An open letter to the owners, management and employees of Bibby Ship Management.
Dear Sir/Madam,
We all have a common concern about the safety of ships, their crew and cargo, whether they be in port or at sea.
This concern was significantly heightened in May 2013 when the Atlantic Cartier, a vessel managed by yourselves caught fire whilst in port at Hamburg, Germany whilst carrying 9 tons of radioactive uranium hexafluoride, 180 tons of flammable ethanol and 4 tons of an unnamed explosive. In the words of German Green Party M.P. Anjes Tjarks “Hamburg on barely scraped past a catastrophe”.
To ensure such an incident, or worse, does not happen again and to safeguard both your employees, port workers and the general public we demand that the following be implemented:
a. That ships carrying dangerous cargoes into any port should issue a public notice about the potential dangers which they might cause.
b. That the international transportation of uranium hexafluoride (UF-6) should cease from now on.
c. That any ship carrying radioactive materials should have regular fire inspections. Any ship which fails to pass such tests should be prevented from sailing. Both the ship owners and ships management should be held legally responsible for any breach of these regulations.
d. That any ship carrying radioactive materials should be subject to a new set of rigorous fire and safety standards regulations.
e. That the International shipping regulations be changed so that no radioactive materials can be transported on any ships which carry either explosives, or highly inflammable liquid gases.
f. That the International shipping regulations be changed so that no radioactive materials can be transported on any ships which carry either explosives, or highly inflammable liquid gases.
With this in mind we would like to hold a meeting with representatives of your company as a first step towards implementing a new set of industry wide standards regarding the transportation of all radioactive materials.
We look forward to hearing from you in the near future,
Yours sincerely,
Merseyside Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament