The position of the Pacific Pintail at 0700 GMT was 45 degrees and 58 minutes south and 51 degrees and 32 minutes west, on a distance of some 580 miles East of the Argentinean city Puerto Descado. We are sailing on a compass course of 205 degrees and at a speed of 13 knots.
Today Greenpeace released that it is almost certain that the Pacific Pintail will attempt to sail around Cape Horn. The ship will sail around Cape Horn in an attempt to minimize the effectiveness of Argentinean and Chilean political and public opposition to the radioactive waste shipment. Around midnight on Saturday the ship is expected to enter the Argentinean Exclusive Economic Zone and pass into Chilean waters Sunday evening.
In a letter to the producers of the radioactive plutonium waste on board the Pacific Pintail and to its captain, Greenpeace pointed to the inherent dangers of the Cape Horn route--heavy seas and drift ice, for example--and informed the Captain and the companies involved of the formal opposition to Pintail's imminent passage. Both Argentina and Chile have stated not to allow the Pintail into the waters under their jurisdiction. Yesterday the Chilean Senate passed a unanimous resolution asking the Executive Branch to send ships to make sure that the Pacific Pintail not sail through Chilean territorial or jurisdictional waters.
Greenpeace called further on the companies involved to immediately halt the dangerous shipment. In South America, Uruguay, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Ecuador, governments, unions, fishing groups and the people have all voiced opposition to the dangerous nuclear shipment travelling through their waters. Rather than trying to force its way through legitimate opposition and one of the most dangerous seas on Earth, the Pacific Pintail should end the plutonium trade altogether.
Greenpeace is calling for a world-wide ban on the production of all plutonium--both military and civil--in its campaign to halt nuclear weapons production and proliferation. The organization is encouraging countries around the world to call for a halt to the plutonium industry at the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) talks in April at the United Nations in New York.
If additional information on the Pacific Pintail's voyage or it's cargo of plutonium waste is required, please contact Bas Bruyne on the Solo (phone: ++871-1301166), or Karen Richardson at Greenpeace UK (phone: ++44-171-226-3151). Photo, video or other media requests to Blair Palese or Mark Warford at Greenpeace Communications (phone: ++44-171-833-0600). Footage of the Solo tracking the Pacific Pintail off the South American Coast is available from Greenpeace Communications.
Media and others interested in tracking the shipment's route daily should access Greenpeace World Wide Web site at: HTTP://WWW.greenpeace.org/
Best regards and No Nukes!
Ulf Birgander (Captain)
Bas Bruyne (Campaigner)
The position of the Pacific Pintail at 1900 GMT was 48 degrees and 22 minutes south and 53 degrees and 16 minutes west, on a distance of some 470 miles East of the Argentinean city Puerto Descado. We are sailing on a compass course of 210 degrees, at a speed of 13 knots. We are currently some 270 miles North of the Falklands/Malvinas and expect to reach Argentinean waters south of these islands by midnight, Saturday.
In an urgent telex from Solo to the Pacific Pintail, Greenpeace today informed the captain of the Pacific Pintail that we are gravely concerned that he is attempting to force his way through the waters of a region where his ship and its radioactive cargo have been rejected out of safety reasons and public opposition. We demanded he return his ship to port.
In South America, Uruguay, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Ecuador, governments, unions, fishing groups and the public have all voiced opposition to the dangerous nuclear shipment travelling through their waters. The captain of the Pacific Pintail and it's operators the British company Pacific Nuclear Transport Ltd (PNTL) are acting in flagrant denial of the democratic self-determination rights of the people of South America. In Chile the Senate yesterday unanimously passed a resolution about the Pintail's imminent passage asking its Executive Branch to send Chilean ships to assure that the ship not sail through Chilean territorial or jurisdictional waters.
For additional information on the Pacific Pintail's voyage or it's cargo of plutonium waste contact Bas Bruyne on the Solo (phone: ++871-1301166--warning $10 per minute), or Karen Richardson at Greenpeace UK (phone: ++44-171-226-3151). Photo, video or other media requests to Blair Palese or Mark Warford at Greenpeace Communications (phone: ++44-171-8330-600).
Media and others interested in tracking the shipment's route daily should access Greenpeace World Wide Web site at: HTTP://WWW.greenpeace.org/
Best regards and No Nukes!
Ulf Birgander (Captain)
Bas Bruyne (Campaigner)