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
+32 2 609 44 19
Source: NGO
Shipbreaking Platform. 27 October 2016
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