Out on the streets: ‘They don’t consider us humans’

KARACHI: Demanding their right to health and safety, the Gadani ship-breaking yard workers held a demonstration outside the Karachi Press Club on Sunday and called upon the federal and Balochistan governments to address their ‘long-pending’ issues.

A large number of workers arrived in Karachi from Gadani, Balochistan to lodge their protest against the authorities’ apathy towards the problems they have been facing for the last three to four decades. The event was organised by the National Trade Union Federation (NTUF).

Addressing the demonstration, NTUF president Rafiq Baloch said that the lawmakers should enact legislation to regularise workers at the Gadani ship breaking yard, which is one of the largest in the world, and to provide health and safety facilities.

He said that they had put forward their demands a number of times in the past but the rulers of the country did not pay any heed. “It seems that the government doesn’t even [consider] the labourers humans,” he said. “They haven’t even been given their basic rights to fair wage and social security.”

NTUF deputy general secretary Nasir Mansoor said that the federal government should ratify the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, 2009, and make laws in light of it. “There is a dire need of some special laws for the ship breaking workers because the conditions in which they have been forced to work [are] extremely dangerous and inhumane,” said Mansoor.

He said that there were around 20,000 workers associated with this industry but hardly any one of them was registered with the Employees Old-Age Benefits Institution and was given social security and pension.

“Some of the subjects fell within the domain of [the] federal government while some were with the provincial government,” he said, adding that neither tier of the government was actually taking a notice of the situation.

Ship-breaking Mazdoor Union president Bashir Mehmoodani said that accidents involving casualties are a routine at Gadani. Sharing a latest accident, he said that a worker, Wali Muhammad, died on October 21 after falling from a ship that was being dismantled.

“The matter is still pending as no action has been taken against the yard owners for not providing the worker with safety equipment,” he said, adding that the ship breaking work is as dangerous as mining and the workers were asked to maintain their safety on their own.

The protesters demanded that the government should address their issues and make legislation to protect them. They added that a worker who spends all his life in this field does not even get pension after retirement.

Talking about why the event was held in Karachi, the organisers said that it is because the provincial capital, Quetta, is far away from Gadani than Karachi. Therefore, they said, they decided to bring their plight into light here.

Source: The Express Tribune. 29 October 2016

http://tribune.com.pk/story/1215460/streets-dont-consider-us-humans/

Pakistan Ship Breaking: Labourers demand rights

KARACHI -  The workers at Gadani ship breaking yard should be regularised and provided with health and safety facilities, participants of a labour rights demonstration outside Karachi Press Club (KPC) demanded on Sunday.

 

The demonstration was organised by National Trade Union Federation and a number of workers belonging to the ship breaking yard and others sectors participated in it.

NTUF president Rafiq Baloch led the event.

The demonstrators said that more than 20,000 workers were directly or indirectly associated with the ship breaking industry but they all were deprived of their basic rights.

This is a sheer violation of labor rights, they maintained.

They told that the deaths of workers in accidents during work had become a routine at the ship breaking yard due to lack of implementation of labor rights and no health and safety arrangements.

Poor sanitation conditions were posing a danger to the lives of those living there, they said.

The demonstrators said that Gadani was one of the biggest ships breaking yard in the world but unlike others the worker here neither had social security cover nor were they registered with the relevant authorities.

“Despite working for more than 60 years, the labourers were deprived of their right to make union and to act as collective bargaining agents.

The workers who earned their employers billions were not even given hospital, ambulances, residences, education facilities, utilities such as water, gas and power.”

Due to lack of training of health and safety and such equipments, this ship breaking industry had become even dangerous than the mining industry, they said, expulsion of hazardous gases and material were a serious threat to workers lives and most of them were developing diseases and the sea inhabitants were also being affected with this.

They said that the government had turned a blind eye towards the ship breaking workers plight in collusion of the yard owners.

They demanded that the government should make legislation for the workers in the light of the Hong Kong Convention, the workers should be given their right to make union and act as collective bargaining agent, they should be provided with safety equipments and with the training to use them along with facilities of health, education, residence, and other utilities.

Source: The Nation. 31 October 2016

http://nation.com.pk/karachi/31-Oct-2016/labourers-demand-rights

Maersk incited business partner to opt for worst breaking practices for 14 ships:

Brussels, 28 October 2016 - A third report by the investigative journalists of Danwatch, “Maersk and the shadowy deals”, reveals that the Danish container ship giant has incentivised the sale of 14 ships to substandard shipbreaking yards on the beaches of Bangladesh and India in 2013/2014. At the same time, Maersk prided itself with a progressive ship recycling policy and its cooperation with state-of-the-art yards in China. The report in Danish was released last week and has created a media uproar in Denmark. The story has been widely featured on TV2, daily newspaper Politiken and other major outlets. It triggered critical reactions from a wide range of stakeholders and forced Maersk to admit that such shady deals should never have been made.

Late in 2013, Maersk sought early termination of a charter party for 14 ships due to the vessels’ poor rentability and the general overcapacity in the container ship market. Maersk had previously been the owner of the vessels before they sold them to a finance construct in Germany, MPC Flottenfonds III, in 2009. Maersk then continued operating them based on a long-term charter. In 2014, the Platform investigated that the 14 vessels operated by Maersk had ended up in some of the worst shipbreaking yards in Bangladesh and India, and contacted Jacob Sterling, then Head of Sustainability at Maersk. He said: “We encourage other ship owners to recycle their ships in a responsible way, including those that we charter ships from.” In an article, Sterling also stated: “NGOs argue that beaching must end now. We agree”.

Sterling’s response regarding the chartered ships was a lie: a quick look into Maersk’s addendum to the charter contract is enough to understand that. First, Maersk explicitly asked the German owner through a clause in the contract to ensure the immediate demolition of the vessels in order to get them off the market. Second, Maersk demanded in another clause that the vessels had to be sold for the highest price available on the scrap market – without any consideration of environmental or social standards. With the latter clause, Maersk put pressure on the ship fund to sell the 14 vessels for a minimum price of 447 USD per ton, a price that corresponded at the time to the prices offered in South Asian beaching yards. No facility operating under safe and sound conditions would have been able to pay such a high price. Moreover, the contract between Maersk and MPC states that if MPC were to sell the vessels for a lower price, Maersk would have to pay the difference. And, crucially, if MPC managed to sell for a higher price, it was under an obligation to pay Maersk the difference in profit earned. The MPC case is likely not an isolated one. The Platform found that Maersk had sold another three older ships to Greek owner Danaos and immediately chartered them back on a long-term basis. Also these three vessels ended up in beaching yards.

“In 2014, we believed that Maersk was an industry leader with regards to sustainable ship recycling practices. In Maersk’s CSR reports, we could read about their much publicised cooperation with Chinese ship recycling yards, we were shown futuristic videos on ‘total vessel recycling’ and the Head of Sustainability made strong ‘off the beach’ statements”, says Patrizia Heidegger, Executive Director of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform, “getting hold of the charter contract opened our eyes to the reality: Maersk actively incentivised business partners to sell to the highest bidder, inevitably offering the lowest standards. Maersk was fully aware that these ships would be broken in some of the worst yards in Bangladesh and India and even had a direct financial interest in that by earning an extra profit.”

After Maersk’s business tactics were revealed in the Danish press, the shipping line has received strong criticism for its unsustainable shipbreaking practices from Danish Parliamentarians, leading Danish environmental organisations, and its own investors. “Maersk had no other choice but to apologise publicly for both their shady deals and the illegal export of their floating storage and production tanker, the North Sea Producer, from the UK to Bangladesh. Maersk admitted to the media that they should not have made such deals”, says Heidegger, “however, apologies for the worst practices now seem to be the strategy to make the current breaking practice in Alang, India, look like a good solution”.

Danwatch’s investigations at Maersk’s Shree Ram yard in Alang have shown severe shortcomings related to fundamental labour rights, environmental safeguards and basic health and safety standards. Maersk’s support of the beaching yards in Alang stalls any development in India to move ship recycling to modern industrial platforms. Such a transition was already supported by the Government of Gujarat and investors in the 1990s when the Pipavav dry dock was built in order to bring the Indian ship recycling industry to an acceptable level. However, the shipping industry’s profits on the beaches of Alang have consolidated the beaching yards’ monopoly in India, while innovative new businesses from India have been stifled.

”We and other key stakeholders maintain: the future of shipbreaking is not on the beaches of South Asia, but in modern ship recycling facilities”, says Heidegger, “Maersk should lead the way in supporting innovative companies, rather than scotching development in India by supporting a method which is banned in Europe. While India’s space programme is launching satellites for the US and Canada, the shipping industry wants us to believe that Indian companies can dismantle ships only on a beach?”

CONTACT

Patrizia Heidegger

Executive Director

NGO Shipbreaking Platform

patrizia@shipbreakingplatform.org

+32 2 609 44 19

Source: NGO Shipbreaking Platform

Work to scrap North Sea Producer on Bangladesh beach gets under way:

Media and research centre Danwatch claims the yard in Bangladesh 'violates both national legislation and international standards'.

Controversial work to break up the North Sea Producer on a Bangladesh beach is under way.

Work is under way to scrap the North Sea Producer on a Chittagong beach (Photo: Danwatch)

When the former oil tanker was hauled away from its berth next to the Riverside Stadium earlier this year, its fate was unclear.

But its discovery on a beach-based scrapyard in Chittagong has caused controversy in Denmark , with its former owner, Danish company Maersk, coming under fire for it ending up there.

Media and research centre Danwatch claims the yard, where ships are “beached” before being broken up by hand, “violates both national legislation and international standards.”

It also quotes Maersk’s head of sustainability, Annette Stube, as admitting the company “has not been good enough to ensure that the ship was sent to scrap to a secure yard,” adding that Maersk is “really, really sorry that this has happened.”

But she added that the ship is not Maersk’s responsibility, blaming it on an intermediary who bought the vessel and sold it for scrap.

The story has hit the headlines in Denmark because for years, Maersk has publicly distanced itself from shipbreaking practices in Bangladesh which do not follow international standards for responsible ship recycling.

On Teesside, however, the interest is also in the ultimate fate of a ship which became a familiar sight for Boro fans during two stints moored alongside the stadium.

And Danwatch today confirmed the ship is now being broken up - a sad end for a once impressive vessel.

The Danwatch report, with daily newspaper Politiken and broadcaster TV2, includes footage of four workers climbing a rope ladder up the side of the Producer without safety harnesses or other fall protection, then lifting a gas canister after them with a rope.

Workers are quoted as saying it is a “difficult ship to cut” because it’s a former oil ship with “many, many pipes.”

The report also details the poor conditions and equipment the workers operate in.

People can be seen climbing onto the North Sea Producer (Photo: Danwatch)

It states: “At close range, the oil ship stands out from the other ships. A complicated labyrinth of pipes fills the entire deck. Five men climb approximately 20m up a rope ladder on the side of the ship. They climb in rhythm, keeping an eye on each other as they attempt to reach the top. They wear neither safety harness nor fall protection, and when they reach the deck, they begin to pull a gas canister up behind them on a rope.

“The shipbreaking has begun, and Ali Hassan, Abdullah Anwar, and Mohammad Chandra will soon be aboard the Producer. With their torch cutters in their hands, scarves over their mouths, and nothing on their feet, they will cut, tear and chop the ship into unrecognisable steel.”

Journalist Norma Josef Martinex of Danwatch confirmed to The Gazette: “The vessel Producer is being scrapped as we speak.”

Source: gazette live. 27 October 2016

http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/works-scrap-north-sea-producer-12087477

Shipbreaking: NGO asks governments to create jobs in the EU for sound recover

Brussels — The Maersk-owned floating oil production and storage tanker, North Sea Producer, left the UK in May 2016 and was beached in August at the Janata Steel shipbreaking yard in Chittagong. According to NGO Shipbreaking Platform, the vessel is likely to contain large amounts of highly contaminated residues including natural occurring radioactive material. The tidal beach, where the ship is currently being torn apart, is known for the human rights abuses and environmental pollution caused by substandard shipbreaking. The tanker’s export from the UK for demolition in Bangladesh was illegal under the European Waste Shipment Regulation.

The NGO Shipbreaking Platform calls on the UK Government to hold the Maersk-owned North Sea Production Company responsible for illegal trafficking in hazardous waste. The Platform has send a letter to the UK Environment Minister on 25 October.

The North Sea Producer was owned and operated by UK-based North Sea Production Company, a joint venture between Danish Maersk and Brazilian oil & gas company Odebrecht, with 50 percent ownership each. Having operated in the North Sea as an oil and gas floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, the vessel is likely to contain large amounts of residues that are contaminated by natural occurring radioactive material and sulphur in addition to the various other hazardous materials in its structure and tanks. The Bangladesh shipbreaking yards are not equipped with any infrastructure that could safely remove and dispose of such toxic wastes. According NGO Shipbreaking Platform, the North Sea Producer was allowed into Bangladesh based on a fake certificate stating that the tanker did not contain any hazardous materials. The import of end-of-life ships containing hazardous waste into Bangladesh is banned, but circumvented with such false documents.

“If Maersk sells a contaminated old oil tanker to an anonymous post box company in the Caribbean under the pretense of further operation use, this is at best a total failure of due diligence, if not punishable negligence. We expect the UK authorities to hold all involved companies responsible for illegal hazardous waste trafficking”, said Patrizia Heidegger, Executive Director of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform.

“It is highly likely that the North Sea Production Company sold the ship directly to cash buyers GMS (Global Marketing Systems), via an anonymous post box company in St. Kitts and Nevis. GMS is one of the world’s largest companies that specialises in selling end-of-life tonnage to the beaching yards in South Asia”, commented Patrizia Heidegger. “While GMS has recently been extremely busy in polishing its image with claims of ‘green ship recycling’, the company’s track record – and obvious continued practice – tells another story. GMS continues to strike deals with some of the worst shipbreaking yards in the world, including those in Bangladesh where hazardous waste management capacity is completely absent, where illegal child labour persists, and where workers are killed or maimed in accidents that could have been avoided.”.

And she added: “We are asking governments to effectively prevent any future illegal waste trafficking as we have seen with the case of the North Sea Producer. The large number of vessels and structures used in the North Sea that will need to be decommissioned in the coming years should prompt public strategies for the creation of jobs in the EU that promise the environmentally sound recovery of valuable resources.”

Source: NGO Shipbreaking Platform

http://recyclingportal.eu/Archive/27160

Ship Breaking Activity Grows Slowly but Steadily -BIMCO

Global ship demolition activity rose by 16 percent in the first nine months of 2016 in comparison to the same period of 2015, showcasing shipping industry action to counter the imbalance between supply and demand in the market, according to BIMCO.

 

However, diminishing demolition activity from March through July was bad for the recovery of the market. But could the recent increase in August and September be seen as a mild sign of hope?

From a broader perspective, a total of 36.2 million DWT was demolished in the first nine months of 2016, with most of it taking place in the first four months of 2016. This is equal to 21.8 million DWT or nearly twice as much as in the following five months of 2016.

 

However, comparing the period May - September 2016 in the same period as last year, the growth of demolition activity adds up to 2.9 million DWT or 26 percent. Therefore, the decrease in scrapping from the fourth till the ninth month of 2016 can be accounted for by cyclical demolishing activity.

“The poor global economic situation, as well as the depressing outlook for most of the seaborne shipping sector caused by excess supply of capacity, needs to be countered by a drastic increase in demolishing activity in order to lower merchant fleet growth,” said BIMCO’s Chief Shipping Analyst Peter Sand.

Regional demolition activity

Throughout 2014, 33.9 million DWT was demolished; China accounted for 26 percent and became the major ship breaking location. In 2015, demolition increased in comparison to the previous year by 5.8 million DWT, 15 percent. Bangladesh scrapping yards recycled 35 percent of the total in 2015.

 

In the first nine months of 2016, the market-share of Bangladesh diminished to 32 percent. However, it still maintained leading position as the single biggest scrapping location.

Comparing the period between January through September 2016 to the total previous year’s amount in DWT is a record in the making, 94 percent is already scrapped in the yards.

Continuous increase in average demolished ship size in DWT

In reference to the available data from the beginning of January 2014 through September 2016, the average demolished ship size in DWT increased on a year-on-year basis by 32 percent in 2015 and additionally 13 percent in 2016.

“The trend for the demolition of bigger ships can be explained by weak global demand, especially for containerships in 2016, which is not growing at the pace needed to match excess containership capacity,” Sand said.

“Another factor is the expansion of the Panama Canal, which takes the uniqueness away from the panamax ship segment.”

Pakistan has demolished, on average, the largest ships in DWT in the period between 2014 until present day. In the current year, Pakistan’s scrapping yards have on average ships with 79,077 DWT on their docks, in comparison to the global average of 47,845 DWT per ship.

 

Substantial differences between demolition by ship segments and demolition location

The dry bulk segment accounted for, from the beginning of January 2014 through September 2016, 72.9m DWT or 66 percent of the total demolition. Bangladesh demolition yards, took 35 percent alone of the total bulk demolishing activity. Throughout the years, in consecutive order, 16.4 million DWT, 30.6 million DWT and 25.8 million DWT of the dry bulk shipping segment was scrapped.

Crude oil tankers accounted for 8.6 million DWT or 8 percent of the total demolition in the entire reference period, especially in the year 2014 where 73 percent of the crude oil tanker total was scrapped. Pakistan alone demolished the majority of this particular segment with 49 percent.

As a minor segment, product tankers accounted for only 3.2 million DWT or 3 percent of the total demolition in the entire period. In 2014, 46 percent of the total for this segment was demolished, the majority in India with more than 50 percent.

Containership demolition accounted for 14.2 million DWT or 13 percent of the total demolition in two years and nine months starting from January 2014. Most notably, India demolished, in the whole period, 8.3 million DWT or 58 percent of the total. The majority of India’s container ship demolition occurred in the year 2014 with 3.8 million DWT or 46 percent. In the first nine months of 2016, 6.1 million DWT or 43 percent has already been demolished, therefore marking the current year a record breaker.

All other ship segments accounted for 10.7 million DWT or 10 percent in the period from January 2014 through September 2016. Bangladesh and India demolished, in total, 5.4 million DWT or 51 percent. In 2016, India has already demolished 1.1m DWT or 35 percent and is the single biggest location.

Ownership nationality

In the two year and nine-month period from January 2014, India demolished by far the most with 721 ships. However, the percentage of Indian shipowners demolishing in Indian ship demolition yards was only 8 percent, while Chinese shipowners scrapped 82 percent in local demolition yards.

Sand added, “The high ratio of Chinese shipowners demolishing at local shipbreaking yards can be explained by the government-run rebate program. It provides additional subsidies to Chinese shipowners who choose to recycle their ships in Chinese yards.”

Source: maritime professional. 27 October 2016

http://www.maritimeprofessional.com/news/ship-breaking-activity-grows-slowly-297439

Ship Demolition Fighting Industry Oversupply

Global demolition activity rose in the first nine months of 2016 in comparison to the same period of 2015, by 16%. Showcasing shipping industry action, to counter the imbalance between supply and demand in the market, reported BIMCO.

However, diminishing demolition activity from March through July was bad for the recovery of the market. But could the recent increase in August and September be seen as a mild sign of hope?

From a broader perspective, a total of 36.2m DWT was demolished in the first nine months of 2016, with most of it taking place in the first four months of 2016. This is equal to 21.8m DWT or nearly twice as much as in the following five months of 2016.

However, comparing the period May - September 2016 in the same period as last year, the growth of demolition activity adds up to 2.9m DWT or 26%. Therefore, the decrease in scrapping from the fourth till the ninth month of 2016 can be accounted for by cyclical demolishing activity.

Peter Sand, Chief Shipping Analyst at BIMCO, said: “The poor global economic situation, as well as the depressing outlook for most of the seaborne shipping sector caused by excess supply of capacity, needs to be countered by a drastic increase in demolishing activity in order to lower merchant fleet growth.”

This upswing in ship breaking follows PTI's recent coverage of Maersk's decision to stop selling on ships before they are scrapped, choosing instead to oversee the demolition process themselves.

Source: port technology. 27 Oct 2016

https://www.porttechnology.org/news/ship_demolition_fighting_industry_oversupply

Start new course in ship breaking and hazardous waste management: Madaviya tells IMU

Union Minister of State for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping and Chemical and Fertilizers Mansukh Madaviya today urged the Indian Maritime University (IMU) to start a new course in ship breaking and hazardous waste management.

Interacting with the faculty and students of the IMU during hisvisit to the IMU campus here, he said environment friendly ship breaking was in high demand in the current scenario and IMU should cater to this.

The IMU should start a new course in ship breaking and hazardous waste management, he added.

The Minister also asked the officials to arrange for on board training for the students to provide them the best practical knowledge about the industry.

''We should also ask private players to participate in training as this will bridge demand supply of marine experts'', he added.

He said the IMU, established through an Act of Parliament in November 2008 as a Central University, was poised to play a key role in the development of trained human resource for the maritime sector.

Pointing out that the ruling NDA regime has increased the budget for IMU to Rs 40 crore per year to boost the Maritime education as against Rs six crore allotted by the previous government for five years, Mr Mansukh Madaviya said ''our government is committed to provide quality education in all areas, including maritime sector.''

''We have miles to go in marine and nautical education and IMU should strive for it,''he said.

The Minister also urged the IMU authorities to make a study on best Maritime universities across the world and make IMU on par with them.

He also said the university should go more for international interaction to increase the expertise of the students and provide them better exposure.

"I see a lot of potential in the university and we should carry this positively and make it a leading varsity globally. We should provide more opportunities for students and give them the best facilities and training'', he said, adding, the IMU would be the center of excellence in the coming years.

Source: web india. 27 October 2016

http://news.webindia123.com/news/Articles/India/20161027/2978692.html

Protest vs. Hinobaan industrial estate aired

Farmers, fisherfolk and environment advocates are set to launch a people's campaign against the establishment of the Southern Negros Industrial Estate in Hinobaan, Negros Occidental, where a Japanese shipyard will be built, Dolly Celedonio, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas-Negros secretary general, said yesterday.

On Wednesday, during the visit of President Rodrigo Duterte to Japan, Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. signed a memorandum of understanding with Tsuneishi Heavy Industries for the construction of a ship recycling and re-use facility and a biomass power plant.

He said the construction of the ship facility is expected to start next year. Hinobaan Mayor Ernesto Estrao expects 5,000 jobs to be created and boost the economy of his town.

"Local executives proposing the project are dangling promises of employment, relocation, tourism and better life for Hinoba-an residents. But in reality, the project will affect hundreds of farmers and fisherfolk and will wipe out everything that they have -- their farms, their homes and their future," Celedonio said at a press conference in Bacolod yesterday.

A fact finding mission by the Defend Patrimony-Negros, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan - Negros, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, Pamalakaya and local group Asosasyon sang Manggagmay nga Mangunguma kag Mangingisda sa Obong shows that 300 households will be affected by the project, Felipe Levy Gelle Jr. of Defend Patrimony south Negros said.

The economic zone will cover about 150 hectares of prime agricultural lands and fishing ground of small fishermen, he added.

The proposed SNIE land-use plan obtained by the fact finding mission team showed that the ecozone will establish a ship breaking and ship recycling yard, car re-use and recycling facility , furniture company, soybean oil factory, biomass power plant, and a industrial waste collection facility, Celedonio said.

The project will also expand the Salvacion sea port and will develop the local airport, she noted.

 "Legitimate agrarian reform beneficiaries will be affected by the SNIE and Tsuneishi shipyard project. We ask the Department of Agrarian Reform to intervene, stop the land conversion and uphold the welfare of farmers of Hinoba-an," Celedonio said.

 The said lands targeted for the ecozone project were expropriated by the local government in 2014. There is also a pending petition for land conversion filed by Marañon for the 127-hectares of land formerly used by Insular Lumber Co., she said.

Jeremias Juliane of AMMMO said they will fight for the lands that are their only source of food and livelihood.

Source: visayan daily star. 29 October 2016.

http://www.visayandailystar.com/2016/October/29/topstory7.htm

Maersk involved in illegal toxic waste trafficking

Contaminated North Sea oil production and storage tanker ends up on the beach in Bangladesh

Brussels, 27 October 2016 - The Maersk-owned floating oil production and storage tanker, North Sea Producer, left the UK in May 2016 and was directly towed to Bangladesh, where it arrived on 14 August 2016. Two days later, the North Sea Producer was beached at the Janata Steel shipbreaking yard in Chittagong. The vessel is likely to contain large amounts of highly contaminated residues including NORM (natural occurring radioactive material). It is currently being torn apart on a tidal beach, sadly known for the human rights abuses and environmental pollution caused by substandard shipbreaking. The tanker’s export from the UK for demolition in Bangladesh was illegal under the European Waste Shipment Regulation. The NGO Shipbreaking Platform calls on the UK Government to hold the Maersk-owned North Sea Production Company responsible for illegal trafficking in hazardous waste [1].

The case has recently been high up on the agenda of Danish media [2], prompting both policy makers and investors of Maersk, including Nordea, and pension funds PFA and KLP, to react. Whilst Maersk claims that they sold the vessel for further operational use, they have so far been unwilling to reveal which company from the oil and gas sector bought the vessel and claimed to be able to operate it. Taking the current market conditions into account, it was highly unlikely that Maersk was able to find a new owner for the North Sea Producer within the oil and gas sector.

The North Sea Producer was owned and operated by UK-based North Sea Production Company, a joint venture between Danish Maersk and Brazilian oil & gas company Odebrecht, with 50% ownership each. Having operated in the North Sea as an FPSO [3], the vessel is likely to contain large amounts of residues that are contaminated by NORM and sulphur in addition to the various other hazardous materials in its structure and tanks. The Bangladesh shipbreaking yards are not equipped with any infrastructure that could safely remove and dispose of such toxic wastes. The North Sea Producer was allowed into Bangladesh based on a fake certificate stating that the tanker did not contain any hazardous materials. The import of end-of-life ships containing hazardous waste into Bangladesh is banned, but circumvented with such false documents.

“After the recent revelations on Maersk’s shipbreaking practices in India, we also had to learn that Maersk shamefully exposes workers in Bangladesh to enormous risks,” said Patrizia Heidegger, Executive Director of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform. “If Maersk sells a contaminated old oil tanker to an anonymous post box company in the Caribbean under the pretense of further operation use, this is at best a total failure of due diligence, if not punishable negligence. We expect the UK authorities to hold all involved companies responsible for illegal hazardous waste trafficking.”.

In late April, local newspapers wrote about the sale of the North Sea Producer. The North Sea Production Company was quoted as still being the owner and soon to strike a deal of which the details were confidential. Later, the newspapers stated to have been informed that the FPSO would be reused at the Tin Can Island Port in Nigeria. However, when the ship left Teesport, UK, on 17 May it sailed straight to Bangladesh, with only a few fuel stops for the tug boat Terasea Hawk on its way. Its first stop was in Namibia – way beyond the stated destination in Nigeria.

“It is highly likely that the North Sea Production Company sold the ship directly to cash buyers GMS (Global Marketing Systems), via an anonymous post box company in St. Kitts and Nevis. GMS is one of the world's largest companies that specialises in selling end-of-life tonnage to the beaching yards in South Asia,” says Patrizia Heidegger. “While GMS has recently been extremely busy in polishing its image with claims of ‘green ship recycling’, the company’s track record – and obvious continued practice – tells another story. GMS continues to strike deals with some of the worst shipbreaking yards in the world, including those in Bangladesh where hazardous waste management capacity is completely absent, where illegal child labour persists, and where workers are killed or maimed in accidents that could have been avoided.”.

A Saint Kitts and Nevis-based postbox company, Conquistador Shipping Corporation, [3] became the new registered owner of the ship during its last voyage. Contracts for the vessel with Janata Steel shipbreaking yard were signed with the help of a Chittagong-based agent. It is likely that GMS is behind Conquistador Shipping Corporation which is used for last voyage ship registration. GMS has been involved in similar cases before, such as in 2012 when they used anonymous post box companies in Panama and the end-of-life flag of Belize to illegally export two French ferries, SeaFrance’s Cézanne and Renoir, from France to India.

In the coming years a high number of vessels, including semi-submersible platforms, used by the oil and gas sector operating in the North Sea will be decommissioned. Some of these structures have already ended up on the South Asian beaches for breaking under conditions that are both dangerous and polluting.

“We are asking governments to effectively prevent any future illegal waste trafficking as we have seen with the case of the North Sea Producer. The large number of vessels and structures used in the North Sea that will need to be decommissioned in the coming years should prompt public strategies for the creation of jobs in the EU that promise the environmentally sound recovery of valuable resources,” says Patrizia Heidegger. 

NOTES

[1] The Platform has send a letter to the UK Environment Minister on 25 October.

[2] In addition to the Danwatch report, see also coverage in Danish TV2 and Politiken.

[3] The North Sea Producer was used as an oil and gas floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel in the North Sea at the MacCulloch oil field, 250km north-east of Aberdeen, for ConocoPhillips. When the MacCulloch field was closed, the FPSO was brought to Teesport in Middleborough.

[4] Conquistador Shipping Corporation is domiciled at P.O. Box 583, Morton House - Government Road Charlestown, Nevis. Offshore leaks documentation clearly indicated this is a typical post box company address. See also this link. In order to disguise their involvement in the sale of end-of-life vessels, cash buyers usually use anonymous post box companies, often located in the state whose flag of convenience is used for the last voyage. Similarly, the contracts with the local shipbreaking yard, or papers for the authorities, are signed by local agents so that the name and signature of the cash buyer does not appear on any document.

CONTACT

Patrizia Heidegger

Executive Director

NGO Shipbreaking Platform

patrizia@shipbreakingplatform.org

+32 2 609 44 19

Source: NGO Shipbreaking Platform. 27 October 2016

The EESC calls for a financial instrument to end “beaching”

Have you ever heard about beaching? It is not a relaxing outdoor sport or a fun internet game. On the contrary, behind this innocent-sounding word hides one of the harshest and most dangerous jobs in the world: shipbreaking on beaches in India, Bangladesh or Pakistan, where regulatory mechanisms are weak, ignoring basic safety rules, where labour force is cheap and respect for the environment barely non-existent. Unskilled workers – many of them under 18 – cut up these coffin-like vessels for an estimated 3 € for a 12 to 16 hour working day. Shipbreaking is the dismantling of end-of-life ships with the aim of recycling its materials.

EU has a moral responsibility to protect workers’ rights also outside Europe

“We have to end this dangerous work, which not only exploits the poorest, but also puts their life in danger on a daily basis. It is the EU’s moral duty to defend workers’ basic rights abroad too”, said Martin Siecker, rapporteur of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)’s own-initiative opinion on Shipbreaking and the recycling society, which was adopted on 19 October at the EESC’s plenary.

EU ship owners control around 40% of the world’s merchant fleet and account for around one third of the end-of-life tonnage beached in sub-standard yards in South Asia. Every year around 1,000 large ocean-going vessels are sold for dismantling. Over two thirds of these end-of-life ships end up on beaches in the above mentioned countries.

Tightening up regulation through economic instruments

The EESC urges the Commission to come up with more rigorous legislation that recognizes ship owners’ responsibility and duty to dispose of their ships in a decent way. The ‘polluter pays principle’ should also be applied to ship-owners and the EU has a particular responsibility to eliminate the abuses of irresponsible and inhuman ship dismantling, argues the EESC, calling for an economic instrument which can guide developments in the desired direction. “If Europe wants its ships to be scrapped in a responsible way, it is reasonable that it should ensure that the cost of doing so is integrated into the operating cost of the vessel”, said Richard Adams, co-rapporteur of the EESC opinion.

And the impact on ship owners will be modest: A recent study on a ship recycling licence (SRL) published by the European Commission shows that adding a mere 0.5 % to the operating costs of smaller ships and around 2% for larger categories would be enough to change the behaviour of 42% of ship owners, while a further rate increase or a shortening of the proposed capital accumulation would raise this percentage to 68%, and in the long run 97% of ships calling at EU ports would be dismantled in a proper way.

Several attempts have been made to enforce ship owner responsibility for coffin ships, but with little or no success, such as the International Maritime Organisation (IMO)’s Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships (HKC) and its International Ship Recycling Trust Fund. In the EU, the search for an effective solution has been on the agenda for many years. With the EU Ship Recycling Regulation (EU SRR), which will be applicable at the latest in 2018, the Commission is setting high standards for ship recycling facilities, but ship-owners can easily circumvent this regulation by transferring ownership or simply flagging out of the EU. With the financial instrument proposed by the EESC, however, ship owners could be prevented from abdicating their responsibility because if their ships are not dismantled in a facility that is on an EU approved list they cannot reclaim the money and have to pay a price.

A new industry for maritime areas

While the majority of ship recycling would probably still take place in countries with low labour costs, it would at least then happen under better working and environmental conditions. But sustainable ship recycling could also be profitable for Europe. Given the scarcity of raw materials and their high and volatile prices, an industry specializing in recycling end-of-life ships could generate growth and jobs in particular in maritime areas and help to reduce the import balance of raw materials.

Source: Hellenic shipping news. 27 October 2016

http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/the-eesc-calls-for-a-financial-instrument-to-end-beaching/