At the end of April, European shipowners, government officials from France, Germany and Belgium, and the European Commission visited shipbreaking yards in Alang, India. Despite several indications that NGOs, including the NGO Shipbreaking Platform, would be part of the delegation, no NGO was invited to join. MarEx took a closer look.
The Complaint
“We were clearly not welcome to join this
visit. Critical civil society voices are not wanted in Alang – neither by
shipowners, nor by the yards,” said Patrizia Heidegger, Executive Director of
the NGO Shipbreaking Platform. “This confirms the lack of transparency under
which the yards in Alang operate.”
The visit is organized by the European
Community Shipowners’ Association (ECSA). It is an attempt by both shipowners
and certain yards in India to convince European policy makers that yards in
Alang should be approved for the upcoming E.U. list of accepted ship recycling
facilities, says Heidegger. “However, under the European Ship Recycling
Regulation and the recently published technical guidelines on the requirements
for ship recycling facilities, it is clear that beaching facilities do not
qualify for the E.U. list.”
In regard to the visit, local environmental
groups raised concerns related to working conditions, poor downstream waste
management and continued pollution of the coastal waters in Alang.
On Site in Alang
MarEx spoke to Dr Anand M. Hiremath, a
specialist on Indian ship recycling based in Bhavnagar, India, who accompanied
the owners on their visit to Alang. Hiremath works closely with selected yards
to ensure compliance of the guidelines established by the Hong Kong Convention
(HKC) for Safe and Responsible Recycling of Ships. In this regard he liaises
closely with the Ship Recycling Association of India, the Gujarat Maritime
Board, the Ministry of Shipping and other local organizations and governmental
institutions. Additionally, he is responsible for the development and
implementation of cash buyer GMS’ responsible ship recycling program.
Can you tell us about the yards
that ECSA visited?
The ECSA fact-finding delegation started its
day in Alang by visiting the Labor Training and Welfare Institute followed by a
labour colony. The delegation then
visited eight yards:
Kalthiya Ship Breaking Yard (HKC certified)
Panchavati Ship Breakers (Normal yard)
Hariyana Ship Breakers (Normal yard)
Shubh Arya Steel (HKC certified)
Leela Ship Recycling (HKC certified)
J R D Industries (Certification in process)
Priya Blue Industries (HKC certified)
Hoogly Ship Breaking Yard (Normal yard)
They closed the day at the Gujarat Enviro
Protection and Infrastructure Limited’s Treatment Storage and Disposal
Facility, part of their Integrated Common Hazardous Waste Management Facility.
There are currently 80 working yards in Alang
out 130 registered yards, the eight yards visited by the delegation therefore
represent 10 percent of the number of yards and contribute around 15 percent of
the total recycling activity in Alang.
How were the yards chosen?
After discussions between the Ship Recycling
Association of India and ECSA it was decided that the delegation would chose
the yards that they wished to visit.
Half of the yards visited were HKC compliant
as one of the key goals of the trip was to demonstrate that the HKC does
deliver the high standards of worker welfare and environmental stewardship that
the European Commission expects from yards on its approved European List of
ship recycling facilities. One yard was in the process of improving its infrastructure
and systems to achieve HKC compliance and the remaining three were normal
yards.
The visit to one of these normal yards was
specifically requested at the time of the visit by one of the officials as they
had heard negative reports about that particular yard and wanted to see it for
themselves. At that yard they toured the facility and met with the owner who
explained his ambition to upgrade the facilities.
This manner of yard selection ensured that
the delegation had confidence that they were experiencing full transparency and
openness.
What levels of environmental protection and
worker health and safety were covered across the range of yards chosen given
that the industry in general has been criticized for beaching in a way that is
polluting and unsafe for workers, for lack of protective wear for workers, for
lack of medical support in case of accidents and for using child labor?
Let me first state that in my six years of
experience in Alang I have not seen child labor in any yard.
In terms of the yards visited on this trip.
The HKC compliant yards work and manage each project according to a bespoke
ship-specific recycling plan, using the design of the vessel and Inventory of
Hazardous Materials (IHM) provided by the ship owner to plan a safe and
environmentally-friendly dismantling sequence. They have developed safe waste
removal procedures, and installed advanced waste handling facilities at their
yards (for example, negative pressure asbestos handling units) and specialist
employees have been trained and equipped for handling specific wastes.
All workers are provided with an Employer
State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) card which entitles the worker and his
family to free medical treatment in any ESIC approved hospital in the state.
They are also provided an identity card and have a dress code based on tasks
and personal protective equipment where necessary. Periodic training is also
mandatory for workers including training for working at height, or in a
confined space, oil spill control, fire prevention, control and evacuation and
for safe welding, cutting and grinding.
These are the standards one of the other
yards is working towards, and they already have the majority of the necessary
safety processes and procedures in place.
The ECSA delegation witnessed lower standards
at the non-compliant yards in Alang, but GMS is not arguing that the E.U. Ship
Recycling Regulation permit these yards for use by European shipowners or that
there be no legislation for change. Indeed GMS has long been a supporter of the
entry into force of the HKC so that compliance with its rigorous safety and
environmental standards becomes mandatory.
The trip was intended to demonstrate the
considerable progress that is being made in sustainable ship recycling within
the region. It further aimed to demonstrate that the HKC can deliver safe and
environmentally sound ship recycling regardless of its location, if it is
supported the world over.
If interpreted as a ban on beaching, the E.U.
legislation threatens to split the industry into “good recycling” and “bad
recycling” along geographic lines with no way to bridge the gap between the
two. By allowing recycling at HKC-compliant yards the E.C. could help to raise
standards for all of the world’s recycling yards and all those that work within
the sector, no matter where in the world they happen to be.
How much time did the yards
have to prepare for the visit?
The yards visited underwent no special
preparation for the ECSA visit. They have been maintained as per routine
housekeeping procedure and most of the yards were working when ECSA delegation
visited. Yards were transparent in providing information to the delegation and
the attendees were free to inspect every inch of the yards without any
restriction other than those posed by ensuring the health and safety of the
workers and the attendees themselves.
How can you reassure the industry that the
visit wasn’t skewed to ensure that the shipowners went home with a positive
impression?
The organizers worked very hard to ensure
that the visit was transparent and open and that the delegation saw the real
Alang. The input of the delegation into the yards that were visited, including
that they chose and visited unrestricted a yard that they had received negative
reports about, is evidence of that transparency.
The trip worked on the principle of seeing is
believing. Most of the people who talk about the situation in Alang have not
visited the yards, seen what HKC compliance means in practice or had a chance
to witness the change taking place. The trip has gone some way to changing
that.
What Indian regulations govern
the yards?
The Government of India has implemented the
Ship Breaking Code-2013 which has firmed up safety provisions for workers and
delegated more powers to industrial safety personnel. It is very similar to
requirements outlined in the HKC. The yards are implementing the code
effectively and with the intended spirit in tact.
What proportion of yards do you consider need
to make substantial change in order to reach levels acceptable by the Hong Kong
Convention and what are the key things that need to change?
Irrespective of the ratification status of
the HKC, yards will continue to adopt compliance voluntarily and seek certification
of that compliance from leading class societies. Last week, the fifth yard in
Alang received HKC compliance certification from RINA and seven further yards
are currently going through HKC Statements of Compliance process to be
certified. Once there are 12 compliant yards that would represent 15 percent of
the total yards in Alang.
The view has been expressed that although the
standards of worker safety, amenities and medical care in the region’s
shipbreaking yards might seem low by the standards of some nations, they are
actually relatively good compared to the villages from which many workers come.
Do you think that is true in the case of Alang? How much change, therefore, do
you think is realistic to expect?
I agree with that assessment. However, that
does not mean that improvement has not occurred, that those improvements cannot
be taken further and that we should not expect high safety standards for
workers wherever they are in the world.
The demand for green recycling is currently
filling the HKC compliant yards in India. It is driving improvement throughout
the region by creating competition and we have seen this developing into a
virtuous cycle.
By banning beaching, including at HKC
compliant yards that have made significant investments in infrastructure and
training to deliver high standards of worker welfare and environmental
stewardship, the European Commission will negate that improvement and catalyze
a reduction in standards. All this regulation will achieve is to abandon the
majority of the world’s ship recycling infrastructure and workers to the realms
of the non-compliant, not at all in line with the goal of raising standards at
all yards across the world.
Source: maritime-executive.
08 May 2016
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