A “floating megabomb” cargo ship with links to Russia unnecessarily dumped 300 tons of toxic fertiliser into the North Sea in an act of government-sanctioned “environmental terrorism”, an MP has claimed.
Rupert Lowe, a Reform MP, will tell Parliament that “errors” were made after the ship docked at Great Yarmouth with 300 tons of ammonium nitrate potentially contaminated with fuel.
A confidential Department of Transport (DfT) document, seen by The Telegraph, reveals how the authorities considered evacuating the town fearing a “catastrophic” explosion.
The MV Ruby vessel, packed with 20,000 tons of fertiliser, was thought capable of killing or injuring 30,000 people and destroying three-quarters of all buildings within three miles of the blast.
But the 18-page dossier stresses how the “worst case” scenario was a “theoretically low probability”.
On Nov 16, the vessel sailed 10 miles off the Norfolk coast and dumped the 300 tons of potentially contaminated fertiliser at sea.
DfT “modelling” concluded the chemical would “disperse relatively quickly”, but was “toxic to marine life … affecting the gills and overall metabolism of fish” and capable of triggering an algae bloom that can “smother the seabed”, causing “death of marine life”.
Mr Lowe, the Great Yarmouth MP, said: “The fertiliser was dumped in its polypropylene double-skinned bags, which was an act of environmental terrorism.
“Those bags will float and wrap themselves around propellers. That’s quite apart from the untold damage plastic does to the environment.
“As a farmer, if I dumped one such bag in a river, I would be prosecuted to kingdom come.”
He will tell an adjournment debate on Thursday that Health and Safety Executive (HSE) experts conducted a “remote inspection” before the decision was made to dump the cargo.
Representatives of the Norfolk fishing industry and the Great Yarmouth borough council leader have written to the DfT demanding “transparency and engagement” about the handling of MV Ruby.
Paul Lines, who represents the town’s fishermen, said: “Dumping fertiliser and plastics in the ocean is disgusting. It could have been put ashore and reprocessed. They went off half-cocked and we weren’t informed.”
The Maltese-flagged ship and its cargo destined for the Canary Islands set sail from a port in Russia before suffering storm damage and becoming technically stranded in the North Sea as numerous ports refused its berth for repairs.
The ship was nicknamed a “floating megabomb” because it contained seven times more fertiliser than that which caused the 2020 Beirut port blast, which killed 200 people.
Rupert Lowe, a Reform MP, will say that health and safety officials conducted a “remote inspection” of the ship’s cargo – Joe Giddens/PA Wire
MV Ruby’s owners eventually diverted the ship to Great Yarmouth to unload before a planned diversion to Newcastle for repairs.
Peel Ports Staff, which runs the port, spotted seawater contamination and “small quantities of hydrocarbon [fuel] contamination” on some bags, a DfT file says, adding that unloading was halted.
The report, marked “sensitive”, continues: “At this stage an explosion is considered low probability but with potentially high-risk consequences.
“Modelling projects 30,000 people potentially impacted, and 75 per cent of buildings within a 5km radius destroyed if a worst-case explosion were to occur.
“Evacuations of this area are an option currently under consideration.”
It explains how “following work between the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), DfT and Peel Ports Group”, the master of the ship chose to sail 10 miles out where he and his 19 crew “safely discharged” the contaminated cargo.
Mr Lowe, who claims he was kept “out of the loop”, believes the bag staining was only seawater and the cargo should have been unloaded at the port where farmers could have cleared it free of charge.
“Was I not kept informed because I’m a Reform MP?” he asked. “This is an example of the sovereignty of Parliament being undermined by unelected quangos.”
A Government spokesman said: “These claims are incorrect. The port and ship operator safely carried out an operation with advice from the MCA, the HSE and environmental regulators.
‘Not a persistent chemical’
“The UK has some of the most rigorous maritime safety standards in the world and we worked with all involved to ensure that the MV Ruby and the handling of this cargo met those safety standards.
“Ammonium nitrate is not a persistent chemical, and with sufficient dilution it will dissipate without leaving a trace.”
An HSE spokesman said it is not required to inspect cargo or sample ammonium nitrate, but it did speak to Peel Ports-appointed experts, who advised “they could not confirm that the ammonium nitrate was not contaminated”.
Its inspectors attended on Nov 18 when MV Ruby had dumped the contaminated fertiliser and controversially returned to Great Yarmouth to offload the remaining cargo to a sister ship.
