In the Netherlands, the Amsterdam Port Services attempted to unload a suspicious load of the oil tanker Probo Koala, but they discovered the cargo was much more toxic than the Dutch company Trafigura leasing the boat, had declared at beforehand.
When the costs for safely unloading and processing the waste raised, Trafigura decided to stop the unloading and ordered the Probo Koala to leave the Amsterdam harour. The Amsterdam port authorities allowed the oil tanker to cast off towards Estonia, the oil tanker still full of toxic waste.
According to insiders, some sludge that had already been pumped out, was pumped back on the boat. A couple of months later, the ship dumped its venomous cargo in Ivory Coast, killing seven people and injuring thousands.
Both the news program Tagesschau and the reportage program Tagesthemen from the first German public broadcaster ARD report on the scandalous and deadly disaster in Ivory Coast, and on what happened exactly in the harbour of Amsterdam. At short notice filming is needed in the Netherlands.
An official from the Amsterdam Port Authorities is interviewed and general views from Amsterdam and the harbour are made. Also member of parliament and former activist at Greenpeace Diederik Samsom, is interviewed about the catastrophe.
For these reportages Featurez did the research, set-up and planning of the filming, booked a camera crew, did the direction and interviews and organised and accompanied the satellite transfer of the video material.