# Containership 'Toscana' caught allegedly dumping 16ft containers into sea off Elba



## shamrock (May 16, 2009)

> A ship registered in Malta was caught out dumping something at sea in the middle of an international sea sanctuary.
> 
> The ship was the containership Toscana and it was noticed first on 9 July some 10 miles north of the Marciana Marina harbour on the island of Elba by the crew of the German ship MS Thales. The area is an international sea sanctuary for whales under the jurisdiction of France, Italy and Monaco. The German ship is allied to the international organisation GreenOcean and the Italian Legambiente monitoring the extent of plastic found in the sea. The photos taken from the German ship show that the cranes on board the Toscana were working in open sea.
> 
> ...


http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=91450


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## Old Janner (Mar 11, 2009)

Interesting, any more news on this ship ? any photos produced by the German Ship ?


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## shamrock (May 16, 2009)

A shiplog entry from the Thales...

https://www.xing.com/app/forum?op=showarticles;id=22759442;articleid=22759442



> At the 05th day of July 2009, the MS Thales was in navigation from her homeport of Marina di Pisa to the island of Elba. At 2100 hrs we observed the containership “Toscana”, homeport Valetta, at position 43° 07,893’N, 10° 15,026’E (position was taken with aid of GPS and onboard radar system). The vessel “Toscana” was hove to and not making way. There was no sign of a wash at her stern. There were no signals for anchoring or being disabled.
> 
> At closer observation with the aid of binoculars (8x40) we discovered the crew of the vessel operating the onboard cranes, throwing several objects over the starboard side. The objects appear to be 16ft container. At the time of the observation we were at a distance of 1NM, at the port side of the “Toscana”.
> 
> ...


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## shamrock (May 16, 2009)

According to scheepvaartnieuws.punt.nl/?a=2006-08 this is the Toscana, registered in Valletta...

If this did happen as alleged, how much trouble could the owner and crew of Toscana be in for not just dumping a container but apparently threatening behaviour towards the Thales too?


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## Old Janner (Mar 11, 2009)

If the containers were light and in reasonable condition, good door seals, they would float, no mention from the German ships seeing floating containers.
If they were filled with waste, or heaven forbid Toxic wastes, they would sink but the evidence will be on the sea bed, but obtainable. I am sure the German ship would have logged the position. Also no response from the French or Italian Marine authorities.


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## shamrock (May 16, 2009)

Old Janner said:


> If the containers were light and in reasonable condition, good door seals, they would float, no mention from the German ships seeing floating containers.
> If they were filled with waste, or heaven forbid Toxic wastes, they would sink but the evidence will be on the sea bed, but obtainable. I am sure the German ship would have logged the position. Also no response from the French or Italian Marine authorities.


The Thales log posting does give the Toscana's position within their report to what appears to be the authorities, so hopefully the claim will be looked into.

To do something so blatant is quite incredible, to me anyway, if true...if the stuff that went over the side was toxic, it just beggars belief that a crew would do something like that, they would have been told to do it, surely, by the ship owner? And then to allegedly try and ram the ship that witnessed them....crazy stuff.


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## Old Janner (Mar 11, 2009)

Thought just crossed my mind, Toxic waste is one thing, this is a well known area and route for travel by Illegal Immegrants, that would be a bigger problem.


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## shamrock (May 16, 2009)

True...it would be an 'ideal' drop off for illegals I spose....international waters but close enough to an island - in this case Elba - to get to safety.

hmmm...could be.


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## AncientBrit (Oct 6, 2007)

Not forgetting of course that in the centre of an area such as that, its not likely that fishermen would trawl up a container full of "delivered" illegals.


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## Old Janner (Mar 11, 2009)

The mind boggles at the possibilities, A well equipped trawler could carry divers who could extract cargo from the cantainers, maybe small packets of white powder!


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## shamrock (May 16, 2009)

If this was an innocent mistake, why would the Toscana be seen using the crane, why would they then appear to attempt ramming the vessel watching them...on the face of it, it sounds very suspicious and there is a high number of illegals in the area.

Not so long ago one of the Wreck Detective do***entaries covered an illegal immigrant ship that foundered off Italy and the 'organiser' of the shipment lives in Malta...Toscana is Maltese registered. Now obviously no-one can say for sure that there is a connection tween what the ship crew was doing and the trade in illegal aliens, but there is a track record, which does tend to place suspicion onto any strange activity.


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## AncientBrit (Oct 6, 2007)

Ally, 
Any recent updates on this story?


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## shamrock (May 16, 2009)

I have been keeping an eye open in the usual places, but nothing appears to have resurfaced about this. Could be due to the claims being investigated...I would hope that they would be, regardless as to what was actually dumped overboard from Toscana, whatever it was shouldn't have been (I imagine).

The entry below the ships log that is in German, loosely translated...



> We made naturally our do***ents available of the observations of the coast guard. All persons on board provided written statements. At present the Italian coast guard examines the incident. The shipowner was asked to the incident. The Italian nature protection federation " Legambiente" with large interest the incident pursued and exerts appropriate pressure for a thorough determination. The Italian media, in front la to Nazione, in detail on the incident reported.


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## Old Janner (Mar 11, 2009)

Ally,
Thanks for the update, I wonder if we will ever get to know the truth ? would be interesting.

Spence.


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## shamrock (May 16, 2009)

I guess it depends on how long the Italians take investigating the claims from the Thales and if they go public with the findings and punishment (if any).

I agree, it does make you wonder what was going on with the Toscana. Something wasn't right, as to what though is anyone's guess but made worse by the apparent actions of Toscana's crew when they discovered they had been seen.


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## chadburn (Jun 2, 2008)

Sounds like a cargo of perishable's has gone owf and they have "lost" the container's overboard to claim on the Insurance, at least thats what they were hoping to do before being spotted.(Cloud)


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## duquesa (Aug 31, 2006)

*Containership 'Toscana'*

I fear you will find this is by no means an isolated incident.


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## shamrock (May 16, 2009)

duquesa said:


> I fear you will find this is by no means an isolated incident.


Probably very true...but how many get caught red handed like this one seems to have done?


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