The Probo Koala: How a Trader Poisoned a Nation

In August 2006, residents of Abidjan, Ivory Coast woke to a foul smell spreading across their city. Within days, hospitals were overwhelmed with patients suffering from respiratory illness, chemical burns, and gastrointestinal distress. By the time authorities issued a public health alert, the damage was already catastrophic: 17 dead, over 100,000 people requiring medical care, and an entire nation asking who was responsible.

The answer lay in a cargo decision made months earlier by Trafigura, one of the world's largest commodity traders.

## The Setup: Coker Gasoline and Cheap Processing

The story begins in 2002 at Mexico's Cadereyta refinery, where state-owned Pemex began accumulating coker gasoline—a hazardous byproduct of petroleum processing. Early in 2006, Pemex trucked this material to Brownsville, Texas, where Trafigura loaded 84,989 metric tonnes of coker naphtha aboard the Probo Koala, a chemical tanker registered in Panama.

Once at sea, Trafigura decided to conduct "caustic washing"—a refining process known as the Merox process—on at least three shipments aboard the vessel between April and June 2006. This was unprecedented. The caustic washing had never before been performed on a moving ship.

The process generated over 500 cubic metres of toxic waste.

## The Dumping Ground

When the Probo Koala approached Amsterdam, Netherlands in early July 2006, Trafigura attempted to offload the hazardous waste for proper disposal. The costs were prohibitive—roughly US$7 million per shipment in profit would vanish if they paid for legitimate treatment.

Trafigura rejected the Dutch option. Instead, on 17 August 2006, executives emailed Puma Energy, Trafigura's subsidiary in Ivory Coast, requesting waste discharge arrangements in Abidjan. Puma Energy contracted with Compagnie Tommy, a local waste management company.

On 19-20 August 2006, Compagnie Tommy illegally dumped 528 cubic metres of the toxic sludge at 17 to 18 locations across Abidjan—including municipal dumpsites where children played and families lived.

## The Aftermath

On 21 August, residents reported the overwhelming stench. The true scale of the crisis emerged in early September 2006 when the Ivorian government announced free medical admission. Hospital cases surged immediately, revealing the scale of contamination.

Trafigura executives were arrested. Claude Dauphin, a Trafigura director, spent five months in pre-trial detention. But on 14 February 2007, executives were released on bail and left the country.

Trafigura's response: deny everything. The company claimed it believed Puma Energy would dispose of the waste safely. An internal commission of inquiry published its findings on 19 February 2007.

Early that year, without admitting wrongdoing, Trafigura agreed to a US$198 million cleanup settlement.

## The Verdict

On 23 July 2010, a Dutch court found Trafigura Beheer BV, a London-based Trafigura executive, and the Probo Koala's captain guilty of illegally transporting hazardous waste.

Trafigura appealed. The company maintains it bears no responsibility for the disaster.

The residents of Abidjan continue to live with the consequences of a calculation that prioritized profit over human life—a calculation made in a London office, executed by a Liberian-registered ship, and dumped on a West African port city that had no voice in the decision.

## Sources

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/04/trafigura-a-toxic-journey/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Ivory_Coast_toxic_waste_dump

https://www.amnestyusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/afr310022012eng.pdf

http://www.ejolt.org/2015/08/trafigura-case/

https://www.publiceye.ch/en/topics/commodities/rohma/when-commodity-traders-get-caught/trafigura-and-the-drama-of-probo-koala