Welsh Euro-MP Jill Evans has welcomed a vote in the European Parliament to accelerate the phasing out of single-hull oil tankers and replace them with safer double-hull vessels.

Speaking from Strasbourg the all-Wales MEP, who is a member of the Parliamentary Committee with responsibility for the environment, said she hoped it would help avoid a repeat of the Sea Empress disaster which hit the West Wales coastline nearly five years ago.

Ms Evans said:

"This decision will provide extra protection to guard some of Wales’ most sensitive coastlines. We all remember the Sea Empress disaster and its dreadful effect on the west Wales coastal environment and tourist industry.

"Following that terrible experience and other more recent near misses this is welcome news for all who are concerned with the safety of oil tankers."

Pembrokeshire bore the brunt of the Sea Empress disaster when more than 72,000 tonnes of oil was spilled into the waters off its coastline after the tanker grounded at the entrance to the Milford Haven waterway in February 1996. The county also experienced a near miss on Christmas Eve, 1999, when the 15,000 tonne Blackfriars carrying 1,800 litres of fuel oil had to be hauled off a Pembrokeshire beach by St David's lifeboat.

The new phasing-out deadlines are based on a schedule laid down in April this year by the International Maritime Organisation, and are as follows: Category 1 ships (those more than 25 years old) would be withdrawn by 2007 and Category 2 ships (those which meet the conditions of a special survey regime) by 2015. The withdrawal deadline for Category 3 ships (below 20.000 or 30.000 tons depending on circumstances) is also 2015 but the tonnage limit for these vessels has been increased from the 3000 tons suggested by Parliament at its first reading to 5000.

Diwedd/Ends.