When the Chinese freighter "Fun Shan Hai" sank after a ship-collision in the Baltic Sea in June 2003 the 100 ton oil spill immediately polluted many miles of Swedish coastline and worked havoc among colonies of nesting seabirds.

The accident cast a sudden light on the fact that the Baltic Sea faces an ever increasing threat from the rising number of oil tankers transporting crude oil from Russia to the West. Many of them are still those dangerous single hull tankers.

As part of their work for the COMENIUS  I  project Mare-Nostrum : Our European Seas students at Erich Kästner-Gesamtschule, Hamburg, set up a database of single hull oil tankers.

They were actively supported by Lloyd's Register - Fairplay Ltd and Hasenpusch Photo-Productions Hamburg.