Germany's Green party: Ban dangerous chemicals on high seas

Hazardous substances have no business on ocean liners, the German Green party has said after a cargo ship lost 270 containers in the North Sea. But shipping experts have put the blame on the sheer size of new vessels.

German environmental organizations and politicians are calling for shipping containers on cargo vessels to be fitted with tracking devices, in response to an accident that caused a huge vessel to spill around 270 containers in the North Sea earlier this week.

"The problem is locating the containers," said Olaf Lies, environment minister for the state of Lower Saxony, off whose coast the accident happened. Speaking with the local ffn radio station, he demanded an investigation. "We urgently need to do something," he said.

That sentiment was echoed by Manfred Santen, a Greenpeace expert for chemical pollutants, who told broadcaster NDR that it was "no problem technically" to install trackers. Lies also suggested that containers carrying hazardous materials should no longer be stored near the edges or tops of cargo vessels.

CONTINUE ON www.dw.com