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by Talia Jayasekera

The Case of the Runaway Ship. Sounds like an Agatha Christie novel? Actually, the explanation is quite simple! On February 16, the Italian registered ship L.T Grand docked at the Colombo Port citing an emergency. A mysterious `fire' had allegedly broken out aboard the ship but investigations later showed that crew members on seeing a smoky substance escaping from one of the containers, panicked thinking it was a fire.

Now this is where the story begins to get very suspicious if not surreal. A real-life mystery unfolded itself before the eyes of the Sri Lanka Port Authorities (SLPA) and concerned environmentalists. If there is a ship out at sea and it is facing any emergencies, wherever possible and at all times, the commercial port closest to that ship's location has a responsibility and duty to help out.

This is a common practice in the international shipping field. The L.T Grand was given permission to enter the harbour and dock while the Port's Fire Brigade investigated the ship. But no trace of a fire could be found! The Brigade then allegedly warned the SLPA to disallow the ship from off-loading its cargo until the Government Analyst could verify the contents of the containers. Nonetheless, the authorities chose to disregard the warning and allow it pending verification.

Foolhardy

A foolhardy action that perhaps caused more of an uproar than was expected by the authorities.

Information began weaving its way to the Environmental Foundation Limited (EFL) that people were allegedly falling sick in and around Sedawatte in the Nawalokapura area due to a `poisonous gas' leaking from the containers. A total of 278 were off-loaded at the Jaya Terminal of which 156 lay at the Sedawatte Container Yard and 94 in the Colombo Port itself.

An expert, asked to investigate the contents, alleged that the material was actually pesticides that had decomposed and its resulting residue was emitting the foul gas. The decomposing products were sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides and hydrochloric acid, all highly injurious to humans.

While the investigations into the contents continued, the L.T Grand sailed off into the sunset with its balance 184 containers, leaving environmentalists to wonder as to why the authorities allowed it to do so. The ship had originally been enroute from China to the Middle East when this quandary occurred. Sources, however, claim that the ship was allowed to leave after the ship's agents and owners entered into a bond with the authorities to pay all related costs.

Action

The EFL filed action against the Port's authorities at the Magistrates Courts under section 98(1) Chapter IX of the Penal Code 15 of 1979. The Port authorities were ordered to take immediate action to dispose of these controversial containers by the Colombo Additional Magistrate Ananda Sarath Gamlath Arachchi. Owing to the fact that the gases emitted could possibly endanger human life and the environment, the authorities were told to fumigate the 90 containers and dispose of the remaining 154 immediately.

But this still leaves many questions unanswered. Why did the Port Authorities allow the containers to be off-loaded even when warned by the Brigade? Why were the contents not checked more speedily if suspicions were already raised? More importantly, why was the L.T Grand allowed to sail off minus its dubious consignment and not held responsible for its actions?

"This is not the first time such a thing has happened", says EFL Project Officer Banduranga Kariyawasam. "Once before, some chemical waste was buried in the Mulleriyawa area and people started falling sick. So certain authorities ordered the substances to be buried even further".

"I went to the Sedawatte Yard this morning and the stench was awful. It was so bad that my eyes were stinging after being there such a short while. Adults and children are suffering from bouts of diarrhoea and vomiting as well as terrible headaches", he said.

"What I cannot understand is why no action was taken sooner to check the contents and dispose of it. Instead it was transported from one place to another and endangering so many lives in the process. That is why we filed action against them".

Kariyawasam also alleges that some of these containers were thrown into the sea and this could seriously jeopardize marine life but he also states that the EFL does not have any tangible proof at present to support this allegation.

However, a statement released by the SLPA criticized the media's portrayal of the actual situation, saying it served as a way of spreading false rumours and confusion with the public. The authorities released this statement to set the record straight and dispel any doubts regarding the contents of the container in particular.

It stated that when the L.T Grand was in Sri Lankan waters, the crew detected a fire in one of the hatches and used fire extinguishing chemicals to douse it. This information was given to the SLPA through an on-board spokesman. The ship needed to dock to assess the damage to the hatches and other containers. The SLPA was obliged to give the green light according to international shipping practices. The ship was brought into Harbour on 14 February but not docked as an insurance representative from P&I assessed the damage.

Before permission was given to dock the ship, the SLPA Harbour Master ordered the Fire Brigade to examine the ship on 15 February.

The Brigade reported that many of the containers on-board were discoloured and the presence of a strong odour but no fire. GreenLanka then asked for permission to dock the ship on 16 February and off-load the containers in question. Hatch No: 29 - 35, which contained 278 containers, were off-loaded for examination and the cleaning of the hatches.

The root cause of the fire was believed to be from container TTNU 4553424 which carried 88 barrels of Oxime Carbamate (pesticides). The owners of the ship sent a report endorsing this fact. According to the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Law, oxime carbamate does not come under the category of banned substances. To further confirm this, the SLPA made enquiries with the Singaporean Port Authorities which said it was used for agricultural purposes.

Authorities

The authorities said there was truth to the odours which was probably a chemical reaction to the fire extinguishing materials used. As a result the odour affected the other containers as well. GreenLanka summoned a British expert, from a Singapore based company, to examine the contents of the container in question on 24 February in the presence of the SLPA, CEA and P&I authorities. They found 88 discoloured and empty barrels originally carrying Oxime Carbamate, which they deduced had vaporized. The British expert gave written confirmation of this fact. The Evergreen Marine Corporation certified that the re-shipping of these containers would take place immediately.

The SLPA maintains that it, at all times, followed all Safety Regulation procedures to ensure the safety of the environment and the public.

"Only one container actually remains in the Colombo Port", says SLPA Harbour Master Nihal Keppitipola speaking with the Daily News. "It is this container that contained the substance `Oxime Carbamate' otherwise known as pesticides and not the rest of the containers. People are just making an unnecessary fuss without getting the actual details".

"I have no jurisdiction outside the Colombo Port, so the transferring of containers to the Sedawatte Yard was the responsibility of the ship's local agents, the Evergreen Marine Corporation".

Evergreen

The Evergreen Marine Corporation is the third largest Marine shipping company in the world and has had contacts with Sri Lanka since the 1980s. In 2002 alone the Corporation, through its local agents GreenLanka Shipping, handled 102,466 containers through the Port. Further it signed a terminal service agreement with the SLPA.

"The Captain of the L.T Grand believed there was a fire in the hatch and came into Port. The reason the containers were off-loaded originally was because the ship's hatches needed to be inspected and washed down before they set sail again. The most probable scenario was that the pesticides, present in the container, had gotten heated, releasing smoke, which through the dry pocket vents in the container would have gotten into other containers", he said.

"The intention all along was to re-ship the containers on another ship once things were cleared up. It was not meant to go this far. The `smoke' that people are seeing coming out of the remaining containers, at the Sedawatte Yard, is actually the smoke that escaped from this one container. These containers do not contain any pesticides, nuclear or toxic waste as claimed by others. In fact they contain very general items like televisions, leather goods and garments that the ship was transporting".

"Basically what should have been done at that time was to transfer the containers to a yard further off so that it would affect the people living in that area. Instead it was transferred to Sedawatte, which was no decision of mine", said Keppitipola.

Case solved? Hardly! Contradicting opinions and the shirking of blame seems to plague this problem.

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