EUROPEAN governments have failed to create places of refuge for vessels in distress despite repeated calls for action to prevent pollution disasters, such as the sinking of the Prestige off the coast of Spain last November.

Leading shipping organisations say that little has been done by European Union governments to comply with a July deadline to make detailed contingency plans for maritime disasters.

After the Prestige broke up 200 km off Spain’s Galician coast, Europe’s Council of Ministers called on member states to draw up procedures and designate places of refuge for ships in distress. Thousands of tonnes of heavy fuel oil from the vessel still fouls holiday beaches in France and Spain seven months after the disaster. Stung by the public outcry, the Spanish and French Governments called for immediate action. The European Council brought forward a deadline for states to deliver full details of their emergency planning procedures to July 1. The European Commission said on Friday that no information had yet been received from France or Spain about their plans.

Gilles Bergot, an official at the Commission in charge of places of refuge, said: “We have received information from the UK and Germany. Ireland has said they are sending us something. There is still a few days left.”

The Round Table of international maritime associations said it was time for member states to deliver on their promise. Peter Swift, head of Intertanko, the association of independent tanker owners, said the principle of places of refuge went back centuries.

However, recent events, including the Prestige and Castor incidents, show a growing reluctance of states to take responsibility. When cracks appeared in the hull of the Prestige, Spain closed its ports to the vessel despite calls from Smit, the salvage company, to allow it entry in order to prevent break-up and a major pollution incident.

“In the case of the Prestige, there were days of dispute with the Spanish authorities. The ship was not allowed into port. It’s a sort of Nimby response,” Mr Swift said. Instead, Spain ordered the salvage company to tow it out to sea, a decision which led to its break-up.

The row over the Prestige followed a similar dispute in January 2001 when the Castor, a tanker carrying 25,000 tonnes of petrol, was refused port access in Spain and several other countries after a 20-metre crack emerged in its hull. It limped around the Mediterranean for a month before it could transfer its cargo to another ship off Malta.

The row over the Prestige has become political. The Spanish authorities initially blamed Britain for failing to inspect the vessel in Gibraltar although the ship never entered the port. Spain has come under further criticism for its treatment of Apostolos Mangouras, the captain of the Prestige’, who was arrested as soon as he stepped on land.

He faces charges of causing environmental pollution and his bail was set at €3 million (£2 million). The charges could lead to a jail sentence. The view among maritime experts, including the American Chamber of Shipping, is that the Prestige would not have broken up if it had been allowed into a port in Galicia.

The Commission wants member states to establish clear lines of authority to ensure that harbourmasters cannot refuse ships in distress.