In 2016, 86 percent of the world’s
end-of-life vessels were broken up under rudimentary conditions on Asian
beaches. To many shipowners, beaching appears to be an inexpensive means of
recycling a marine vessel. But in reality, it comes at a steep cost to the
environment and human life, with 52 deaths on South Asian shipbreaking beaches
reported in 2016, and real figures feared to be much higher.
As a result, the International Labour
Organisation has recently named shipbreaking as the most dangerous job in the
world, and shipowners and recycling companies are under pressure to take
responsibility.
Over the last decade, governments and global
organizations have introduced numerous measures to address the health and
environmental issues of unregulated shipbreaking. The U.S. Navy responded to
criticisms over beaching by banning the export of ships for scrapping in 1997,
with the Maritime Administration (MARAD) following suit in 1998.
In 2013, the E.U. introduced the Ship
Recycling Regulation to effectively ban shipbreaking on beaches by requiring
vessels sailing under a Member State’s flag to be recycled at an E.U. approved
facility which meets the standards for safe and sustainable recycling. However,
there is a major loophole in the legislation -
international maritime law enables shipowners to swap their ship’s
country flag for an alternative country outside the E.U. (often via a quick
cash transaction).
On a global level, the Hong Kong
International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of
Ships was introduced in 2009 to ensure ship owners and U.N. member states do
not pose a risk to human health, safety and the environment when recycling
marine vessels. However, this regulation does not ban the international
beaching of ships for dismantling, which is blamed for the majority of
shipbreaking accidents and fatalities. Additionally, as the Convention requires
15 member states and 40 percent of world merchant shipping to ratify, it is
unlikely to come into force in the near future.
The result is the continued beaching of ships
in unregulated waters and facilities, polluting the environment and risking the
lives of local workers.
Due to the structural complexity of marine
vessels, shipbreaking is a multifaceted process. As well as the risks
associated with metal cutting, elevated work and operating heavy machinery, the
dismantling process can also expose workers to a number of hazardous materials.
These can include asbestos found in gaskets, insulation and valve packing;
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in cables, rubber products and paint; and
toxic heavy metals in paint/coatings.
A number of companies across the world
operate safe and responsible shipbreaking facilities which minimize worker and
environmental exposure to these risks. At EMR, we have invested heavily in our
facilities and established quality control procedures and best management
practices to ensure that regulatory compliant, environmentally sound methods
are followed throughout the ship recycling process.
Employee safety is the number one priority
across our shipbreaking sites in Brownsville, Texas; New Orleans and Amelia,
Louisiana. Our ultimate aim is to elevate the shipbreaking process so that ship
recycling sites are not regarded as poorly regulated scrap yards but places
that are safe, efficient and rewarding to work at.
Responsible shipbreaking requires extensive
planning and constant safety considerations and, as such, preparation is key.
Before submitting a bid to recycle a ship, a lot of work goes into assessing
the vessel to create a bespoke recycling plan. This involves close inspection
of the vessel, carrying out a series of tests to assess the materials on board
and identifying any hazardous elements. Once this research and preparation is
complete, the recycling bid is submitted to the government agency or owner of
the ship.
If the bid is successful, the next port of
call is to carry out further sampling to complete the environmental assessment
when the ship arrives at the recycling facility. At this stage, specialists are
brought in to conduct a complete safety assessment of the ship, including gas
testing and certification of the work areas “Safe for Shipbreaking.” Specialist
HAZMAT teams wearing appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) remove
hazardous materials, fire hazards and cold cut/break and drain all
pipes/equipment containing fuel. Before hot work can commence in any area on
board the ship, each section is individually assessed and awarded a permit once
declared safe. The ship cutting process can only begin once all the assessments
have been carried out and any hazardous substances extracted.
In the U.S., OSHA and EPA standards exist to
ensure that shipbreaking operations are completed in a safe and environmentally
compliant manner. At EMR, we have built upon these standards to create a strong
culture of safety at our ship recycling sites. We maintain comprehensive fire
protection measures and have appropriate emergency response, rescue and
first-aid service and personnel in place. All of our workers receive extensive
training and proper PPE before work can begin on the ship recycling process.
The large proportion of the world’s ships
being dismantled in an unregulated manner emphasizes the importance of
incentivising shipowners to recycle their ships responsibly via an approved
facility rather than opting for the low-cost, dangerous and polluting
alternative.
There needs to be greater transparency over
what happens to a ship at the end of its life and the recycling process.
Exploring new ways to encourage shipowners to recycle their ships responsibly
will go a long way to preventing ships being broken down on beaches.
Source:
maritime-executive.
08 January 2018
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