Nobody
wants a shipwrecker in their front yard.
 |
The HMCS Preserver, shown here in drydock at
Halifax Shipyards, will soon be broken up at the Sydport Industrial Park.
(Staff)
|
The
mere word conjures up images of leaking oil, rusted debris and overseas workers
whose lives, in the absence of environmental regulation, are shortened by heavy
metals and contaminated fluids. That may have driven Coun. Earlene McMullin’s
displeasure during the Cape Breton Regional Municipality council meeting
Tuesday.
“I’ve
got a little bit of shake in my voice because it’s killing me to sit here and
spend council’s time to get clarification on whether ships can be destroyed
downtown on Commercial Street,” McMullin said. “I’ll breathe through the
enragement, but it just seems so backward that I have to do that.”
McMullin
was complaining about differing opinions she received from CBRM staff on
whether Canadian Marine Engineering — which bought a waterfront park in
downtown North Sydney from the municipality two years ago, bulldozed it and
built a marine lift and repair shop — was legally entitled to also cut up ships
for scrap metal.
So
she asked again in public: “Where CME is located on Commercial Street, does the
zoning permit either recycling or breaking of steel-hulled vessels, or any
vessel, for that matter?”
“No,”
answered planning director Malcolm Gillis.
The
rumour that CME wanted to break ships in McMullin’s neighbourhood was sparked
by a Transport Canada report that mentioned the company’s capacity for
recycling ships of up to 2,500 tonnes.
But
as Coun. Kendra Coombs pointed out, CME staff said they don’t intend to break
ships in North Sydney, and as Gillis noted, CME owns facilities at other
locations, including Dartmouth and Victoria, B.C. where it might be interested
in doing that.
The
not-in-my-backyard attitude to shipwrecking has not spread to the Sydport
Industrial Park, where another company, Marine Recycling, began this week to
break up the newly-arrived HMCS Preserver.
The
first ship to come to Sydney to “die” in decades, the Preserver is around the
130th for MRC, which was founded by Wayne Elliot in Port Colborn, Ont.
Elliot
hoped four years ago to expand to Sydney but after being denied two aged
ferries from Marine Atlantic, which has a terminal in downtown North Sydney, he
waited, knowing another chance would come along.
“Our
federal government decided that Canadian-flagged vessels and government-owned
vessels should be recycled in Canada to promote safe recycling as well as
provide jobs and raw materials, and not ship those things offshore,” Elliot
said.
“There
are warships just coming to their end this year, and in a number of years down
the road I suppose the frigates will start to be recycled. There are Coast
Guard vessels and Department of Fishery vessels, and of course commercial
vessels . . the biggest source of our work.”
In
Sydney, MRC’s worksite is “not a very large space, really,” Elliot said. “A
couple of acres and, of course, the dock. There won’t be materials stored on
site. Once the material is processed . . . it will be shipped off site.
“Most
of the ship components are metal. . .
“Metal
is infinitely recyclable. What today is your vehicle may tomorrow be razor
blades or something else. The beauty with metal recycling is the energy saving
and of course the savings to the environment.”
When
MRC recycles a ship, no part of it ends up in the water, he said. “Before we
tow, liquids, oils or any water are removed from the vessel . . . We’ve done a
number of successful tows since the new regulations and we’re very much in
favour of them.
“When
vessels do have accidents, sinkings, it’s those hydrocarbons that just keep on
giving the carnage and so we’re fully supportive of that regulation.”
The
company has had one major loss, in 2010, when a submarine caught fire as it was
being dismantled, Elliot described that as a “freak accident” caused by
floating debris.
“If
safety is not first and foremost in this business, then one may not be in it
too long. We’re very proud of our record. We’re the world’s oldest ISO
certified ship recycler, since 2000.”
MRC
was an unpaid consultant to Canada’s member of the Basel and Hong Kong
Conventions when they were setting the rules and the policies around
shipbreaking, Elliot said.
“It has become an environmental business,
shipbreaking has. Other parts of the world that are sadly lacking in safety and
environmental stewardship have begun to improve their operations. So, it’s all
headed in the right direction.”
Source:
the
chronicle herald. 15 August 2017
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