Matterhorn’s trial, a liberian ship stopped last May in the descending shipping lane of Ushant for a voluntary pollution at sea, ended up 6th of Januray in Brest, France. Surfrider who filed a law suit in a criminal proceeding was present at the very opening of the debates this Wednesday.
The French General district attorney thus required a 1-million euros fine against the Greek charterer, Eastwind Transport Ellas company, and the captain taken to court for voluntary hydrocarbon rejection.
Unsurprisingly, none of them attend the hearing. The joint-venture owning the Greek company assumed to be in bankruptcy and the charterer never gave news to the lawyer appointed by the court. The charterer never paid the 300 000 euros guarantee decided by the prosecution after Matterhorn’s rerouting to Brest’s harbor last 25th of May and left the cargo and its crew by themselves.
Five months later, the ship’s seizure allowed to treat the unpaid salaries and to repatriate sailors to their country. The Matterhorn had been caught on May, the 25th in the morning by a customs plane polluting by hydrocarbons of 22 km of length and 200 meter of width in its wake, which is the equivalent of a 45-minutes rejection. The captain eventually obeyed the rerouting order 26 hours after first customs contact.
Court decision will be given next March, the 2nd.
