MPF calls for removal of ship and oily waste 10 years after sinking in Pará

The Federal Public Ministry of Pará filed a lawsuit to demand the removal of the hull and oily residue from the ship Haidar, which sank 10 years ago near the port of Vila do Conde, the largest in Brazil for shipping live cattle.

In a statement this Wednesday, federal prosecutors from Pará recalled that the sinking of the Haidar caused the death of approximately 5,000 cattle and a spill of 700,000 liters of oily waste.

A subsequent spill from the Haidar sinking was recorded in 2018, prosecutors said, showing that remaining debris inside the hull posed ‘a constant threat’.

Around 215,000 liters of oil, diesel, fuel and lubricant may still be inside the ship, prosecutors added, warning of potential ‘catastrophic water pollution’ if further spills occur.

The sunken vessel still contains carcasses and skeletal remains of cattle that drowned in 2015, they added.

Prosecutors are asking for R$5 million in compensation, in addition to R$91,400 for environmental damage related to the 2018 spill.

The National Department of Transport Infrastructure (DNIT), the State Secretariat for the Environment and Sustainability of Pará (SEMAS), Companhia Docas do Pará (CDP) and the companies that own the ship are on the receiving end of the action.

They did not immediately comment on the matter.

Brazil’s largest live cattle exporting state, Pará shipped 370,000 head of cattle worth US$344 million, mainly to Egypt, Morocco and Algeria in the year to July, according to trade data compiled by state authorities.

Meatpacking company Minerva was the owner of the cattle transported by Haidar in 2015, but is not a defendant in the lawsuit, according to court records.