"There are international rules, and these have to be followed," prosecutor Luuk Boogert told judges in the trial of multinational Trafigura, the ship's captain and four others accused of breaking environment and waste export laws in Dutch territory.

There was no one for Trafigura in the dock of the Amsterdam district court for the start of the trial -- the company's first for the events that saw caustic soda and petroleum residues on board the Probo Koala shown away from the Port of Amsterdam and redirected to Abidjan, where they were dumped on city waste tips.

"The waste went to a third-world country" instead of being treated in Amsterdam as planned, an option that was less expensive but "dangerous", Boogert said.

The waste, slops from the cleaning of fuel transportation tanks, was pumped back into the Probo Koala after waste treatment company Amsterdam Port Services (APS) demanded a higher price for it being more toxic than previously thought.

Trafigura declined to pay the increased price.

The company, which denies any link between the waste and casualties, reached an out-of-court damages settlement with the Ivory Coast government in February 2007 for 100 billion CFA francs (152 million euros, 225 million dollars).

The deal exempted it from legal proceedings in that country.

A court case in Britain was dropped after a 33-million-euro settlement for 31,000 plaintiffs was reached in September last year on the basis of an independent experts' report that found no link between the waste and 17 deaths and thousands of poisoning cases claimed by the Ivory Coast.

But a United Nations report published last September found "strong" evidence blaming the waste for at least 15 deaths and several hospitalisations.

The first day of the trial was taken up largely by modifications to the charge sheets, which saw the number of charges against Trafigura reduced and any reference to hydrogen sulphide in the slops dropped.

The company risked a fine of up to 1.34 million euros (1.66 million dollars) before the changes, whose effect on the penalty were not immediately clear.

The Ukrainian captain of the ship, Sergiy Chertov, Trafigura employee Naeem Ahmed who coordinated the operation, and waste treatment company Amsterdam Port Services (APS), were also absent for the hearing.

Chertov is being tried for allegedly falsifying documents and lying to Dutch port authorities about the nature of the waste that arrived at Amsterdam on July 2, 2006.

One charge, that of contravening waste import and export laws, was withdrawn against Ahmed.

Only APS former managing director Evert Uittenbosch, who is charged in his personal capacity and risks six years in jail, and the city of Amsterdam which administers the port, were present in the dock for the start of the hearing.

They are charged for not having prevented the exportation of dangerous waste.

"This is an important trial, certainly, but justice will only truly be done when a court judges what happened in the Ivory Coast itself," Greenpeace spokeswoman Mariette Harjono told AFP at the court.

Dutch judges have yet to decide on a bid by Greenpeace to have those responsible for the waste dump tried in the Netherlands for crimes committed on Ivorian soil.

The current trial is expected to conclude on July 2.

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