After the first part of its investigation, the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT) concludes that there is no evidence for the sea discharges of, for example, coal and iron ore by Tata Steel. The drone images that would show this, among other things, do not show that the remains are swept into the water, according to ILT.
The collected reports of violations in 2017 to 2021 are also no reason to think that Tata Steel is carrying out large-scale dumping of waste into the sea, it says. ‘research report cargo residues’† A lot of information is available: no less than five supervisory authorities submitted their Tata file from recent years.
Vivianne Heijnen (State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management) launched an investigation after the Noordhollands Dagblad (NHD) reported to Tata Steel on the basis of its own research with drone images and anonymous sources that ‘thousands of kilos of coal and iron ore end up in the North Sea’†
That is illegal, because the North Sea is a protected area. Around the same time, the ILT noted a ship with a contaminated deck on the quay of the IJmuiden steel company.
For the first part of the investigation, ILT listed all inspections and violations known to the five authorities and studied the drone images from the NHD. And the conclusion based on that information is: Tata is not guilty.
A spokesperson for ILT explains that the drone images of the medium are missing one crucial element: the discharge into water. “The NHD wanted to share the images with us. Then we investigated where exactly was filmed and what exactly can be seen. If it turns out that there is an illegal discharge, we can follow up.”
But the images were not complete. The spokesperson: “It can be seen that substances are swept to the side of the deck, but it cannot be seen that those substances are discharged into the water at the harbor. The images that the substances enter the water are not there.”
And so it cannot be ruled out that the fabrics have been swept to the side, so that they can be processed properly. “And that also aligns with the other findings of the regulators.”
Numerous inspections
And there is plenty of data: in five years ILT carried out 124 inspections into compliance with the discharge rules. Rijkswaterstaat carried out 180 specific checks and 135 general, of which shiploads can be a part. The Environment Agency specifically inspected ship loadings 71 times. The coastguard also carried out 1,500 to 2,000 inspections annually, in which discharge control is one of the components.
In addition to a few violations of other types of rules, Rijkswaterstaat once encountered a boat with boatmen employed by Tata Steel in October 2021 with a lot of coal on deck. They were working for the company. An investigation into that incident is still ongoing. ILT was never able to catch Tata committing such a violation.
Undesirable development
The ILT also notes an undesirable development in the report: both the coastguard and The Port of Amsterdam are increasingly seeing a Tata Steel ship with a dirty deck. The coastguard reported this once in 2017, compared to five times in 2021. The Port of Amsterdam saw the number of non-clean decks increase from five to six in the past three years and ten last year.
Unfavorable, says the spokesman for the ILT: “We cannot force them to sail out with a clean deck, but it increases the chance that substances will be blown into the sea, or spilled over.”
Captains are requested to clean their decks before sailing. In addition, the ILT “temporarily intensified the preventive surveillance of departing ships at Tata Steel, with the use of drones, from March 2022,” according to the report. It now happens twice a week.
Part two next year
The investigation also has limitations: for example, the NHD’s allegation that captains took black money from Tata to discharge was not explored in this report. And although the number of checks is very high, the ILT spokeswoman acknowledges: “You can never monitor everything.”
The good news is piling up for the steel company today as the company dared to say ‘with confidence’ this morning that the company fifty percent reduction in carcinogenic PAH emissions has achieved compared to 2019.
The second part of this ‘cargo residues investigation report’ is scheduled for early 2023 and will examine how well the stricter supervision of seagoing vessels at Tata Steel is up to the end of this year.
Tata Steel: “Findings crystal clear, happy with clarification”
Tata Steel says in a response that ‘the findings of the ILT are clear and ready’ and ‘to be happy with the clarification.’
Spokesperson Peter van Boesschoten: “The law and our company guidelines are clear: our port and North Sea may not be polluted by the illegal discharge of cargo residues of coal or iron ore. Strong allegations have been made and we are pleased with the clarity and the results of the In total, the various supervisors (ILT, Rijkswaterstaat, North Sea Canal Area Environment Agency, Coast Guard and Port of Amsterdam) have carried out 560 inspections on our ships at the quay in the past five years. That equates to an average of two inspections per week.”
“The ILT has not detected any illegal discharges. In the same period, the Coast Guard has detected contaminated decks on ships originating from Tata Steel eight times. Once a warning was given for the deck to be cleaned. In the other cases, the Coast Guard has radio contacted the relevant captain and requested that the deck be cleaned. At a later date, the Coast Guard determined that the deck had been cleaned,” said the spokesman.