Brussels, 19 October 2017 - There were a
total of 227 ships broken in the third quarter of 2017. Of these, 124 ships
ended up on beaches in South Asia for dirty and dangerous breaking [1]. Between
July and September, one worker lost his life at a shipbreaking yard in Alang,
India. Another worker was reported seriously injured in Chittagong,
Bangladesh.
Due to the annual monsoon season, activities
remained slow at the South Asian shipbreaking yards over the summer months.
However, when the breaking took up again in September, one worker, Ashok Yadav,
was reported killed whilst at work at shipbreaking plot no. 14 in Alang, India.
Following his death, a letter denouncing the unsafe working conditions at the
shipbreaking yards in Alang was sent to Indian Government officials by Toxics
Watch Alliance. Around the same time, Md. Shohag - 21 years old - was seriously
hurt while torch-cutting a vessel at Zuma Enterprise in Chittagong, Bangladesh,
when an iron plate hit him on the left foot and stomach, causing severe injury.
It is not due to a lack of awareness
concerning the dire working conditions that ship owners continue to favour the
infamous beaching yards in South Asia. Rather, it is the fact that dirty and
dangerous breaking brings in more money, as there is (1) little or no
investments in proper infrastructure to contain pollutants and ensure safe
working conditions; (2) the proper disposal of hazardous wastes is overlooked;
and (3) migrant workers are exploited.
Moreover, the prices offered for ships this
third quarter have been high in South Asia, especially when compared to the
figures of the first half of the year. Monsoon rains caused a shortage of local
product being available to the domestic steel mills and have, therefore, driven
prices for end-of-life ships up. Whilst a South Asian beaching yard can pay
about USD 400/LDT, Turkish yards are currently paying slightly less than the
USD 250/LDT offered by Chinese yards.
Greek ship owners have, unsurprisingly, sold
the most ships to the beaching yards with 11 beached vessels this quarter,
followed by South Korea and Singapore with 6 vessels each. Shipping companies
from the United States sold 5 vessels. Singaporean Continental Shipping Line
remains the worst corporate dumper, though it currently shares this position
with the Greek Anangel Shipping Enterprises and the Iranian Iran Shipping
Lines. In total, these companies had three vessels each beached in South Asia
in this quarter. Bermuda-based Berge Bulk, Greek Costamare, Swedish Holy House
Shipping, and American SEACOR are close runner-up’s, with two ships each sold
for dirty and dangerous scrapping on the beach. Brazilian-owned product tanker
LOBATO, which was reportedly sold by Petrobras to Indian breakers, ended up on
the muddy shores of Chittagong instead. Notably, no tanker was sold to the
Gadani yards in Pakistan following the ban on tankers due to the major
explosion on the ship ACES on the 1st of November of last year.
Although 33 out of the 124 beached vessels
this quarter were European-controlled, only three of these had a European flag
when they arrived in South Asia. All ships sold to the beaching yards pass via
the hands of scrap-dealers, also known as cash-buyers, that often re-register
and re-flag the vessel on its last voyage. In this regard, flags of
convenience, in particular those that are grey- and black-listed under the
Paris MOU, are used by cash-buyers to send ships to the worst breaking
locations. Almost half of the ships sold to South Asia this quarter changed
flag to the grey- and black-listed registries of Comoros, Niue, Palau, St.
Kitts & Nevis, and Togo just weeks before hitting the beach. These flags
are not typically used during the operational life of ships and offer ‘last
voyage registration’ discounts. Importantly, they are grey- and black-listed
due to their poor implementation of international maritime law.
Efforts to counter the shipping industry's
crave for cash at the detriment of workers and the environment in South Asia
are being brought to the attention of enforcement authorities and Courts. In
Bangladesh, the Platform has been successful in taking legal action to halt the
breaking of the FPSO North Sea Producer, which was illegally exported from the
UK in 2016. Moreover, German authorities have been asked by the Platform to
hold ACL, a subsidiary of Italian Grimaldi Group, liable for the illegal export
of two ships, the Cartier and the Conveyor, to India.
NOTES
[1] During the third quarter of 2017, the
following number of vessels were broken in other locations: 42 in Turkey, 35 in
China, and 26 in the rest of the world.
CONTACT
Ingvild JENSSEN
Director and Founder
NGO Shipbreaking Platform
Tel.: +32 (0)26094419
Source: NGO
Shipbreaking Platform. 19 October 2017
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