A COMPENSATION CLAIM lodged in the High Court of the Solomon Islands in Honiara at the end of last month is being closely watched in legal circles.
The co-claimants, the Solomon Islands Government and 3,000 landowners who live near Kangava Bay in East Rennell, are seeking over USD 40 million from cargo interests, ship owners and insurers of the bulk carrier Solomon Trader, which broke adrift in cyclonic weather while loading bauxite on 5 February 2019.
The 73,592 DWT, 225-metre, 1994-built Hong Kong-flagged vessel then ran aground on Kongobainiu reef, releasing over 300 tonnes of heavy fuel oil that washed up local beaches and caused enormous damage to the local marine environment, affecting food, farming and fishing. It was not refloated until 15 June 2019, by Resolve Marine, and subsequently towed away for scrapping.
Acting for the claimants are Primo Afeau Legal Services lawyer William Kadi and international lawyers John Ridgway and Dirk Heinz from the Pacific Legal Network, as well as international counsel Harj Narulla and Frank Clarke (Counsel). Amongst the defendants are two insurance companies, Dutch-headquartered MS Amlin Marine NV and Korea P&I Club, a South Korean Government associated entity, according to the Law Society Journal. Other defendants are the ship itself and the miner Asia Pacific Investment Development (APID)’s subcontractor, Bintan Mining Solomon Islands.
Mr Heinz told Radio New Zealand that a generic apology from those responsible for what is considered the biggest environmental disaster in Solomon Islands’ history was not good enough.
“There have been some very cursory initial statements around being sorry. But I don’t think sorry is going to cut it in this instance,” he said. “We are talking about up to 300 tonnes of heavy oil being leaked into a very vital ecosystem which is owned by these landowners.”
Mr Heinz told RNZ that the people of Rennell have waited far too long for justice; nothing has been paid towards the cost of the clean-up and damage in the intervening six years.
“There’s a whole array of painful impacts for the landowners and we are trying, as part of this case, to get the evidence and information around those impacts before the court so we can help them with their ruling and assessment of damages if we are successful.”
The lawyer says the landowners’ local subsistence economy already derived no benefit from the mining and shipping activity in its own front yard, before the grounding incident.
Rennell Island is the largest raised coral atoll in the world, and East Rennell Island is home to a UNESCO World Heritage listed site, Lake Tegano, which is the largest freshwater lake in the Pacific.
The outcome of the High Court action will be closely watched, especially in the context of the loss last October of HMNZS Manawanui on a reef off Samoa.
