EU Blacklists 66 Vessels

The European Union on Tuesday blacklisted 66 ships that it deemed unsafe and proposed a fast-track ban on transporting heavy fuel oil in single-hull tankers like the ship that broke apart at sea two weeks ago, devastating Spain’s Galician coast.

The EU’s European Commission in Brussels said the need to prohibit single-hulled tankers like the Prestige from ferrying toxic heavy fuel oil is so urgent that it should bypass the normal bureaucracy and be taken up by heads of state at a summit in Copenhagen next week.

As part of the new get-tough stance on aging tankers by some European governments, France sent a warship to force a 24-year-old oil tanker away from its coast Tuesday.

A Spanish frigate was also reported to be on watch to make sure the Enalios-Titan, a single-hull tanker loaded with fuel oil, did not enter Spanish waters.

Two weeks after the Prestige broke in two and plunged to the bottom of the Atlantic, Spain is still mopping up thousands of tons of fuel oil.

Already, 179 beaches have been coated with sludge, and unknown numbers of fish, seabirds and dolphins have died. More than 4,000 fishermen have been put out of work under a fishing ban covering more than 300 miles of coastline.

In Madrid, Deputy Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Mans Jacobsson, head of the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds, agreed to compensate those affected by the spill.

Portugal fears that fuel oil from the Prestige could hit its coastline as early as today. Henrique Freitas, secretary of state for defense, told a Portuguese television station that several small slicks from the tanker were 16 miles from Portugal’s northern coast.

A small slick has been reported headed toward France.

Desperate fishermen in Spain took to their boats Tuesday, using makeshift tools and gloved hands to scoop toxic fuel oil from the sea.

Their efforts came as a fleet of eight clean-up vessels went to work sucking up oil. The specialized ships have collected 7,000 tons of the 17,000 estimated to have escaped from the tanker.

On land, volunteers and hired teams had scraped 2,700 tons of residue off beaches, officials said.

On Tuesday, a slick floated just seven miles from the entrance to an estuary that contains mussel and oyster beds.

The first pictures taken by a French mini-submarine sent to the Prestige found no sign that the tanker was still leaking oil. Officials hope the bulk of the cargo has solidified.