Greenpeace blockades palm oil ship in Indonesia
JAKARTA (AFP) — Greenpeace blockaded an Indonesian tanker carrying palm oil for export on Friday for a second day as it was readying to leave port in Sumatra, an activist said.
"What we've done is we've anchored off the ship which is at berth and there's not enough room for it to be able to leave its berth," said Sue Connor, Greenpeace's international forest campaigner.
"We're here and we're not allowing it to leave," she told AFP from the environmental group's flagship carrier, the Rainbow Warrior.
Police had boarded the Rainbow Warrior several times, along with the harbourmaster, at Riau province's Dumai port, but the situation remained calm, she said.
"The harbour master asked us to leave and we said no... The ship is sitting low in the water so it's close to being loaded and ready to leave," she said of the tanker, which has not attempted to leave port.
Connor said the protest aimed to highlight the role palm oil plays in driving global deforestation and peatland destruction, major contributors to climate change.
Greenpeace is calling for the Indonesian government to implement a moratorium on deforestation and peatland destruction, she said.
Palm oil plantations are rapidly expanding in Indonesia as global demand explodes -- because it is seen as a green alternative to fossil fuels. It is also used in a range of consumer products such as cosmetics and biscuits.
The blockaded ship, the MT Westama, was aiming to take about 30,000 tonnes of palm oil to India.
"We know that some of their suppliers are companies who are actively destroying peatlands in Riau province," Connor said.
The Rainbow Warrior is in Indonesia ahead of a global climate change conference taking place in Bali next month.
