ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF SHIP DISMANTLING:

Abstract:

The purpose of this thesis was to study how ocean-going vessels are permanently withdrawn from operation by dismantling. The intention was to gain an understanding on how the ship dismantling has developed into the current state and what the near future holds for the industry. This thesis concentrates particularly on the impacts that ship dismantling has on the environment – nature and the human. The purpose was to find ways to reduce the environmental impacts.

The dismantling of a ship includes removing the equipment and breaking the hull. Ship dismantling meets many of the characteristics of recycling but on the other hand because of its adverse environmental effects it is rarely referred to as recycling. A very high recycling rate can be reached especially with tanker ships because the share of the ship’s steel hull from the total mass of the vessel is significant.

There have been attempts to regulate the environmental impacts of ship dismantling since the late 1980s. The results have however been poor because the regulations have been easy to avoid. The creation of new stricter and internationally binding laws is very slow. Entering into force is even slower.

95 percent of all commercial vessels are dismantled in South Asia where the labour costs are low and the occupational safety and environmental requirements are minimal. The largest country in the field of ship dismantling is India. The most common method of ship dismantling is to beach a vessel during a high tide. During the low tide ships are cut into pieces manually with gas torches. The process takes place on unprotected beaches. Hazardous substances then spread freely into the ocean and the soil.

The decision of dismantling a ship is made when the maintenance expenses exceed the profits from operating the ship. The utilization rate of a ship is directly comparable to the global economy. During a global economic boom the operators try to avoid breaking their ships because of high freight rates. The ship dismantling industry works inversely compared with the global economy. During the recent recession a record number of ships have been scrapped.

Keywords: ship dismantling, ship recycling, environmental impact

Author: Juho Vuori

BACHELOR´S THESIS | ABSTRACT

TURKU UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES

Mechanical and Production Engineering | Product Development

Completion of the thesis 15 May 2013

YPSA's works in Shipbreaking:

National conference on ship breakingYoung Power in Social Action (YPSA), a NGO, is working to improve the conditions in the Chittagong shipbreaking yards. To do this we are:

- Running a campaign and doing advocacy to raise awareness in the community and at the national level.

- Trying to influence international policy makers for ensuring environment friendly ship dismantling.

- Aiming to influence the policy makers to ensure that the necessary measures are taken to uphold the rights of workers and that shipbreaking is conducted in a safe and environmentally friendly way.

- Conducting research, monitoring and fact finding activities at the grassroots level on the conditions and impact of shipbreaking activities in Chittagong.

- Providing support and assistance to injured shipbreaking workers and the families of deceased workers along with different development programs in the surrounding villages.

- Project implementetion:Advocacy for a Public Policy to Ensure Human Rights in Shipbreaking Industry

Duration: August 2003 to October 2008

 

Situation

A severe cyclone in 1960 drove a Greek ship onto Sitakunda Upazilla's shores, and could not be refloated. In 1964 the ship was bought and scrapped by Chittagong Steel House. The shipping industry was born.

The ship breaking industry boomed in the 1980s. Developed countries such as United Kingdom, Taiwan, and Spain wanted to get rid of the industry since it did not comply with the new environmental protection standards. Bangladeshi industrialists took the opportunity to adopt ship breaking, as it raked in much profit. Today 52% of large ships are scrapped in Bangladesh.

Today YPSA is working to improve public policies for a direct influence on 50 000 ship breaking workers. The problems of ship breaking are mostly related to the rights of the workers' rights, health and working environment. Examples include a lack of working conditions such as safety, hygiene, and protective gear. There is also a lack of appropriate policies and laws that will protect the workers from accidental deaths (e.g., one injury per day is common to the ship breaking yards), and environmental hazards (i.e., illnesses caused by exposure to toxins). In addition there are no emergency services, treatment or compensation for the workers.

 

Initiatives

YPSA is the first non-governmental organization to address the basic rights and needs of ship breaking workers. They meet the challenge with the following primary activities:

1. Research

Research is an important component, as it helps gives concrete proof about the legal and real situation of all stakeholders' rights (i.e., workers, contractors, etc.). The subsequent documents have been published as a result:

- Workers in Ship breaking Industries: A Baseline Survey of Chittagong (Bangladesh)

- Ship Breaking Activities and its Impact on the Coastal Zone of Chittagong , Bangladesh : Towards Sustainable Management' by Dr. Md. M. Maruf Hossain and Mohammad Mahmudul Islam

 

2. Sensitization and Awareness

Since YPSA is the first NGO to work on ship breaking issues, it has the task of sensitizing the media and other stakeholders, (e.g., local and national government, political parties, ship breaking contractors, etc) and making them responsible to the worker's rights. YPSA does this by:

- Building a rapport with all the stakeholders as well as the administration and policy makers (e.g., contractors)

- Local and national awareness building through publications and campaigns (e.g., rallies, Human Rights Day, etc.)

- Formation of forums such as the Ship breaking Watch Forum, Ship breaking Social Forum, and Students' Forum for Ship breaking

- Building network, coalition and alliance with different groups and organizations

 

3. Mobilization

To mobilize the policy makers and society about the real challenges of the ship breaking industry, YPSA:

- Educates shipyard workers on their rights and specific ship breaking policies

- Organizes shipyard workers to act as pressure groups to initiate media and local government interest

- Uses the Information, Education and Motivation (IEM) approach to make stakeholders more responsive and active towards worker's rights

- Acts with the international community on ship breaking to create pressure on policy makers and ship breaking owners

- Pressures policy makers to reformulate policies at the international and national level to formulate the policy

- Strengthens existing forums, associations, professional bodies/groups to raise collective voices in favor of ship breaking policy (e.g., professors, students, ship breaking workers)

 

Outcomes

National conferenceAs a result of dedication and hard work from the Advocacy and Publication unit staff, ship breaking workers becoming aware of their basic labour rights. People are more aware of the locations where the shipyards are concentrated, and at the district level government officials have become more active. Policy makers have also started to be aware about the crisis. Specifically, Bangladesh's Department of Environment and Shipping is in the process of making a guideline for ship breaking. Owners have even agreed to build a hospital for the workers.

There are still a lot of challenges to meet, but YPSA is further expanding their good relations with international organizations like GREENPEACE. For example, an international report was published jointly with GREENPEACE. YPSA also has membership to an NGO platform on ship breaking based in Brussels.

They continue to do in depth research about workers' problems and their rights, as well as bring national awareness to the issue. There is no official policy up to date, so YPSA must meet face obstacles such as getting legal aid for workers and their families, and acquiring a draft policy. To gain more public awareness, they would like to develop photography and video documentaries, as well as a website dedicated to ship breaking.

Supporting organizations: Manusher Jonno Foundation

Source: YPSA

http://www.shipbreakingbd.info/YPSAworks.html

Press Release – Bangladesh Shipbreaking Still Dirty and Dangerous With at Least 20 Deaths in 2013

NGOs Call for Change during National Strategy Meeting of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Dhaka, 13 December 2013 – Bangladeshi member organisations of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform, a global coalition of human rights, labour rights and environmental organisations seeking to prevent hazardous shipbreaking practices, called upon the business and government stakeholders in Bangladesh to join forces and ensure clean and safe ship recycling. During the National Strategy Meeting of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform, all members stressed that the shipbreaking industry as well as the Government of Bangladesh were doing too little to protect people and the environment from the harmful impacts of shipbreaking activities. At least around 20 people died in the shipbreaking yards in 2013 according to data collected by the different member organisation of the Platform and press reports – a high figure for a total number of workers between 10,000-20,000. There are no authoritative figures as neither the industry nor the authorities publish information on accidents and casualties.

“Even when the High Court of Bangladesh has said that shipbreaking should be strictly regulated and should not take place directly on beaches, but rather in proper structures such as docks, the government does not even enforce its own laws or the High Court’s orders directed to the industry, nor does it propose real alternatives to hazardous beaching,”, says Syeda Rizwana Hasan, Chief Executive of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA). “If Bangladesh does not comply with the international law on transboundary movement of hazardous wastes, it will remain a dumping ground for the developed countries. It will allow some companies to make huge profits at the cost of the environment. It is totally unacceptable that environment, health and safety are made subordinate to a deadly industry”.

“Occupational health and safety when breaking ships on mudflats is a disaster: the risk of accidents is very high,” says Mujibur Rahman Bhuiyan, Vice-Chairman of the Bangladesh Institute for Labour Studies (BILS). “Moreover, workers are exposed to hazardous substances such as asbestos and toxic fumes. We can only estimate the extent of dangerous occupational diseases such as asbestosis that drastically reduce the life expectancy of workers”.

“There is a joint responsibility of all business stakeholders involved in this industry to make it clean and safe. Next to the shipbreaking yards in Bangladesh, the ship owners who are mostly based in Europe, North America, China or Japan have the primary responsibility to ensure the clean and safe recycling of their old ships”, says Patrizia Heidegger, Executive Director of the Brussels-based secretariat of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform. “It is unacceptable that most ship owners just externalise the cost of shipbreaking to countries such as Bangladesh. While peoples’ lives are at stake, they continue to make huge profits from selling their ships. Substandard practices perpetuate the circle of poverty instead of ensuring sustainable livelihoods.”

“Shipbreaking workers are particularly vulnerable with the absence of health and safety rights at work. Establishing healthy trade union institution and ensure collective bargaining power of workers in this sector is therefore essential to improve better working and living conditions, says Repon Chowdhury, Executive Director of the Bangladesh Occupational Health, Safety and Environment Foundation (OSHE). “We call on the Government to demonstrate real political commitment to effectively enforce labour law at yard level towards making the shipbreaking industry decent, green and 100% compliant”.

“In 2008, YPSA in a joint study with the NGO Shipbreaking Platform and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) found that up to 25% of the workers in the yards are children. This is unacceptable in an industry that the Government itself has declared extremely hazardous”, says Md. Arifur Rahman, Chief Executive of Young Power in Social Action (YPSA). “Also in the last two years we have documented workers as young as 15 years who died in accidents – proof that adolescent workers are still employed.”

The NGO Shipbreaking Platform and its members demand clean and safe ship recycling globally and oppose the toxic trade in end-of-life vessels between the ship owning countries and countries such as Bangladesh, Indian and Pakistan where ships are scrapped directly on beaches without proper precautions for safety, health and environment. They called for a joint effort by Governments, the maritime industry and international organisations to ensure clean and safe ship dismantling.

CONTACT

Patrizia Heidegger, Executive Director, NGO Shipbreaking Platform

In Dhaka: 0171 1188597. patrizia@shipbreakingplatform.org

Delphine Reuter, Communications Officer, NGO Shipbreaking Platform

In Brussels: 0032 484 305 556. delphine@shipbreakingplatform.org

Source: NGO Shipbreaking Platform. 13 December 2013

Chinese subsidies to shake up shipbreaking market:

The Chinese government has announced a long-awaited scrapping subsidy plan that aims to boost the country’s ailing shipbuilding and shipping industries.

The plan, drafted by four ministerial level departments, applies only to China-flagged tonnage that is demolished at domestic yards in North and South China. Foreign flagged vessels and owners are exempt from the policy.

The key highlights of the subsidies include a premium of RMB750 per gt ($124 per gt) to be provided to shipowners and applied to any Chinese flagged vessels that are recycled locally. The same level of subsidy to be applied on any newbuilding (from domestic owners to be Chinese flagged) that is built in China.

This subsidy is only applicable if the shipowner has scrapped a similar sized vessel over the same time period at a domestic recycling yard. The scheme will include vessels delivered to Chinese yards during fiscal 2013, and will last through fiscal 2015.

The subsidies have their share of limitations. One shortcoming is that the procedure for Chinese owners and Chinese flagged vessels seeking to make full use of the subsidies is expensive and complicated.

Domestic companies are first required to obtain the necessary approvals or licenses from the Chinese Communications Ministry. Thereafter, they are required to set up an operating company in mainland China, and are required to pay a tax rate of 25% on the transaction.

There is an age limitation for vessels to be Chinese flagged, viz. 18 years for containers and 20 years for bulk carriers.

The immediate beneficiary of the above subsidies appeared to be the major state-run Chinese companies, which had committed some 40 vessels to Chinese yards during 2013. Additionally, at least one VLCC from Chinese owners has been reported sold to a local yard.

At the time of filing this report, only five yards in North and South China had made the cut. However, several more (from North China) are expected to obtain the necessary approvals in the near future.

If Chinese owners and yards can sift through all these complicated rules and lay their hands on the subsidies, it could mean that fewer Chinese-flagged vessels would be making their final journey towards the Indian sub-continent.

Even before the Chinese government announcement of subsidies for shipbreaking, the recycling industry in India had turned cautious, with both steel prices and currency fluctuating. This had led to a majority of end buyers choosing not to make any offers at all, and has resulted in nearly half of junk shipyards in Alang being empty.

There were far fewer bulkers, tankers, reefers (due to the high season) or even MPP / tweens / general cargo units for sale due to improving freight rates. Container rates, though, remain poor and certain sizes and types (coupled with the new eco designs) are swiftly making vast swathes of this sector virtually redundant.

There have been no recent market sales in India, Pakistan and China, though a greater number of container vessels have unsurprisingly become available for sale.

 “It is now increasingly becoming the task of the cash buyer to find the hot end buyer in Alang for any given tonnage, and work with him to conclusion, rather than risk speculating and losing out heavily,” said US-based cash buyer GMS.

Meanwhile, elections have been announced in Bangladesh for 5 January 2014, as a result of which, a select group of end buyers has been gambling on the fact that the continued political instability, strikes and blockades could contribute to a rise in steel prices, and are stockpiling their yards accordingly.

Source: sea trade global. 13 December 2013

http://www.seatrade-global.com/news/asia/chinese-subsidies-to-shake-up-shipbreaking-market.html

China announce ship recycling subsidies of CNY 750 per GRT:

The Chinese Government announced on December 9th 2013 the details of ship recycling subsidies that are to be granted to Chinese flagged vessels that are recycled at domestic yards in North and South China.

Key highlights of the subsidies are as below

1. A premium of 750 RMB / GRT (about USD 124 / GRT) is provided to ship owners and is applied to any Chinese flagged vessel(s) that are recycled locally.

2. A subsidy of 750 RMB / GRT (= USD 124 / GRT) is to be applied on any newbuilding(s) (from domestic owners to be Chinese flagged) that is/are built in China. This subsidy is only applicable if the ship owner has scrapped a similar sized vessel over the same time period, at a domestic recycling yard.

3. The subsidy scheme will included vessels delivered to Chinese yards during fiscal year 2013 and will last through fiscal year 2015.

However, the subsidies do have their share of limitations, some of which are as follows:

1. At the time of writing, only a handful of yards (about 5) in North and South China have made the cut. However, several more (from North China) are expected to obtain the necessary approvals in the near future.

2. The procedure for Chinese owners / Chinese flagged vessels seeking to make full use of the subsidies, is expensive and complicated. Domestic companies are first required to obtain the necessary approvals / licenses from the Chinese Communications Ministry. Thereafter, they are required to set up an operating company in mainland China and are required to pay a tax rate of 25% on the transaction.

3. Being implemented for the domestic Chinese market, foreign flagged vessels and owners are exempt from this policy.

4. Lastly, there is an age limitation for vessels to be Chinese flagged ie 18 years old for containers and 20 years old for bulk carriers.

The immediate beneficiary of the above subsidies seems likely to be the (major) state run Chinese companies, who have committed about 40 vessels to Chinese yards during 2013. Additionally, at least one VLCC from Chinese owners has also been reported sold to a local yard.

Source: steel guru. 12 December 2013

http://www.steelguru.com/international_news/China_announce_ship_recycling_subsidies_of_CNY_750_per_GRT_GMS/329463.html