Only in 2016, at least 19 shipbreaking
workers were killed and another 11 severely injured in the Bangladesh
shipbreaking yard. More than 600 German-owned ships have been sold for scrap in
SouthEast Asia since 2008 due to insolvencies and financial problems claims NGO
Shipbreaking Platform.
A worker named Shah Jahan was killed on
December 04 on the spot at Arefin shipbreaking yard in Chittagong, Bangladesh,
where German container ship “Viktoria Wulff” (IMO 9252101) is currently being
dismantled on the beach, says NGO.
The 35-year old man, who was made to work
without any safety measures, was struck on the head by a heavy iron piece.
German ship owner Wulff went bankrupt in
August and the insolvency administrator is currently selling off the company’s
remaining vessels.
The “Viktoria Wulff” became the youngest
container ship to be sold for demolition at an age of only 10 years without a
previous accident.
“The story of the ‘Viktoria Wulff’ is
characteristic for the failed business practices of German KG ship owners as
well as ship funds. Nearly 600 ships have been sold due to insolvencies and
financial problems since 2008, many of which ended up on the South Asian
beaches. The bill for the ship owners’ and investors’ greed for profit is paid
by workers and the environment in destinations like Bangladesh, where ships end
up without any consideration of the human and environmental costs”, says
Patrizia Heidegger, Executive Director of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform.
Patrizia added: “It is a scandal that German
liquidators, who are appointed by the courts, sell end-of-life ships to
substandard breaking yards risking peoples’ lives through deals that are in
clear breach of international and even domestic Bangladeshi law just to sort
out the books for German ship owners”.
“Only in 2016, at least 19 shipbreaking
workers were killed and another 11 severely injured in the Bangladesh yards.
The accident rate remains shockingly high and is not coming down, despite the
promises of the yard owners and cash buyers”, says Heidegger.
“The shipbreaking yards have to be moved away
from the muddy beaches to clean and safe ship recycling facilities using quays
and docks where cranes can be operated to safely move cut steel sections.
Otherwise, the death count of beaching will not come to a halt”.
Source: marine
link. 14 December 2016
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