By Andrew Spurrier in Paris Thursday 17 January 2008
THE Total oil group has stopped short of announcing an appeal against its
condemnation in the Erika trial for causing pollution, indicating only that it
intends to make use of the 10 days allowed it to come to a decision.
It claimed that there were "numerous grounds" for appeal against
yesterday's verdict from the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance but gave the
impression that it might forgo an appeal in an effort to appease French public
opinion.
The oil group is widely seen by the French public as the
principal instigator of the pollution disaster provoked by the break-up and
sinking of the tanker off the Brittany coast in December,
1999.
Apart from the €375,000 ($548,000) fine imposed on it by
the trial judge for pollution, Total has been ordered to share with
classification society Rina, Erika owner Giuseppe Savarese and technical manager
Antonio Pollara damages totalling €192m.
It said afterwards that
it was "disappointed" by the judgment, claiming that the court had accepted that
the direct cause of the sinking was outside its control.
Total said
it was pleased, however, with the acquittal of shipping manager Bertrand
Thouilin, the last employee facing charges, and with the acquittal of Total
itself on the charge of recklessly endangering human life.
It was
critical of the trial judge's finding that it had failed to exercise due caution
in its inspection and vetting of the 25-year-old tanker.
It found
it hard to understand how it could be found guilty for shortcomings in a
procedure which it had introduced voluntarily to improve its shipping safety
standards.
And it warned that the court's judgment could have an
adverse effect on shipping safety in going against the generally accepted
interpretation of international maritime law that charterers cannot be held
responsible for the structural state of vessels which carry their cargoes. "By
assigning liability to Total," the oil group said, "the court's verdict could
create confusion concerning the responsibilities of the players and have the
contradictory effect of making shipping less safe."
The French
shipowners' organisation Armateurs de France congratulated the court on its
condemnation of Messrs Savarese and Pollara and Rina but made no mention of
Total.
"The owner, his technical manager and the classification
society could not be ignorant of the ship's grave structural problem and that it
was not up to standard," it said. "In these conditions one can only rejoice at
their condemnation. It is exemplary for the improvement of our
profession."
The organisation expressed reservations, however,
about the compensation, and in particular the award for the first time in France
of damages for general environmental as opposed to specific property
damage.
Noting that compensation payments had already been made by
the International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund, it said that it was not
opposed to the payment of additional compensation for environmental
damage.
"But should this notion not be defined in its principle and
its modalities by the legislator (at international level) rather than by a
court?"
There were no such reservations on the part of
environmental organisations or the local authorities along the 400 km stretch of
the French Atlantic coast polluted by the Erika's heavy fuel oil
cargo.
They generally welcomed the court's verdict and, in
particular, the condemnation of Total.
The only reservations most
of them had were over the size of the damages award which fell a long way short
of the €500m-€1bn they had been hoping for.
"We hope this judgment
will become jurisprudence and snowball throughout the world," said Greenpeace
France.
"International law should be modified to take account of
environmental damage. Maritime law, too, should be reformed so that the present
system of encouragement of charterers to be irresponsible is rendered
impossible."
Another environmental defence organisation, Robin des
Bois, hailed the outcome as very positive.
"This judgment in first instance
renders fragile the strategy of dilution of responsibilities followed by the
different players in international maritime transport and should, if it is
definitive, encourage them to greater rigour in the choice and operation of
ships," it said.
But it took a negative view of the level of
damages awarded for environmental damage, which it estimated at €1.3m out of the
total €192m awarded.
It said that the negative effects of the
pollution on plant, bird and animal life, as well as on the marine food chain
and fish stocks, had been underestimated if not forgotten.
"The
sea has been sold off cheap," it claimed. "It is the sales season." It also
questioned the court president's affirmation that the effects of pollution from
the Erika had lasted two years. It said it had been established that, 20 years
after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, several species of birds, shellfish, fish and
mammals had still to recover their pre-casualty status.
As a
result, it said, its principal claim that the guilty parties should be ordered
to finance the biological monitoring of the effects of pollution from the Erika
until 2019 had not been taken into account.