Up to the year 2000, hardly any oil tankers passed the northern Norwegian shorelines. But as Russian oil production began to surge, the oil tanker traffic along northern Norwegian shores has begun increasing alarmingly. In 2004, two to three oil tankers passed the coastline every week, transporting oil from Murmansk in northern Russia around the coastline and south to Rotterdam or across the Atlantic to the USA. Experts estimate that this shipping traffic will further increase to three full-loaded super-tankers daily by 2015, exporting 100-150 million tonnes of crude oil annually. This traffic will increase even more than that if the oil industry opens up the Norwegian part of the Barents Sea and if a planned Russian export pipeline to Murmansk gets built.

In April 2003 Greenpeace sounded the alarm bell with respect to these threats and demanded that oil tanker traffic, which at the time passed only four nautical miles from the coastline, had to be pushed further out and standby tugboats had to be placed on permanent readiness along the coast. A near-accident occurred in June 2003, when a tanker full-loaded with over 100.000 tonnes of Russian oil experienced engine failure just off North Cape. It drifted with no engine power and no assistance for 10 hours before managing to get underway again. Good weather and a good dose of luck saved the coastline, and the event helped the Government understand some of the urgency in our demands.

Oil tanker traffic now has to pass a mere 12 nautical miles from the shoreline, and only two tugboats are on standby along the entire 1000 km coastline between Lofoten and the Russian border. The tugboats currently on standby do not have the engine capacity to tow the very biggest tankers that pass the coastline alone. While any tugboat deployment is an improvement, the current situation is not sufficient and the threat of accidents is constantly increasing as traffic increases.

Greenpeace demands better tugboat deployment for the region, and fixed routes for dangerous oil tanker traffic to be established at a minimum of 50 nautical miles offshore from the sensitive shorelines. We are also calling for the whole area to be declared a PSSA (particularly sensitive sea area) under the IMO. Only this status for the region will legally allow the Norwegian government to force shipping to follow a specific sailing route within its EEZ, and will enable Norway to add additional requirements on ship type, crew, training and reporting for ships that wish to pass through these waters with dangerous cargo.

Greenpeace is campaigning for an end to the global dependency on oil and a switch to renewable energy sources. Until this is achieved, these pristine coastlines must be better protected from oil disasters like the Prestige. Oil tankers must be forced to transit far away from sensitive coastlines, sufficient tugboat capacity must be on standby to support stricken vessels, and only high quality ships should be used to transport oil through the Barents and Lofoten region.

Save the Lofoten Islands!

Why Lofoten is so special

Oil companies pressure for access

Increased oil tanker traffic and lack of emergency plans

Over-fishing, factory fishing and bottom trawling

An Integrated Management Plan for Lofoten and Barents Sea: An opportunity that must not be lost