Tag: Greenpeace

Shell is the first major international oil company to make drilling in the region Greenpeace Nordic activists intercepted at open sea and boarded a Shell-contracted icebreaker, the Nordica, to continue its protest against the oil major's destructive plans to start drilling in the pristine Arctic region. At about 04:20 six activists from five different countries boarded the Nordica in Swedish waters south of Öland, scaled the ship and have locked themselves down throughout the ship. They are demanding that Shell abandons its controversial plans to drill in the fragile Arctic."Shell's reckless plans to start drilling for oil in the Arctic pose an unacceptable threat to a unique place on earth," said Greenpeace Nordic Arctic campaigner eco-toxicologist Therese Jacobson. "We are standing at a crossroads. A choice needs to be made to protect the Arctic or allow Shell and other oil greedy companies to destroy this precious region. The choice is clear, we must save the Arctic."Today's interception follows a similar action earlier this week when 20 Greenpeace Nordic activists boarded the Nordica in Helsinki, Finland, as it prepared to leave to join Shell's fleet of vessels in Alaska this summer. As the first team of activists was being arrested, 22 ...

Activists stop a ship from loading pig iron.

Protesting its involvement in oil and gas exploration in the Arctic Seven Greenpeace members have boarded an oil drilling ship at Port Taranaki to protest its involvement in oil and gas exploration in the Arctic.The protesters boarded the Noble Discoverer at 7am and climbed to the drilling tower to stop it sailing.The ship has been contracted by Shell Oil to drill three exploratory wells in the Chukchi Peninsula off the coast of Alaska.Police say after meeting with the ship's owner and the port they have agreed to leave the protesters where they are on Friday night.Police say even though they have the skills and equipment to remove the protesters, they are not yet prepared to jeopardise anyone's safety by using force, and will monitor the situation.Greenpeace says the protesters, which include actress Lucy Lawless, are well equipped with sleeping bags and food and will stay on board for as long as they can.Earlier, police said one person had been arrested.Shell Oil says actions such as this jeopardise the safety of everyone involved, and while it respects the right of the protesters to express their point of view, the priority should be safety.The company says it has taken steps to pursue ...

The captain's perspective

International Salvage Union to start a campaign alerting the IMO, governments and Greenpeace The International Salvage Union's (ISU) is to start a campaign aimed at alerting the IMO, governments and Greenpeace, among others about future salvage issues.New ISU president Andreas Tsavliris also called for higher awards to compensate salvage companies investing in new equipment, crew etc. "We want to raise our profile with stakeholders," he said.In addition, the ISU is to hold meetings next year with IUMI and P&I Clubs on the question of environmental salvage. Tsavliris said that the ISU wanted changes made to the Salvage Convention.One of the major concerns among salvors is the possible criminalisation when dealing with a particular incident in an area where salvors can become criminalised through no fault of their own in cases where environmental pollution occurs.Source: Tanker Operator

Rainbow Warrior III Greenpeace, the environmental campaign group, launched a new ship that it hopes will play a big role in its future campaigns.The Rainbow Warrior III carries the name of another vessel that was bombed and sunk by the French secret service in 1985 after it attempted to disrupt France's nuclear-testing in the South Pacific.Built to rigorous specifications for safety and environmental friendliness, the new vessel is almost 60m long, can hit 14 knots using sailpower, makes its own water, and can stay at sea for months.

One of the world's most environmentally friendly ships One of the world's most environmentally friendly ships arrived in London. Sailing up the Thames, Rainbow Warrior III has moored at West India Dock after her maiden voyage from Amsterdam.The 838-tonne, 60-metre ship with a sail capacity of over 1,200 sq meters, is the most technically advanced boat in its class and is the most environmentally efficient ship for her size. Hanna Gersmann went to meet some of the crew

WWF, Greenpeace and the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition join forces Conservationists called Tuesday for the world's biggest marine protection zone to be declared around Antarctica, heralding the possibility of a global fight over its pristine waters.As fishing stocks around the world become increasingly depleted, the Antarctic Ocean Alliance is urging the international convention tasked with managing the southern seas to establish a vast no-take network."The problem at the moment is that as fisheries resources around the world come under more and more pressure, there are going to be more distant water-fishing nations who want to go to the oceans around Antarctica to extract protein," the alliance's Steve Campbell told AFP on Tuesday."And they are going to do it either legally or illegally."While the land continent has been under protection since 1991, Campbell said there is no such rule in place for the pristine waters around it, which are teeming with marine life -- much of which is seen nowhere else on the planet.The 25-nation Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources is set to decide on a network of marine reserves by 2012.Campbell said the alliance was calling for the creation of a reserve network "on a ...

They held a legal protest outside Port Taranak

Greenpeace calls for halt to governments deep sea oil program Yesterday morning Greenpeace activists held a legal protest outside Port Taranaki against a ship that is due to depart imminently to start exploring for deep sea oil - the new frontier of oil development off New Zealand's shores.There was a heavy police presence at the port overnight and this morning - to protect the controversial ship, Polarcus Alima, which arrived in Taranaki this morning. It is due to leave shortly to start exploring for oil off Raglan at depths of up to 1600 metres, on behalf of US oil giant Anadarko.If the ship's survey is successful then the drilling of wildcat oil wells off Raglan could begin as early as next year. Anadarko were part owners of the 1500 metre deep well the Deepwater Horizon was drawing oil from, which leaked 780 million litres of oil into the Gulf of Mexico last year over a three month period. A major reason it took so long to control the leak was the extreme depths the oil companies were operating in.The ship will later go on to prospect in deep water areas off Stewart Island, in a permit area due to be ...