Page 16 - IB February 2025

Environment

for the community, Tony Kagovai said, “Our way of life as part of the legal proceedings but, according to PLN, are
changed on the day that the shipwreck occurred on our reef. expected to be between US$30 and US$100 million.
For six years, we have not known whether the fish we are William Kadi, a local lawyer representing the Kangava Bay
eating are safe to eat or whether our lands and waters are Communities and Landowners said, "The connection between
free of poison. Our community deserves justice for everything Solomon Islands peoples and their land is a sacred pillar of our
we have suffered." unique culture.
The claim filed last month seeks compensation under the “The communities we represent have had their traditional
Solomon Islands Shipping Act of 1993, under international law lands and waterways irreversibly damaged by this disaster,
as set out in the International Convention of Civil Liability for lands and reefs they have relied on for centuries. Today we
Bunker Oil Pollution Damage, and a claim for damages as a start the process of helping the community heal by seeking
result of negligence in accordance with recognised principles justice and accountability for the mess left behind by these
of common law in the Solomon Islands. companies at Kangava Bay.”
The claim alleges that five entities are liable for the Under the mining agreements in place between the
damage caused by the spill: the owner of MV Solomon Islands operative companies and the landowners and Solomon Islands
Trader, Hong Kong based company King Trader Ltd; Protection Government, monies and royalties from mining were due to
and Indemnity Insurer Korea P&I, a state-owned maritime be paid back to landowners and the government, but large
protection and indemnity insurer based in South Korea and amounts allegedly remain outstanding, and neither the
responsible for insuring the vessel MV Solomon Trader; Bintan government nor the community have received any form of
Mining Corporation, (which has now been wound up and is compensation since the disaster.
owned out of British Virgin Islands; Bintan Mining (SI) Limited; As the Pacific waits for the legal battle to unfold, the
and MS Amlin Marine MV, a Dutch provider of charterer’s people of Kangava Bay continue to suffer the adverse effects
liability with whom BMC had a policy of charterer’s liability of the Solomon Islands' most devastating man-made disaster,
insurance in respect of the vessel at the time of the oil spill. now six years on.
The damages suffered by the claimants will be assessed

16 Islands Business, February 2025