Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Rt. Hon. Andrea Leadsom
November 29th
Dear Mrs. Leadsom,
During the last few months we have seen accusations in the Danish press stating
that the Danish shipping company Maersk has violated the Basel Convention and
the Regulation on shipments of waste, by selling a vessel that ended up in
Bangladesh for scrapping. Upon further investigation it appears that the case in
question also involves British authorities, which is why I address myself to you.
It has been established that Maersk sold the "North Sea Producer" - a so-called
FPSO (Floating, Production Storage and Off-loading) - in April 2016 and that the
vessel, a couple of months after its sale, ended up on a beach in Bangladesh. It has
also been established that the sales agreement was entered while the “North Sea
Producer” was docked in a British port
From the information available to us, it is our preliminary conclusion, that Maersk
most likely did not violate the Regulation on shipments of waste. The buyer,
however, may have acted in violation of the Regulation if the decision to scrap the
FPSO was taken while the vessel was still in a British port.
According to a Danish newspaper, the vessel was inspected in Middlesbrough on
April 28 2016 by a British Port State Control officer, Mr. Chris Bates. At that time,
the name of the vessel had changed to "Producer". Likewise, according to the
press, the tugboat ’Terasea Hawk’ was used to tug "Producer" out of port on 17
May 2016.
I would greatly appreciate any further information that your administration may
be able to provide on this case, in particular in regard to the assessment of possible
violations of the Regulation.
Yours sincerely,
Esben Lunde Larsen
Ministry of the Environment and Food • Slotsholmsgade 12 • 1216 Copenhagen K Denmark
Phone +45 38 14 21 42 • Fax +45 33 14 50 42 • CVR 12854358 • EAN 5798000862005 • [email protected] •
www.mfvm.dk