EU seeks to ban 66 alleged dangerous merchant vessels

The European Commission has published a blacklist of 66 allegedly dangerous merchant vessels, which it proposes should be banned from European waters, following the sinking of the Prestige off Spain.

Of the 66 ships on the list, 26 sail under a Turkish flag, 12 under the flag of the Caribbean nation of St Vincent and Grenadines, and nine under the Cambodian flag.

The Commission has also recommended the banning of single-hull tankers, like the Prestige, from transporting heavy fuel oil.

The Prestige disaster would never have happened if EU members had agreed to proposals by Brussels after the last major such incident, involving the sinking of the Erika tanker off the coast of Britanny in 1999, the Commission said.

Referring to the proposals, Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio said "...at the time these were urgent, and needed to be adopted immediately," She added: "... unfortunately this has been borne out by recent events,".

Ships on the blacklist will be banned from entering all EU ports if member states agree to the move.