International

SP Member of Parliament Krista van Velzen is insisting that a sound plan for decontamination must be agreed before the poison ship Otapan is allowed into a Dutch port. Following the lead of the party’s group on Amsterdam’s city council, SP councillors in Vlissingen (Flushing) and Rotterdam have called on local decision-makers to deny access to the ship until such a plan is in place.

Christian Democrat Secretary of State Pieter van Geel has written to parliament saying that the ship will be admitted to a Dutch port before any consideration is given to what will be done with the asbestos and other dangerous substances on board.

The ship was moored for seven years in Amsterdam. The capital’s SP councilors are demanding that the city adopt an uncompromising stance and have received assurances from the “wethouder” (the local ‘minister’ responsible) that “Amsterdam can and will refuse to admit the ship” unless a proper contract has been agreed with a firm in the port, in which case, however, “the ship cannot be turned away.”

SP councillors in Vlissingen (Flushing) and Rotterdam have called on local authorities to deny access to their ports until a clean-up plan is established, while in the Provincial Council of Groningen the party’s group is considering taking the same action in relation to the port of Delfzijl.

SP environment spokeswoman Krista Van Velzen wants to see a swift inventory of the ship’s contents drawn up and a plan of action established. “A clean-up plan can in the meantime must be drawn up on the basis of the data already gathered from the owners by environment ministry inspectors at the end of August. If this turns out to be incomplete then the Environment Secretary must as a matter of urgency have experts on asbestos flown by helicopter to the ship, which will take some time to reach here.”