Shipbreaking Industry Environmental Disaster:

Alang – The largest shipbreaking industry in Asia:

As part of an Integrated Coastal Zone Management Plan, it is necessary to review safety and related issues at the Alang and Sosia Ship Breaking Yard (ASSBY). ASSBY is located on the coast of Bhavnagar district and in the Gulf of Cambay, a distance of 56 km south from Bhavnagar city.

This place has the best continental shelf available for shipbreaking in the whole of Asia. At the same time, it is known for the highest tidal level (10 meters) in the country. The vast expanse of intertidal zone gets exposed during ebb (low) tide which makes it convenient for shipbreaking activity, whereas the high tide makes it possible to accommodate big ships.

The first shipbreaking activity started in 1983 at Alang. Today ASSBY boasts the biggest shipbreaking yard in whole of Asia with 182 plots carrying on this activity year round. Last year, ships worth 3.2 million tones were broken in this yard. With the facilitating measures in the central budget, the shipbreaking activity has the potential to achieve more tonnage.

THE ISSUES

The Gujarat Ecology Commission has carried out a detailed study of ecological restoration at ASSBY. However, without going into the ecological details of the project, 3 basic issues can be mentioned:

1) issues causing ecological imbalance at Alang and in nearby areas,

2) issues causing impact on nearby villages and village infrastructure, and

3) issues causing concern during shipbreaking.

The shipbreaking activity itself is manual labour intensive and unorganised. It is necessary to bring advanced technology to this industry so that the rate of accidents can be further reduced. The uproar on the Alang situation in the Western media is uncalled for, as the situation at Alang is within control and not beyond repair. What is required is a sustainable coastal zone management approach.

There are around 24,000 direct workers and some 11,000 to 12,000 workers in allied activities in the ASSBY area. Out of around 35,000 workers, according to one survey, only 0.55% belong to Gujarat. It means that more than 99 percent of the workers are from other states. They are mainly from three states, Orissa, U.P. and Bihar. They are mainly from backward and drought prone regions of those states. This means that this is a migrant labour force. The Interstate Migrant Workman Act will have to be applied here. If this Act is applied, most of the problems of working and living conditions can be solved, because the ISMW Act mentions accommodation, medical facilities and even travelling allowances. Wages are not a problem for these workers, but the working living conditions are hazardous and inhuman.

So far as safety aspects are concerned, no standards are observed either by workers or by plot management. Out of 361 workers, according to the survey, 14 (3.88%) workers reported accidents, 11 workers (3.05%) sustained burns and 14 workers (3.88%) reported injuries. 10 workers (2.77%) wear helmets, only 1 worker reported having gloves, 2 workers reported having shoes and 3 workers reported having welding glasses.

Guidelines / pollution control:

Most of the ships that arrive on the Gujarat coast come from the United States where environmental and safety laws prevent shipbreaking, but do not prohibit their export to other countries.

The most that has happened so far is that, in May, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) produced a set of toothless guidelines for the industry and recommended rejection of ships with high levels of pollutants listed the Basel Convention.

While the Basel Convention bans the export of many items which are commonly found on the ships such as asbestos, lead and pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls, the ships themselves are exempt.

Future of Shipbreaking industry in India:

THE shipbreaking industry in India is likely to witness hectic activity in the next 10 years with the European Union’s proposed accelerated phase-out of single-hull tankers (20,000 to 30,000 DWT — dead weight tonnage).

According to a recent study, there are more than 2,250 single-hull tankers of 5,000 DWT, or a total of 129.5 million DWT (till January 2004), that will have to be scrapped. This is 25-30 per cent higher than the estimate of peak volume of 2015.

These tankers will be withdrawn by 2010 and 2015 in accordance with the strict time-tables set by the European Commission (EC) and the IMO (International Maritime Organisation). The new regulations include a ban on carrying heavy grades of oil in single-hull tankers.

According to an EU-commissioned study, the shipbreaking industry’s present capacity, in Asia, and particularly India, may still be enough to meet the demand generated by the proposed accelerated phase-out.

The EU Parliament and Council amended Regulation 417/2002 to phase out single-hull tankers, and the IMO followed suit. According to the study, in the past 10 years decommissioning of ships has been concentrated in the Indian sub-continent and elsewhere in Asia. Shipbreaking in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and China accounted for more than 90 per cent of the of all vessels scrapped. Of all the vessels scrapped from 1994 to 2003, less than 2% were broken in Europe, with Turkey accounting for more than 85% of this.

For instance, 4,658 ships were scrapped between 1994 and 2003. Of this 2,638 were scrapped in India, followed by Bangladesh (603), China (523) and Turkey (125). In other words, India accounted for around 60% of the global ship-scrapping, and whole of Asia 75%.

On an average, oil tankers accounted for 40% of the volumes scrapped during 1993-2004. Some 250 Indian companies are involved in ship-scrapping, mostly along the Gujarat coast.

The Indian Government is unable to resist shipbreaking activity because Industry which also brings in 2.5 million tons of steel representing about 10% of India‘s overall steel production.

Kakinada Shipbreaking industry:

Undeterred by the grave environmental implications and rejection of a similar project by the fishing community and the Environment Department, moves are on to set up a hazardous shipbreaking yard on the Uppala-Vakalapudi stretch close to the Coringa wildlife sanctuary near Kakinada.

Sources in the department say an industrial group, carrying on the ship breaking activity clandestinely in Kakinada, is lobbying for clearance of the project, which envisages handling of 300 ships every year. The previous project at Vodarevu by Andhra Sea Ports in 2001 came a cropper a year later, with the department rejecting it under the provisions of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification.

HC directive:

This was after the High Court directed the authorities to take effective steps to prevent shipbreaking activity till further orders. Listing hazards, the petitioner had challenged the consent for establishment (CFE) issued by the AP Pollution Control Board, after rejecting it earlier, without clearance from the Shore Area Development Authority (SADA).

Like now, the industry then too had lobbied for the project, citing “employment potential and the revenue to the State,” oblivious to the effects on the environment and the marine ecosystem. The SADA rejected the proposal.

Lobbying is on again to get clearance, now on the technical ground that shipbreaking requires waterfront and foreshore facilities. Hence it should be considered under “permissible” and not “prohibited” activities of the CRZ notification, the argument goes. Environmentalists emphasize that the State should not go by such technicalities.

Impact on Coringa Sanctuary:

Coringa Sanctuary is located near Kakinada port in East Godavari District along Bay of Bengal. It is at a distance of 20-km from Kakinada. There would be impact of pollution from the shipbreaking industry on the flora and fauna of the sanctuary.

It is renowned for reptiles and the most famous ones are the salt-water crocodiles. The total area of sanctuary is part of delta of the river Godavari. It covers a total area of 235.70-sq-km and forms a part of the Godavari mangroves. It was declared as a sanctuary in July 1978 to conserve the mangrove vegetation of the estuary.

Flora:

Mangroves are a group of salt tolerant plant species, which occur in the tropical and subtropical initial estuary regions. Mangroves constitute a dynamic ecosystem with a complex association of both floral and faunal species of terrestrial and aquatic systems and the vegetation in this forest is of evergreen type.

Mangroves provide different kind of niches for a variety of animal populations required. The crowns of trees including trunk, branches, leaves, flowers and fruits provide niches essentially, to terrestrial fauna like birds, mammals and insects. The Soil Surface of mangroves provides niche for mudskippers, crabs and molluscs. The Sanctuary has a unique distinction of having an 18-km long sand spit in the North Eastern side, where the species of olive Ridley sea turtle (endangered species) nests during January-March of every year.

Fauna:

The habitat is suitable for the salt-water crocodiles. The water in the forest supports a variety of animals. One can find animals like the Fishing Cats, Otters, Jackals, Estuarine Crocodiles, Sea Turtles and birds like Sea gulls, Pelicans, Storks, Herons, Snipes, Ducks and Flamingos. The main species of mangrove forest are Rhizophora, Avincinia, Sonneratia Aegiceros.

Source: Environmental Articles. By Dr. N. Sai Bhaskar Reddy

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