TRAFIGURA AND THE PROBO KOALA-ABIJAN, IVORY COAST

GLOBAL AND CHEMICAL ISSUES ASSIGNMENT (CHM 837) TRAFIGURA AND THE PROBO KOALA- Abidjan, Ivory Coast (2006) In 2006 Trafigura time chartered the Probo Koala, a tanker for transportation of oil products. Trafigura desired to strip the sulphurous products out of the Coker gasoline to produce naphtha, which could then be sold. Instead of paying a refinery to do this job, Trafigura used an obsolete process on board the ship called ‘caustic washing’, in which the Coker was treated with caustic soda. The process worked, and the resulting naphtha was resold for a reported profit of $19 million. The waste resulting from the caustic washing would typically include hazardous substances such as sodium hydroxide, sodium sulphide and phenols. On 19 August 2006, after balking at 1000 pounds per cubic metre disposal charge in Amsterdam, and being turned away by several countries, the Probo Koala offloaded more than 500 tons of toxic waste at the port of Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire. This material was then spread, allegedly by subcontractors, across the city and surrounding areas, dumped in waste grounds, public dumps, and along roads in populated areas. The substance gave off toxic gas and resulted in burns to lungs and skins, as well as severe headaches and vomiting. Seventeen people were confirmed to have died, and at least 30,000 were injured. The company has claimed that the waste was dirty water ‘slops’ used for cleaning the ship’s gasoline tanks, but a Dutch government report, as well as Ivorian investigation, dispute this, finding that it was toxic waste. During an ongoing civil lawsuit by over 30,000 Ivoirians citizens against Trafigura, a Dutch government report concluded that in fact the liquid dumped contained two ‘British tonnes’ of hydrogen sulphide. Trafigura, following an investigative report by the BBC’s News night program, announced on 16 May, 2009 that they will sue the BBC for libel. The scope of the dumping and the related illnesses were slow to emerge. While the first cargo was offloaded in August 2006, the dumping continued for almost three weeks before the population knew what was happening. But as early as 19 August, residents near the landfill at Akouedo were aware that trucks were dumping toxic liquid into the landfill and blocked the entrance of one of the trucks to dump, which had been freshly painted with the logo of a newly created company. Residents near several landfills in the suburbs of Abidjan began complaining publicly of foul smelling gas in the first week of September, and several people were reported to have died. Protests broke out in several areas against both the company dumping and the government. In the aftermath of the crisis, many top government figures resigned. This mass resignation has been called ‘unprecedented’ in Cote D’Ivoire’s history. In an effort to prevent the contamination of the food chain, large numbers of livestock (among them 450 pigs) affected by the dump were culled. Trafigura’s description of events On 19 August, the tanker ship Probo Koala, chartered by the company Trafigura and docked at the port of Abidjan, transferred a liquid into tankers owned by a firmed called ‘Compagnie Tommy.’ The company claims the ship had been chartered by Trafigura to transport oil to another West African port, and was returning to Europe, empty. The transfer at Abidjan, according to the company, was a routine maintenance stop, not a delivery of waste from Europe ports. Trafigura claims that this was done under agreement that it would be treated and disposed of legally, and that the substance was waste ‘slops’ from the routine washing of Probo Koala’s tanks. Again according to Trafigura, it became apparent that the untreated slops had been dumped illegally at municipal refuse dumps. They contend that the slops were an alkaline mix of water, gasoline, and caustic soda, along with a very small amount of foul-smelling and toxic hydrogen sulphide. Further, the company says that their test show that, while noxious, the slop from their ship could not have caused deaths, no matter how poorly it was handled by a third party. The company contends that the people of Abidjan, especially those living near dumps, suffered from a lifetime of exposure to toxic substances, not from their actions. Deaths and illnesses In the weeks following the incident the BBC reported that 17 people died, 23 were hospitalized, and a further 40, 000 sought medical treatment due to headaches, nosebleeds, and stomach pains. These numbers were revised upward over time, with the numbers reported by the Ivorian government in 2008 reaching 17 dead, dozens severely ill, 30, 000 receiving medical treatment for ailments connected to the chemical exposure, of almost 100, 000 seeking medical treatment at the time. While the company and Ivorian government continue to disagree on the exact make up of the chemicals, specialists from the United Nations, France, and the Dutch National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) were sent to Abidjan to investigate the situation. Fall of government Following revelations by local press and government on the extent of the illnesses involved, the nine month old transitional government of Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny resigned. The government vowed to provide treatment and pay all medical costs associated with the waste dump. Lawsuit by victims On 11 November 2006, 100 million pounds lawsuit was filed in the High Court in London by the UK firm Leigh Day alleging that Trafigura were negligent and that this, and the nuisance resulting from their actions, caused the injuries to the local citizens. Martin Day, of Leigh Day said, ‘This has been a disaster on a monumental scale. We hold Trafigura fully to account for all the dumping of their waste.’ In response, Trafigura announced on Monday 13 November 2006 that it had started libel proceedings against British lawyer Martin Day, of Leigh day. Shortly after it became apparent that the toxic slops from the Probo Koala had led to the outbreak of sickness, two Trafigura executives, Claude Dauphin and Jean-Pierre Valentini, travelled to Abidjan. They were arrested on 18 September, four days after their arrival, and were held in Abidjan’s Maca prison, charged with breaking Cote D’ Ivoire’s laws against poisoning. Seven Ivoirians were eventually brought to trial in Abidjan for their part in the dumping. The head of the Ivorian contractor who dumped more than 500 tonnes of toxic liquid was sentenced to 20 years in prison in November 2008. Company payment On 13 February 2007, Trafigura agreed to pay the Ivorian government 100 million pounds for the clean-up to the waste; however the group denied any liability for the dumping, and as a part of the deal the government would not pursue further action against the group. The Trafigura employees Claude Dauphin, Jean-Pierre Valentini and Nzi Kablan, held by the Cote D’ Ivoire authorities after the incident, were then released and charges were dropped against them. Further prosecutions against Ivorian citizens not employed by Trafigura continued. In January 2010, The Guardian reported that solicitors Leigh Day, working for the victims of toxic poisoning, had been ordered by a Cote D’ Ivoire court to transfer victim’s compensation to a ‘shadowy local organisation’, using the account of Claude Gouhourou, a community representative. Daniel Pearl Award On April 2010, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists presented the Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding International Investigative Reporting to the team of journalists who had revealed the story of Trafigura and the Cote D’ Ivoire toxic waste dump. The award went to the British journalists Meiron Jones and Liz MacKean from BBC News night and David Leigh from The Guardian, Synnove Bakke and Kjersti Knudsson from Norwegian TV, and Jeroen Trommelen from the Dutch paper De Volksrant. The citation says the award was for reports ‘which exposed how a powerful offshore oil trader tried to cover up the poisoning of 30, 000 West Africans’. Trafigura is frequently asked: what has it done to ensure that an incident like this doesn’t happen again? While Trafigura strenuously maintain that it did nothing wrong and its staff acted in an appropriate manner throughout, using industry standard practices, the Probo Koala incident has undoubtedly been a catalyst for substantive and ongoing reviews of the company’s operations. At the present day Trafigura goes beyond what others typically conduct by way of due diligence on contractors and suppliers. The company has also developed standards that exceed the legal requirements for the design, operation and maintenance of vessels, terminals and facilities in the oil industry.