tower of Babel of people being accused: an Italian proprietor, a French leaser, a Maltese ship registry, Indian and Filipino crew members.
After 1975, the ship had eight changes of owner and three ship registers (Panama, Liberia, Malta).
In December 2000, the BEA (Bureau enquête accidents) released one of the many inquiry reports: Erika was in a lamentable state and the shipwreck was due to its very weak structure. Shell had classified Erika as unsuitable to carry oil but Total accepted it.
The trial will try to discover the chain of responsibilities. Although the subject of an international arrest warrant, Captain Karun Mathur lives in India and will not be present at the trial. Giuseppe Savarese, the indebted owner of the ship, had hived off the management of the ship to a series of opaque companies. Rina, the classification company, had not identified the ship’s faults when it certified it. Three French naval officers are also being charged with not having grasped the seriousness of the captain’s SOS.
And lastly, Total, the leaser, the owner of the oil, towards whom all eyes will turn. Maître William Bourdon, who appears on behalf of Friends of the Earth will argue that a condemnation of the owner of the oil will signify a juridical advance but Daniel Soulez-Larivière, one of Total’s lawyers will argue that a leaser cannot be held responsible for what happens during the voyage.
The victims of the environmental tragedy are demanding more than e1,000 million in damages. Everyone remembers that Total’s profit for 2005 amounted to e12,000 million. And the 2006 figures are reported to be even better.