Conditions at beaching yard
strongly criticised
Brussels, 13 October 2016 - Investigative
journalists from Danwatch today release their comprehensive report on the
reality inside Shree Ram shipbreaking yard in Alang, India, where the Maersk
Georgia and Maersk Wyoming are currently being dismantled. The in-depth
investigations reveal breaches of labour rights, workers exposed to grave risks
for their health and safety, and severe environmental pollution caused by the
breaking of ships in the intertidal zone. The story first came out on Sunday in
the Danish newspaper Politiken, and has been covered widely in Danish media.
The investigation not only confirms the serious concerns with the beaching
method which the NGO Shipbreaking Platform has been voicing all along, but it
shows that Maersk’s shipbreaking practices do not even remotely meet the
standard the company has set for itself.
“The unacceptable conditions in the beaching
facility in Alang which Maersk has been praising for its alleged high standards
can no longer be ignored. Journalists have documented workers without contracts
and men endangering their health and lives when exposed to toxic fumes and
risks of explosions when torch-cutting in only T-shirts. When asked about the
environmental impact of their activities in Alang, the world’s leading ship
owner does not have an answer. Maersk’s trial and error approach in India is
seriously flawed. The conditions under which the Maersk ships are being broken
are even worse than what we expected,” says Patrizia Heidegger, Executive
Director of the Platform.
The Platform and the Clean Shipping Coalition
have strongly criticised Maersk for its U-turn from state-of-the-art ship
recycling back to the beaching yards in India [1]. Over many months, the
Platform has shared its concerns with the shipping line. The Platform’s
detailed critique of the Maersk “Responsible Ship Recycling Standard”
highlights why the Standard is far too weak to ensure the health and safety of
workers and to provide safeguards against pollution.
Not only have NGOs warned Maersk of the
serious risks, the shipping line itself commissioned a report on the pitfalls
of breaking ships in the intertidal zone. Danish consultancy Litehauz
highlighted severe pollution risks and the lack of solutions on the Alang
beaches. The report clearly states that huge investments to build adequate
infrastructure would be necessary in Alang, and questions the commercial
viability of investing in beaching yards, especially because some of the
problems are likely to be impossible to solve in the intertidal zone. Despite
the warnings, Maersk chose to ignore the concerns of environmental and human
rights experts.
“Maersk expects to make an extra profit of
150 million USD by selling off an estimated 70-100 ships to the beaching yards.
While masking their U-turn as a ‘good deed’ for India, Maersk has not invested
a single penny in new infrastructure in Alang”, says Patrizia Heidegger.
“Instead of pocketing this huge extra profit, the world’s largest ship owner
should just stick to its previous off-the-beach policy. And if Maersk wants to
support a real shift in India, why are they not investing this amount in a
state-of-the-art facility off the beach?”
Danish experts with whom the journalists have
shared their documentation were shocked to see the serious risks for workers’
health and safety as well as the grave environmental impact of Maersk’s
practices in Alang. Had this happened in Denmark, the yard would have been
closed on the spot, they say. The UN Special Rapporteur on Toxics and Human
Rights, Baskut Tuncak, also emphasises that the beaching method by its nature
does not allow for environmentally sound practices.
Only last December Shree Ram received a
Statement of Compliance with the Hong Kong Convention from the Japanese
classification society ClassNK. Such statements have been used by industry
stakeholders to claim vast improvements in Alang and that the beaching method
is able to provide acceptable levels of environmental protection. Shree Ram is
supposed to be one of the “best” yards in Alang. The Danwatch revelations
clearly show the wide discrepancy between the industry’s greenwashed
presentation of Alang and the factual conditions in the yards. ClassNK did not
want to comment on the breaches found by the journalists, but has earlier
stated that their certification of four Alang yards is only based on procedural
checks, not performance.
Members of the Danish Parliament, led by Pia
Olsen Dyhr, former Minister of Trade and Transport, now request the Environment
Minister to respond to whether Maersk has put pressure on the Danish government
to promote the Alang beaching yards at the European level. Beaching is banned
in Denmark and the rest of the EU. A new Regulation at the EU level asks the
European Commission to publish a list of acceptable ship recycling facilities
globally. Shree Ram is known to have applied to be on that list, but is not
expected to be approved. The findings of the investigations by Danwatch and
Politiken render this impossible.
“The findings at Shree Ram show how
meaningless statements of compliance with the Hong Kong Convention are, and
underlines that the Alang yards come nowhere close to providing the safeguards
needed to ensure truly clean and safe ship recycling”, says Patrizia Heidegger.
“The lobbyist of beaching have been cornered with their green-washing. In light
of these revelations, their attempts to put pressure on the European Commission
to list these beaching yards as acceptable seem even more pitiable”.
CONTACT
Patrizia Heidegger
Executive Director
NGO Shipbreaking Platform
+32 2 609 44 19
Source: NGO Shipbreaking Platform.
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