Trafigura

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Founded in 1993, Trafigura is a company that deals with trading metals as well as oil. On 2 July 2006, a ship leased by the company entered a port in Amsterdam to unload a few hundred tons of waste, or "slops."^[1] The Amsterdam Port Authority, upon analzying the waste and finding it more toxic than the company said, increased the price of dealing with the waste from $15,000 to $300,000. Trafigura decided to have the ship take back the waste and have it processed elsewhere - eventually in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Many people there became sick due to exposure to the waste, and investigations have been under way to determine whether it was dumped illegally by a local firm contracted by Trafigura. Trafigura have stated in a press statement that their tests show the waste not to be as toxic has been claimed, and they are unsure why so many people have become ill from exposure to it.^[2] The New York Times reported on October 3, 2006 that the dumping of the contents of the ship, which was carried out by a company called Tommy, was indeed illegal. The latest estimate of the casualties is ten dead and thousands injured.

On October 12 2006 Greenpeace reported that another ship in the Trafigura fleet, the Probo Emu and anchored off the coast of Spain was also suspected carrying dangerous waste ^[3]

1 Structure
2 See also
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Structure

Some of Trafigura's major international units include:

Trafigura Beheer BV, based in the Netherlands
Trafigura AG, is the main office, based in Lucerne, Switzerland, also deals with business in the United States.
Trafigura Pte Ltd runs the Group’s petroleum trading in the Far East.
Puma Group of Companies which operate the Group’s world-wide oil storage and distribution assets and investments.
Galena Asset Management, based in London and FSA registered, is the subsidiary through which Trafigura has established and manages a fund management business.

[edit] See also

2006 Ivory Coast toxic waste spill

[edit] References

^ Polgreen, Lydia, Marlise Simons. "Global Sludge Ends in Tragedy for Ivory Coast", New York Times, 2006-10-01. Retrieved on 2006-10-01.
^ Trafigura Tests Contradict Media Speculation (html). Trafigura (2006-09-24).
^ Spain should investigate ship carrying dangerous waste: Greenpeace news.yahoo.com.