On December 12, 1999, the Erika tanker broke in two in heavy seas and gale force winds 60 kilometers south of Penmarc’h, Brittany. The 26 crew members were rescued by helicopter by the French Navy.

The tanker was carrying No. 2 fuel oil—the third most commonly used petroleum product after gasoline and diesel destined to Italy’s national electric utility ENEL for use in power generation.

Total chartered the Erika in good faith on the basis of documents—including a certificate of seaworthiness renewed in 1999—provided by RINA, a member of the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS), which consists of the world’s ten leading classification societies. With a very good scorecard from inspectors in its ports of call, the Erika had received letters of approval from and been chartered by several large companies in 1999.

The tanker sank due to a combination of bad weather and severe corrosion of the vessel’s structures, which had been concealed from the charterers.

Legal experts have since demonstrated that the true condition of the vessel’s structures was not consistent with the certificate issued by RINA.

A tanker certified by classification society RINA

All of the available reports indicated that the tanker was in good condition and that it had undergone a recent technical inspection.

In August 1998, the tanker underwent a special survey conducted every five years as part of the Enhanced Survey Program (ESP) . It came out of the shipyard as a seaworthy vessel and was certified by the classification society RINA, which renewed its certificates of seaworthiness in 1999.

The tanker had all of the official certificates issued by the flag state (14) and all of the necessary certificates of classification. Total routinely required these certificates for vessels more than 20 years old. Total had also requested and received from the shipowner a certificate from RINA guaranteeing the tanker’s structural integrity.

Chain of error