Spain’s Supreme Court in Madrid upheld the ruling that the insurer and the captain of the Prestige oil tanker are to pay EUR 1.6 billion (USD 1.8 billion) in compensation.
Under the final ruling, handed down on December 20, the captain of the ill-fated tanker Apostolos Ioannis Mangouras and the marine insurer The London P&I Club are to pay EUR 1.57 billion in damages to Spain and another EUR 61 million to France.
The Supreme Court confirmed the ruling by the Provincial Court of A Coruña, a northwestern city in Spain, made in November 2017.
Described as one of the worst environmental disasters in Europe, the 2002 Prestige sinking led to almost 3,000 kilometres of shoreline in Spain, France and Portugal being polluted, and caused damages to the local wildlife and fishing industry.
The 1976-built tanker broke in two and sank off the coast of Galicia on November 13, 2002, after sailing for six days with a fracture in its starboard side sustained in rough seas off Spain.
It was estimated that a total of 63,000 tons of fuel were discharged into the sea, while the total damage cost was estimated at USD 4.4 billion.
—–World Maritime
