India: The NGO Shipbreaking Platform
has heavily criticised the Maersk Group’s decision to beach its end-of-life
vessels in India. ‘It is hypocritical to see Maersk’s engagement in India
presented proudly in the company’s CSR Report as one that aims at promoting
higher standards,’ states the NGO’s executive director Patrizia Heidegger.
The world’s largest container shipping
company, Maersk last week announced a commitment to help selected ship
recycling yards at Alang in India to upgrade facilities and practices to comply
with the company’s standards.
According to the Shipbreaking
Platform, Maersk was previously guided by a progressive policy on ship
recycling: its old vessels were dismantled in modern ship recycling facilities
in either China, Turkey or Europe. ‘Maersk’s decision to resort to the low-cost
beaching method in India undermines European efforts to improve global
conditions and the company’s position as industry leader,’ it argues.
‘The fact is that they are already
selling ships now to facilities that operate under conditions that would not be
allowed in Europe - they admit themselves that the decision to go to India is
primarily taken to make their financial report look better,’ comments
Heidegger.
Source: recycling
international. 19 February 2016
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