2014 saw great improvement, but still
five Norwegian shipowners send ships for scrapping on Indian beaches.
Bellona has worked for years to stop Norwegian ship
owners from conducting so-called “beaching”, that is sending ships to
irresponsible scrapping on beaches in Bangladesh, Pakistan and India. New
figures for 2014 show that there has been progress. 21 Norwegian ships were
scrapped on Asian beaches in 2013 compared to only six last year. Instead of
unhealthy and environmentally harmful manual scrapping on beaches, Norwegian
ship owners are now selecting shipyards in China, Turkey and Denmark.
Nevertheless five Norwegian companies still beached ships in Alang in India in
2014:
Norwegian Car Carriers ASA (to skip)
I.M. Skaugen AS
Continental Ship Management AS
Salhus Shipping AS
Stolt-Nielsens Rederi AS
Norwegian Shipowners’ Association should be clearer
NSA has dissuaded its members from scrapping ships in
Bangladesh. Bellona Adviser Sigurd Enge sees no reason why they should not
extend this to also apply to India and Pakistan.
– “Beaching” of ships is indefensible both for health
and the environmental reasons. The working conditions sm and environmental
damage is obvious and there is currently no difference to this job in India
than in Bangladesh, says Enge.
He thinks it is a pity that the NSA recommendations
aren’e clearer.
– We would like to see the NSA set clearer guidelines
here. Instead we see individual ship owners taking responsibility to avoid
sending their ships for beach scrapping, said Enge.
Horrendous conditions
A new Indian study of conditions at scrapping
companies in Alang show that around 470 workers have died in accidents at this
area’s shipbreaking sites since 1984. During the same period there were a
reported 400 fires.
Last year alone 23 workers died on beaches in India,
Pakistan and Bangladesh. 66 were seriously injured after falling from great
heights, explosions and fires. Many workers have also been crushed under
falling steel plates.
The 35,000 un-unionized workers live in shacks
on-site, and most lack water, electricity, toilets, drainage and sanitary
facilities. Children do not have access to education. The report says that the
employer has set up 12 showers and six toilets that 35,000 people will share.
Neither is maintained.
Moreover, the ships contain toxic waste such as
asbestos, heavy metals, PCBs, oil residues and organic waste. It’s impossible
to store or remove this waste safely on a beach where the tide is constantly
washing in.
The Norwegian shipowners Knutsen NYK Tankers, Tschudi
Shipping Company, Teekay Corporation and Siem Industries Incorporated has
recently ended beaching practices. They are now sending ships to shipyards in
Turkey and China.
Here’s where ships are broken up:
India 309
Bangladesh 222
China 163
Turkey 157
Pakistan 110
Denmark 19
Unknown 12
Belgium 6
Indonesia 5
USA 3
The picture in the article is taken from NGO Ship
Breaking Platform – of which Bellona is a member.
Read the press release of the Ship Breaking Platform
here
For more information, contact Bellona’s expert on the
topic:
Sigurd Enge
sigurd@bellona.no
+47 970 87 533
Source: Bellona. 26 January 2015
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