Brussels, 6 October 2016 - When Maersk
decided earlier this year to sell two end-of-life ships to beaching yards in
Alang, India, a broad coalition of European environmental and human rights NGOs
denounced the move [1]. It is expected that Maersk has to scrap at least 20 ships
in the near future in addition to the recently announced selling of a large
number of supply vessels from its oil and gas subsidiaries.
“Environmental and human rights experts have
criticised Maersk for taking this U-turn on its earlier progressive ship
recycling policy for the sake of extra profits to be made at the beaching
yards. The shipping line is no longer a ‘guiding star’ for the maritime
industry as it has now become one of the strongest lobbyists for the low-cost
method of beaching” said Patrizia Heidegger, Executive Director of the NGO
Shipbreaking Platform.
While Maersk has invited international and
Danish journalists to a tour of the Alang shipbreaking yards this week,
environmental and human rights experts deplore the lack of transparency and the
unwillingness to share information on the environmental and social impacts of
breaking the Wyoming and Georgia at Shree Ram shipbreaking yard in Alang.
“We are aware of the fact that Maersk is
hosting a visit to Alang for selected journalists this week. Whilst we were
initially also asked to join, we were suddenly uninvited. Maersk told us the
visit was postponed. In reality, Maersk got cold feet and did not want their PR
event disturbed by critical voices,” said Patrizia Heidegger.
Strange déjà vu? Earlier this year, the
Platform was also uninvited by the European Community of Shipowners’
Associations (ECSA) when they organised a two-day visit to Alang for selected
EU Member State representatives and national ship owners’ associations [2]. Neither
NGOs nor trade unions were allowed to join the visit. The Platform strongly
criticised ECSA’s report from the visit for turning a blind eye on the problems
of beaching [3].
Maersk had promised to carry out supposedly
independent research on the social and working conditions in the shipbreaking
yards of Alang. However, apart from dismissing the independent researchers it
had originally contacted, there is no indication whether this research will now
be independent or indeed be carried out at all.
“Maersk continues to ignore the many grave
shortcomings of the beaching method, including its inability to ensure
containment of pollutants in the intertidal zone and to guarantee the highest
level of occupational safety,” Patrizia Heidegger said. “Maersk has failed to
give satisfactory answers to the long list of critical questions we have raised
regarding their new ship recycling standard and the way the Wyoming and Georgia
are being broken,” she added.
The damaging environmental impacts of
breaking ships in the intertidal zone of a beach are well known: slag, toxic
paint particles and debris including metal scrap and plastics are released into
the environment when the ship is torched. Large metal pieces are simply dropped
onto the sand or into the sea. Alarming levels of air, water and soil
contamination at beaching yards have clearly been documented [4]. Moreover,
shipbreaking is a heavy industry with a high risk of accidents. The lack of a
proper hospital in Alang has, however, not stopped Maersk from selling their
ships to Shree Ram.
For the sake of the extra profits made by
selling their ships to yards that have not invested in proper infrastructure,
Maersk is now actively promoting the beaching method – a method that is banned
in Europe, the US and China. Until recently, Maersk itself loudly denounced the
beaching method for its poor standards and lack of innovation, now it threatens
to flag out from the Danish registry if the EU does not give in and accept
beaching yards, a move that has been strongly criticised by the Clean Shipping
Coalition [5].
“We are calling for sustainable ship
recycling off the beach and investments in modern ship recycling facilities.
Instead of lobbying for the beaching method, the world’s biggest ship owner
should align itself with the responsible ship owners that have committed to
using facilities that pass the EU test of sustainable practices and should
serve as the guiding star of innovation and engineering solutions,” said
Patrizia Heidegger.
This is a series on Maersk’s reversal on
sustainability and lack of innovation, and the shortcomings of the beaching
method.
Source: NGO
Shipbreaking Platform. 6 October 2016
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