Cash buyer Global
Marketing Systems (GMS) recently took a Japanese delegation to see improved
working conditions at Alang's shipbreaking yards, however, pressure group NGO
Shipbreaking Platform believes there is much more work to be done.
The four-day visit to
assess the quality of Alang's beaching yards was attended by 14 Japanese
representatives from government and industry, including the Japanese Shipowners
Association, ClassNK and the Japanese Labour Union.
Four "leading"
yards in the Alang region have upgraded their facilities to include concrete
floors with drainage, bilge water pumps, hazardous waste disposal facilities
and protective clothing for their workers. Brussels-based NGO Shipbreaking
Platform believes that the improvements leave a number of problems with the
beaching method unresolved.
Speaking to Seatrade
Global, Ingvild Jenssen, NGO founder & policy advisor stated, "As long
as the primary cutting takes place in the intertidal zone where the ship’s hull
will be cut vertically and the cut-off blocks will be dropped and dragged up to
the beach, pollutants, including residue oils and toxic paint chips, will be
released to the sediments and sea water and washed out by the tides. Further,
no cranes can be safely operated in the intertidal zone during primary cutting,
thus large steel parts will crash in an uncontrolled manner onto the beach. The
gravity method is at least poor working practice, at worst deadly."
During the trip, the
Hong Kong Convention (HKC) was pinned as a target standard for yards in India.
Akihiro Tamura, director of shipbuilding policy at the Japan External Trade
Organisation believes the top four yards - Leela Ship Recycling, Priya Blue
Industries, Kalthia Shipbreaking and Shree Ram Vessel Scrapping - were close to
achieving this standard.
“The Indian recycling
industry plays a vital role in international ship recycling and in order to
ensure a sound and safe ship recycling industry, those beaching recycling facilities
in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh should be included into the global scheme of
sound ship recycling," Tamura said. "We want the Indian recycling
yards and we want the Indian government to join the global recycling framework,
or Hong Kong Convention.”
For its part, NGO
Shipbreaking Platform believes HKC compliance is not the strongest accolade for
a yard. "We have criticised the HKC for rubberstamping current substandard
practices and the EU has rightly set higher requirements for containment of pollutants
and safe working practices that the beaching method will not be able to meet.
The EU requirements further do not stop at the gate of the recycling yard as
does the HKC – proper downstream waste management is required to become an EU
approved ship recycling yard. As long as for example asbestos is sold on the
secondhand market in India – as is current practice in Alang according to the
Gujarat Maritime Board – hazardous waste from ships continues to put not only
the life of workers at shipbreaking facilities in danger, but also surrounding
populations."
Japan is moving towards
providing Official Development Assistance to the ship recycling sector, to
further improve yards and operations in the area, although that assistance is
subject to further discussion in Japan.
Tamura stated: “We have
a strategy that includes the Japanese government supporting Indian yards to
upgrade and also for ClassNK to support these yards through consultancy
services and ultimately certification. Japanese ship owners will be willing to
send their ships to 'safe and environmentally sound' ship recycling yards in
India and other countries and the entry into force of the Hong Kong Convention
is a very important step to realising this goal. Our ultimate purpose is to
help all concerned to move towards accession to the Hong Kong Convention and
all our efforts will be focused in this direction."
While Jenssen welcomes
the intended support, she believes that the Indian yards should be held to the
same standards Japan enforces on its own shores. "Japanese public spending
should not be invested in practices that put people and the environment at risk,
nor should it succumb to the shipping industry’s sought for cheap waste
disposal. It is fully possible to dismantle ships using slipways, piers or
drydocks also in India, and Japanese investments should be looking at how to
bring India up to a level which would satisfy also Japanese standards for
environmental protection and occupational health and safety."
Source: seatrade-global.
10 February 2015
No comments:
Post a Comment