The Brazilian CONTTMAF trade
union federation and its member SINDMAR [1] have recently criticized the
shipbreaking practices of Transpetro, the oil and gas transportation subsidiary
of the Brazilian petroleum corporation Petrobras, majority-owned by the State.
In the last five years, more than twenty vessels owned by the oil and gas giant
have been dismantled on the beaches of India and Pakistan, where shipbreaking
activities endanger both workers and the environment. In an official letter
sent on 2 June 2017 to Transpetro, Severino Almeida, president of CONTTMAF and
SINDMAR, expresses his serious concerns about the Petrobras’ poor end-of-life
fleet management. Several of the ships that ended up in South Asia were built
thanks to financing provided by the Merchant Marine Fund. In other words,
public money has therefore been used to build ships that now put workers’ lives
at risk and pollute the environment in developing countries.
According to maritime
databases, at least six more units owned by Petrobras have already been sold
for demolition but are still in Brazilian territorial waters. Four drill
platforms were bought in a public auction by the cash-buyer Rota Shipping who
exclusively delivers to Turkish yards and was able to offer just 180,000 USD
more than Alfa Ship Trading, a cash-buyer who only sends to India. On the other
hand, the product tanker LOBATO and the liquefied petroleum gas carrier GUAPORE
have been sold by Petrobras to Indian breakers. The NGO Shipbreaking Platform
has alerted Brazilian authorities about the imminent illegal exports under
Basel Convention’s rules of these two vessels, currently located at Rio de
Janeiro Anchorage. To date, no reply has been received.
As published recently by
SINDMAR, and based on data collected by the Platform, Petrobras is not the only
Brazilian company involved in dirty and dangerous scrapping practices. In the
last two years, the Brazilian multinational corporation Vale, engaged in metals
and mining, has also sold five ships to shipbreaking beaches in Bangladesh and
Pakistan, where at least 79 workers were severely injured and 55 died in 2016.
35 year-old worker Mukhlesur was crushed to death as he and his co-workers were
moving a large metal slab from the Vale’s ORE TIMBOPEBA at Mak Corporation Ship
Breaking yard in Chittagong, Bangladesh.
“It is unacceptable that
Petrobras and other Brazilian companies contribute to the deaths and
environmental pollution in South Asia”, says Nicola Mulinaris, Communication
and Policy Officer of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform. “In order to ensure clean
and safe ship recycling off the beach, we demand stricter requirements for the
public auctions of Petrobras’ end-of-life vessels and the enforcement of
international legislation on hazardous waste exports. The vessels could even be
recycled in Brazil”, adds Carlos Müller, CONTTMAF’s and SINDMAR’s Director.
A committee coordinated by
the Ministry of Labour and Employment, with the presence of the Brazilian Navy
and Petrobras itself, is now considering the possibility to include ship
recycling in the scope of national regulation NR 34, which sets environmental
and safety requirements for ship building and offshore constructions, including
repair activities.
“Widening the scope of
regulation NR 34 is certainly a step in the right direction. Should Brazil be
serious about starting to use the dormant national ship recycling capacity, we
call on all interested Brazilian yards to follow the standards set in the EU
Ship Recycling Regulation and to apply to be included in the upcoming EU List
of approved ship recycling facilities,” says Mulinaris.
Source: hellenic
shipping news. 16 June 2017
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