Hong Kong: Ship Recycling In India – Hong Kong Convention

Introduction

India commands the largest share of the world's shipbreaking industry but has justifiably been criticised for environmental degradation and lax compliance towards worker safety and health issues. This is meant to change with the introduction of legislation to give effect to the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, 2009, (Convention). The Convention is aimed at ensuring that ship recycling does not pose unnecessary risk to the environment or to human health and safety.

Hong Kong Convention

The Convention mandates the procedure to be followed for survey and certification of ships to be recycled as well as for the authorisation of ship-recycling facilities. It requires member states to prohibit and/or restrict the installation and use of certain hazardous materials on ships flying their flags or whilst in their ports, shipyards, ship repair yards or offshore terminals. It contemplates inspection of ships for the purpose of verifying that there is on board either an International Certificate on Inventory of Hazardous Materials or an International Ready for Recycling Certificate. It obliges states to frame laws imposing sanctions on ships and ship-recycling facilities contravening the Convention. The regulations appended to the Convention also list the various requirements which need to be met such as preparation of a ship-recycling facility plan and presence of an inventory of hazardous materials on board the ships.

India formerly acceded to the Convention in November 2019. The Convention has now been ratified by 15 IMO member states but is yet to formally come into force. This is because ratifying member states must represent 40% of world merchant shipping by gross tonnage, and must have a combined maximum annual ship recycling volume of not less than 3% of their combined gross tonnage for the past 10 years.

That means further tonnage and recycling volumes are needed before the convention can enter into force, which would require ratification by other major ship recycling nations like Bangladesh, China, Pakistan and Turkey.

 

Indian Background

In the Indian context, environmental concerns against shipbreaking were publicly raised for the first time when two heavily toxic French vessels were sent to India for dismantling. The Supreme Court recognised that precautionary and polluter-pay principles were part of Indian law but permitted the Blue Lady to be dismantled in Alang. However, the Supreme Court directed the authorities to frame legislation for environmentally safe dismantling of ships. A ship breaking code was accordingly formulated in 2013.

 

Shipbreaking Code (Code)

The Code divides the shipbreaking process into three broad stages- anchoring, beaching and ship recycling. The Code provides comprehensive regulations specific to each of these stages. There is a requirement of a Ship Recycling Facility Management Plan (SRFMP) and the Ship Specific Recycling Plan (SSRP) to be provided by the recycler to get permission for beaching. Along with the SSRP, there is also the requirement of producing a disposal plan as well as gas-free and fit-for-work certification.

The Code permits the authorities to deny permission of entry or beaching to vessels not fulfilling the requirements of the Code which can be traced back to the Basel Convention.

 

Worker Safety: Recognising that most workers employed in shipbreaking yards are illiterate, the Code requires the use of signs and symbols for warning workers against hazards. The Code also regulates the terms of employment of labourers by importing provisions from various labour welfare legislations. For example, it requires workers engaged in breaking/cutting ships to be registered either under Employees State Insurance Corporation or Workmen Compensation Act. Similarly, it imports the Factories Act to provide maximum weekly and daily hours of work, holidays and wages for overtime work. The Code also requires the Labour Department to ensure compliance with legislation stipulating minimum wages for workers.

The handling of hazardous material like asbestos waste and asbestos containing material has been separately regulated by the Code.

Prescribes stringent procedures at each stage of the demolition process, requiring multiple certificates (Certificate of Registry, non-encumbrance certificate, NOC's from various authorities) to be obtained and other compliances. Permission from different authorities like the State Maritime Board/Port Authority, the State Pollution Control Board, Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, Customs Department, are required depending on the type of ship. Verification of documents, physical inspection of the vessel and certification from different authorities is contemplated before permission to beach is granted.

 

Recycling of Ships Bill, 2019 (Bill)

A new Bill has been approved by the Union Cabinet in November 2019 and is now awaiting legislative approval by the Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament). It is unclear whether the Bill repeals the Code, given that the Code has more stringent provisions for beaching than the Bill.

The Bill substantially incorporates the provisions of the Convention and covers within its ambit:

i)                    new and existing ships registered in India

ii)                   ships entering a port or terminal in India or the territorial waters of India

iii)                 any warship or other ship owned and operated by an administration used for governmental non-commercial service and

iv)                 ship recycling facilities operating in India.

A ship in India can only be broken at an authorised ship recycling facility after being certified as ready for recycling.  The Bill, like the Convention, stipulates the procedure to be followed for survey and certification of ships as well as for the authorisation of ship-recycling facilities. The Bill restricts the use or installation of hazardous material on the ship, prohibited by the Central Government. The owner of every new ship is required to procure a 'certificate on inventory of hazardous materials' for each ship- existing ships not in possession of such certificate must obtain one within five years. Furthermore, the Bill provides for inspection of a ship recycling facility by the competent authority and mandates preparation of a ship-specific recycling plan by the recycling facility, an inventory of hazardous materials and requirement to report to the competent authority. Similar to the Convention, the Bill stipulates safe and environmentally sound management of hazardous waste and worker safety and training. Contravention of the provisions of the Bill, entail penalties upon both the ship owner and the recycling facility.

 

Lacunae in the Bill

The Convention leaves it to member states to employ a safe and sound method of shipbreaking. In India the method used, viz, beaching, is not environment and worker friendly. A major flaw in the Bill is that it neither specifies a method of ship recycling nor bans the beaching process. In contrast, the Code classifies the demolition process into stages and regulates beaching.

The requirement of 'prior informed consent' for the export of hazardous substances, which is a requirement of the Basel Convention and of the Code, finds no mention in the Bill.

The Bill, like the Convention, exempts from its ambit war ships or ships owned or operated by the Government and used for Government non-commercial purposes and ships that are less than five hundred gross tonnage. This omission is significant, given that warships and naval vessels have a large source of hazardous materials like asbestos and chemicals like mercury, which should have been regulated. Interestingly, the Code does not grant such an exemption to these vessels and instead categorises them as ships of 'special concern'.

The Convention, as well as the Bill, make clear that the responsibility of a ship owner is limited to getting clean certificates from the flag state. No responsibility for clean-up, is cast on the ship owner.

 Another drawback of the Bill is that instead of comprehensively providing for environment and worker safety, it delegates the making of such regulations and guidelines to other authorities, and leaves it to the ship recycling facility to comply with applicable regulations. This delegation makes the successful outcome of the objectives of the Bill uncertain and dependent on executive action. This is in marked contrast to the Convention and the Code both of which exhaustively provide for environment protection and worker safety.

 Although the Bill provides for compliance with the Factories Act, 1948, it is silent on the applicability of other labour welfare legislation, such as the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act and the Trade Unions Act. The rights conferred on workman under these statutes should have been imported in the Bill. Significantly, there is no prohibition on the employment of minors and adolescents, considering that ship breaking is recognized as a hazardous industry and their employment in hazardous places of work is prohibited.

 

Conclusion

The Bill is a missed opportunity to address problems specific to the Indian ship breaking industry. The legislation should have drawn on the experience and difficulties faced in the implementation of the Code and devised a more robust legal framework for ship demolition. The Bill instead eases the more stringent regulatory framework prescribed by the Code. The ultimate objective, of ensuring that the Indian ship recycling industry embraces truly green recycling practices, remains for the time being an unfulfilled aspiration.

Source: mondaq. 11 August 2020

https://www.mondaq.com/hongkong/environmental-law/974864/ship-recycling-in-india-hong-kong-convention

Platform publishes South Asia Quarterly Update #22

There were a total of 98 ships broken in the second quarter of 2020. Of these, 60 ships were sold to the beaches of South Asia, where, despite the majority of yards being closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, shipbreaking kept putting workers’ lives at risk. Between April and June, at least 3 workers were severely injured in Bangladesh.

On April 24, Jalal (35) suffered an accident at Habib Steel shipbreaking yard. He got injured while carrying oxygen bottles from inside the ship. 

According to local sources and media, worker Md. Khalil (45) got injured on April 28 at an unauthorised shipbreaking yard recently opened by lawmaker Didarul Alam. Khalil’s leg broke after a hatch cover fell on him while dismantling the vessel BERGE EIGER, owned by shipping company Berge Bulk. The worker was transferred to the Dhaka Hospital due to the severity of the injury.

On June 22, an accident took place during an illegal night shift at Jumuna Ship Breakers yard. Abdul Halim (24) was hit by an iron piece in the stomach while cutting the vessel STELLAR KNIGHT, owned by South Korean Polaris Shipping. It took a couple of hours for the worker to be transported to the nearest hospital.

In the second quarter of 2020, Greek ship owners sold the most ships to South Asian yards, closely followed by Singaporean and South Korean owners. South Korean company Polaris Shipping sold three vessels to Bangladesh for dirty and dangerous breaking. The ship owner hit the headlines in June for the scuttling of the ore carrier STELLAR BANNER off the coast of Brazil.

In April, we urged Bangladesh to halt the import of a highly toxic offshore unit that had illegally departed from Indonesia. The Floating Storage and Offloading (FSO) tanker J. NAT left Indonesian waters even though local activists warned Indonesian authorities about the toxicity of the vessel. Following our actions and local media reports, the government of Bangladesh directed all departments concerned not to allow the ship to enter Bangladeshi territory. Maritime databases seem to indicate that the vessel reversed course and changed name to RADIANT. However, its current whereabouts are unknown.

Almost one third of the ships sold to South Asia this quarter changed flag to the registries of Comoros, Palau and St. Kitts and Nevis just weeks before hitting the beach. These flags are not typically used during the operational life of ships and offer ‘last voyage registration’ discounts. They are particularly popular with the middlemen that purchase vessels cash from ship owners, and are grey- and black-listed due to their poor implementation of international maritime law. The high number of flag changes at end-of-life seriously compromises the effectiveness of legislation based on flag state jurisdiction only, such as the European Union (EU) Ship Recycling Regulation.

How Covid-19 is affecting vulnerable shipbreaking workers

The pandemic is still affecting workers globally, including those employed in the shipbreaking sector in South Asia.

Bangladesh

According to local sources, all shipbreaking yards resumed their activities on June 1. One third of them never shut down despite the lockdown, exposing the workers to the risk of contracting the virus and spreading it in the vulnerable local communities.

Having been deprived of accessing government support, which is offered only to local workers, migrant workers have been unable to return to their home villages due to the absence of public transport services. Forced to continue to pay rent for the unsanitary and improper accommodation near the shipbreaking yards, migrant workers, mainly from the Northwest of Bangladesh, have been left to starve. This unprecedented emergency situation led us to raise financial support to distribute, in partnership with our member organisation OSHE, food and personal protective equipment items to 130 of the most deprived shipbreaking workers’ families in Sitakunda.

India

After a month since the start of the national lockdown in India, the government announced the reopening of several industries in Gujarat. At the end of June, around 30% of the workforce was working at the shipbreaking yards in Alang. The fact that around 75% the migrant workers returned to their home villages in Bihar, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra has led the yard owners to look at the diamond sector’s unemployed workers from Saurashtra.

Source: NGO Shipbreaking Platform

Major explosion at Bangladesh shipbreaking yard kills two shipbreaking workers and severely injures five

A loud blast in the early morning shook the Chittagong shipbreaking area. At around 8:30 AM, a fire broke out on board the vessel BUNGA KELANA 4 (IMO 9178343), beached at Mahinur Ship Breaking yard. The flames spread from abandoned waste oil located close to the engine room where workers were torch-cutting steel parts.

 Mohammod Rubel, 25 years old cutter man, lost his life in the accident. He died on his way to the hospital. Hamidul Islam’s dead body was instead found on the ship several hours after the explosion. Five other workers, aged 19-30, suffered severe burn injuries and are now being treated at the Chattogram Medical College Hospital. The condition of one of them is extremely critical. Local sources report that several workers might still be missing.

Video footage from the accident shows that there was no emergency response equipment available at the yard. Barefoot workers without protective gear are seen carrying the injured. Bangladeshi organisation OSHE, member of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform, reports that the death of a worker, Tara Miya, was covered up in the same yard just a few days ago.

“The conditions at Mahinur Ship Breaking are shocking and unfortunately telling of the overall appalling working conditions at the Bangladeshi shipbreaking yards. Workers are exposed to enormous risks because there is no infrastructure available on the beach to ensure safe working conditions and rapid emergency response,” says Muhammed Ali Shahin from NGO Shipbreaking Platform member organisation YPSA.

 The BUNGA KELANA 4 was beached at Mahinur Ship Breaking six months ago. It was owned by Malaysian shipping company AET Tankers, a wholly owned subsidiary of MISC, the leading Malaysian energy logistics company listed on the Malaysia stock exchange. In 2018, AET Tankers sold four vessels for scrapping on the beaches of South Asia. Three ended up in Bangladesh; one was beached in India.

 Before its final voyage the vessel changed its name to KELANA 4, and its Malaysian flag was swapped to that of Comoros. These are clear indicators that the vessel was brought to the beaching yard with the help of a scrap-dealer known as cash buyer. The use of black- and grey-listed flags, such as Comoros, Palau and St Kitts and Nevis, as well as anonymous post-box companies to register the ships, renders it very difficult for authorities to trace and hold ship owners liable for illicit business practices that cause the loss of life, injuries and irreparable damage to the environment.

One of the injured worker at Chattogram Medical College Hospital, Chattogram

 The explosion on the BUNGA KELANA 4 follows another recent tragic event that took place in February, when two workers were killed by a fire on board a tanker owned by Greek Polembros Shipping. In the last ten years, hundreds of workers have lost their lives and suffered severe injuries due to dirty and dangerous shipbreaking practices in Bangladesh. Many more suffer from exposure to toxic fumes and materials that are embedded within the ships’ structures. Breaking apart ships on tidal beaches also causes irreparable damage to the environment. Only yesterday it was revealed that another shipbreaking company, BBC Ship Breaking, had been given the permission by local authorities to wipe out a protected mangrove forest in order to establish a new yard. Following the filing of a complaint by Platform member organisation BELA, the High Court imposed a six months’ stay on the lease contract and have asked the local authorities to explain why they blatantly ignore national forest protection laws. In 2009, 14.000 mangrove trees were illegally cut to expand the shipbreaking activities in Chittagong.

“It is high time for the Bangladesh government to regulate their shipbreaking industry and put a halt to the systematic violations of national labour and environmental protection laws”, says Ingvild Jenssen, Director of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform. “This latest tragic explosion adds to the shipping industry’s appalling toll on human lives and should act as a wake-up call for the financiers and customers of shipping to demand recycling practices off the beach and in line with the standards set by international waste laws and labour conventions”, she adds.

Source: Hellenic Shipping News. 16 May 2019

https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/major-explosion-at-bangladesh-shipbreaking-yard-kills-two-shipbreaking-workers-and-severely-injures-five/

Norwegian pension funds turn their attention towards Indian shipbreaking practices

Brussels, 20 March 2019 - Last week the Council on Ethics of the Norwegian oil pension fund (Government Pension Fund Global) announced that it will turn its attention towards Indian shipbreaking practices. This may well result in further divestments from shipping companies with poor shipbreaking records.

In 2018, the Council on Ethics had already advised the fund to divest from companies, including container line Evergreen, selling their end-of-life vessels to shipbreaking yards located in Pakistan and Bangladesh “due to an unacceptable risk that the companies are contributing to serious environmental damage and gross violations of human rights”.

KLP, Norway’s largest private pension fund, followed suit and blacklisted the same companies. In January, KLP also blacklisted Nordic American Tankers (NAT) following the sale of ten oil tankers for dirty and dangerous scrapping on beaching yards in South Asia. The Bermuda-registered company, controlled from Norway by Herbjørn Hanson, was firstly confronted by KLP and criticised by Norwegian press for having sold eight ships for scrapping to South Asia in 2018, ensuring NAT a 80 million dollar scrapping revenue. Five vessels ended up in Chittagong, Bangladesh; three ended up in Alang, India. The sale of two additional vessels to Bangladeshi yards with terrible accident records prompted KLP to blacklist NAT earlier this year.

“KLP’s goal is that no ship ends up on a beach where irresponsible scrapping practices take place. It is the ship owners’ responsibility to identify which standards, routines and processes they need to comply with to ensure safe and responsible ship recycling”, said Håvard Gulbrandsen, CEO of KLP.

The European Commission recently announced that two Indian yards (i.e. Priya Blue Industries Pvt. Ltd, Shree Ram Vessel Scrap Pvt. Ltd) that applied for inclusion in the European List of ship recycling facilities do not comply with the EU Ship Recycling Regulation. The site inspections and technical assessments, done by the classification society DNV GL, identified several areas where the yards do not meet the requirements for clean and safe ship recycling.

Source: NGO Shipbreaking Platform

Markets- Recycling- vessels head for Bangladesh

The week before the Chinese New Yea finally brought some semblance of stability to a ship recycling market that seemed to be in freefall during the previous month.

Indeed, most cash buyers have struggled to offload their existing overpriced inventories at anywhere near sensible/breakeven levels, resulting in something of a panic, GMS said in its weekly report.

The majority of these vessels are now heading to the only bullish market (Bangladesh), in the hopes of salvaging whatever little could be financially scraped out of a deal.

Pakistan remained subdued on the sidelines, despite the announcement of the mini budget recently that brought with it, little material change to the domestic steel and ship recycling sectors.

India also remained mostly absent from buying, as local steel plate prices continued their weekly volatile dance, leaving most end buyers in a conservative mood, intent on securing bargain green or offshore units below the $400 per ldt mark.

The focus remained on Bangladesh, where local the port report showed a multitude of vessels arriving by the week and the number of capable (in terms of ready and available LCs) and keen end buyers remain few and far between.

As local capacity continued to gradually dwindle, those cash buyers with expensive inventories will be left holding a rather heavy bag.

Moreover, once the appetite in Bangladesh starts to shrink, we can certainly expect prices to fall in line with the much reduced Indian and Pakistani markets,  ie somewhere in the low $400s per ldt and perhaps lower for certain sized/types of vessels.

Source: tanker operator. 11 February 2019

http://www.tankeroperator.com/news/markets--recycling--vessels-head-for-bangladesh/10488.aspx

Two killed in shipyard blast

Yet again, poor workplace safety exposed; authorities allegedly tried to cover up

Two workers were killed and another was injured in an oil tanker explosion at a ship-breaking yard in Chattogram's Sitakunda upazila yesterday.

The deceased are Md Jalil, 32, and Bipul Chandra, 30, of Barishal's Babuganj upazila. The injured, Md Masud, 26, was undergoing treatment at Sitakunda Upazila Health Complex.

An oil tanker of MTS Warrior, weighing around 38,000 tonnes, exploded when 17 workers were cutting the tanker around 8:30am at Sagorika Shipyard, said Proddut Ghosh Chowdhury, sub-inspector of Sitakunda Police Station.

Earlier, four workers died in two incidents there in 2012 and 2013.

Mostafijur Rahman, inspector of Chattogram directorate of environment, said the shipyard did not follow the guideline for safety, causing the accident.

The explosion happened when sparks came into contact with the oil of the tanker, he added.

However, Shamsul Alam, owner of the shipyard, claimed that they ensured utmost safety for workers. This was an accident. “Two-thirds of the ship have already been dismantled.”

Some 27 workers were killed and nine others wounded in different incidents at shipyards in Sitakunda in the last three years since 2016, according to a report of Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (Bela).

Jahirul Islam, inspector of Chattogram Medical College Hospital police outpost, told The Daily Star that Jalil was admitted to the hospital in the morning and Bipul in the afternoon. Both died soon after their admission.

After the incident, the shipyard authorities did not allow outsiders to enter there.

All the workers were forced to leave the yard and asked them not to talk to the media, shipyard sources said.

Pabon Chandra, a nephew of deceased Bipul Chandra, told this correspondent that his uncle had no training on ship-breaking, though it was mandatory.

“We heard a loud bang in the morning. When we rushed to the shipyard entrance, they [shipyard authorities] told us that Bipul did not join the work. In the afternoon, they informed us that my uncle was found dead at CMCH,” he said.

His uncle suffered burn injuries from head to waist, Pabon added.

Talking to this correspondent, Shipyard manager Md Harun and supervisor Sahabuddin admitted to the death of Jalil but said Bipul did not join work yesterday.

According to a High Court order in 2010, a ship which will be dismantled needs clearance from the explosives department.

Tofazzal Hossen, inspector of the explosives department in Chattogram, said they issued clearance for breaking the ship two and a half months ago after inspection.

Within the time, gas could form in the tanker, he added.

Source: the daily star. 19 February 2019

https://www.thedailystar.net/country/news/worker-killed-sitakunda-shipbreaking-yard-1703779

President of Gadani ship-breaking workers union dies in police custody

The president of Gadani ship-breaking workers union, Babu Karim Jan, died under mysterious circumstances in Karachi on Sunday morning, soon after being arrested by police from his residence in Metroville, located in the city's SITE area.

 

Police claimed that Jan, who was in his late 60s, was wanted in two attempted murder cases and died after suffering a "heart attack".

According to the deceased's relatives, Iqbal Market police conducted a raid in Metroville at around 1:30am and detained Karim Jan and his son, Amin.

They allegedly dragged and threw him into the police mobile where he died under mysterious circumstances. Later on, the police abandoned his body there and tried to disappear when the residents of the area gathered and made videos of the vehicle which were then shared on social media.

The deceased’s son, Amin, told media that when the police conducted a raid on their home, he informed the police that his father was a heart patient, but they allegedly did not pay heed to his request.

“They (the police) dragged him and threw him into the mobile,” the son alleged.

West SSP Shoukat Ali Khatian while talking to Dawn confirmed that police had arrested the deceased.

“There were two FIRs registered against him over charges of attempted murders and the police arrested him in the same cases,” the officer said. However, the senior officer did not elaborate further.

The body was shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital to fulfil legal formalities.

A post-mortem examination was conducted in the presence of the magistrate concerned by a team of doctors comprising Additional Police Surgeon Dr Saleem Shaikh, Dr Abid Haroon, and Dr Pervez Makhdoom.

The additional police surgeon told Dawn that the cause of death will be determined after a histopathological and chemical examination.

On Sunday evening, the relatives and community members held a protest outside the Karachi Press Club.

The protesters accused the police of "brutally torturing" and killing the elderly man. They demanded the arrest of, and registration of a murder case against, the police party involved.

Meanwhile, National Trade Union Federation leader Nasir Mansoor said the death of a nearly 70-year-old trade union leader was the latest example of “police brutality” in the city and other parts of the country.

He too demanded the arrest of the policemen involved in the incident.

Source: the dawn. 18 February 2019

https://www.dawn.com/news/1464411/president-of-gadani-ship-breaking-workers-union-dies-in-police-custody

Recent fires at Gadani yards prompt authorities to shut down all shipbreaking activities

NGOs call for the relocation of the industry to facilities equipped for safe and clean recycling

 

Brussels/Islamabad, 19 October 2018 - On 11 October a tanker caught fire at the Gadani shipbreaking beach that holds a deplorable record of life threatening accidents. Fortunately, no casualties were recorded. Only a few days later, on 14 October, yet another oil tanker named KRITI (IMO 9270737) caught fire, this time injuring seven workers, three of which are in a critical condition.

The Platform has reported a series of accidents following the catastrophic explosion that killed at least 29 workers and injured 58 on the 1st of November 2016. Since then, there have been at least five more fires caused by unsafe cutting operations. Difficult access for firefighters, a severe lack of ambulances and no hospital in the close vicinity of the yards aggravate the conditions, as reported by trade unions.

Following the major blast in 2016, Pakistani authorities imposed a ban on the import of tankers in addition to a ban on cutting operations. The ban on import was however lifted in April 2018 after 18 months’ freeze. Due to the use of the low-cost method of beaching and the favorable steel market conditions, the Gadani yards offer high prices for end-of-life ships, and soon 22 tankers were waiting for the cutting ban to also be repealed. One local breaker nonetheless started scrapping the VLCC ADA before the authorities lifted the cutting ban, and a fire erupted onboard the tanker in July. Despite the accident, and the fact that few measures had been put in place to ensure safe working conditions, the government issued cutting permissions in late August, putting the life of the workers in danger and prompting the import of additional vessels.

“Ship owners should be held accountable. They carelessly sell vessels to cash buyers that bring the ships to the Pakistani yards. The high profit margin is a clear indicator of destination: the higher the price, the worse the yard”, says Ingvild Jenssen, Director of NGO Shipbreaking Platform. “We are concerned over the political clout ship owners seem to enjoy: Greek owners alone are responsible for 1/3 of the ships that are currently beached in Gadani, yet Greece is pushing hard to undermine European laws aimed at improving practices globally”, she adds.

In contrast to the fire that broke out in July onboard a vessel that had not received cutting permission, the Balochistan Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had approved the breaking of both vessels that caught fire last week. The two accidents underpin that not only the ship owners and yard operators fail to take necessary precautions, but also that the Balochistan EPA acted negligently when approving the work to start. Fires occur when vessels that are not properly cleaned from highly inflammable residual oil are cut with blowtorches.

“Without having conducted a proper inspection, the Balochistan Environmental Protection Agency first issued NOC (no objection certificate) for the breaking of the Kriti crude oil tanker. After the blast that injured seven workers, they issued a ban on all shipbreaking activities in Gadani, leaving hundreds of workers unemployed. We call on the authorities to take serious steps to move the industry away from the Gadani beach and to a location where proper infrastructure can ensure safe working conditions and pollutants can be controlled”, says Dr Muhammad Irfan Khan, professor at the Islamabad University and Board Member of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform.

 (Shipbreaking Workers Union and NTUF jointly organized a protest rally in Gadani against the increase in accidents and the closure of the yards)

CONTACT

NGO Shipbreaking Platform

info@shipbreakingplatform.org  

Tel.: +32 (0) 26094419  

China to ban imports of waste foreign vessels for ship recycling

China will ban imports of waste foreign vessels to protect the environment, China Daily reported on Dec 24.

The country’s ship-breaking yards, which have been tearing apart the world’s retired vessels from both civil and military sectors, and turning them into piles of steel scrap bound for mills for repurposing, will henceforth focus only on domestic ships.

Many ship-breaking yards and nearby beaches were heavily polluted by heavy metals, oil and other toxic substances, said the report.

The new measures of banning imports were announced in April and will take effect on Dec 31. They cover 32 types of solid waste imports, including ships, auto parts, stainless steel scrap, titanium and wood.

Source: Hellenic shipping news.

https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/china-to-ban-imports-of-waste-foreign-vessels-for-ship-recycling/

Ship Recycling: No Sleepless Nights for the E.U.

Since 2014 I have provided The Maritime Executive with an end-of-year review of developments in the ship recycling industry and with some thoughts on what we may expect to see in the new year. In preparing this year’s review I felt that, before setting out my expectations for 2019, it would be appropriate first to recall the expectations I had for 2018 in my article of January 7 and to compare these with what actually took place in the year.

A year ago, I expected that in 2018 we would see a number of countries ratify Hong Kong Convention and I was bold enough to suggest that Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Estonia, Japan and India would most probably ratify the Convention and bring much closer its entry into force. With regard to the European Union and its Ship Recycling Regulation I had suggested that, if the European Commission continued to be ambivalent about approving yards in South Asia, they would have a lot of sleepless nights because of the lack of ship recycling capacity for the practical needs of European shipowners. At that time, I had also wondered about the prospects of China’s ship recycling industry which had been experiencing a dramatic decline.

Looking back now, the quality of my predictions was as disappointing as were some of the developments:

(1) Not a single ratification of Hong Kong Convention was deposited to the Secretary General of the IMO during 2018. The Convention still has only six contracting States (Belgium, Congo, Denmark, France, Norway and Panama) whose combined fleet constitutes 21 percent of the world’s tonnage and 0.04 percent of the world’s recycling capacity (compared to the entry into force requirement of a minimum of 15 States with no less than 40 percent of the world’s tonnage and a proportionate recycling capacity).

(2) The European Commission does not appear to have had any sleepless nights, as they seem to be at peace knowing that from December 31, 2018 European flagged ships will have to be recycled in one of only three three yards that the Commission has managed to approve following the receipt of numerous applications more than three years ago, or in a yard located in the E.U. Two of the approved yards are in Turkey and one in the U.S., which as anyone who knows anything will confirm that the U.S. is not a realistic destination for the recycling of non-U.S. ships. A further 22 facilities in the latest version of the European List are E.U.-based and luckily for them do not require the Commission’s approval. According to common knowledge, these facilities are not known for the recycling of ocean-going ships, and in their busiest year since 2013 they recycled all together only 65,000 LDT, presumably of coastal and inland waterways tonnage.

(3) The Chinese government, having subsidized heavily its ship recycling industry for the last three to four years, suddenly decided in April to ban the import of ships for recycling from the end of the year, this way removing at a stroke of a pen from the international market around one quarter of the world’s ship recycling capacity and an even larger share of the so called green ship recycling capacity.

(4) In March, a Dutch court, in the first successful prosecution of a shipping company under the European Regulation on Shipments of Waste, found guilty the Seatrade Group and issued heavy fines and a 12-month professional ban against two directors for having sent four ships for recycling to Bangladesh, India and Turkey in 2012 without permission. The case, which is being appealed, sent shockwaves to the shipping industry. 

Against these adverse regulatory and legal developments, the ship recycling industry managed to maintain some progressive developments. In India, 72 out of 120 yards in Alang are now certificated by IACS classification societies as compliant with the technical requirements of Hong Kong Convention. At the end of last year there were 57 compliant yards in India, while at the end of 2016 there were 20.

PHP Family yard in Bangladesh 

Also, the only ship recycling yard in Bangladesh with a Hong Kong Convention Statement of Compliance so far, the PHP Family, received its first green vessel for recycling from Vale (VLOC Ore Vitoria), and soon after its second from Greenpeace (the Rongdhonu, ex Rainbow Warrior II)! Thereafter the usual NGO politics ensued with the result that Greenpeace issued a public apology to the Shipbreaking Platform and also the promise “to urgently adopt an end-of-life ship policy, drafted with the help of the Shipbreaking Platform, to help ensure such errors do not occur in future.” I believe this was a wasted opportunity to take an ethical stance and show leadership.

On a more positive note, half of the ships sold by GMS to Indian yards in 2018 were recycled in accordance with the requirements of Hong Kong Convention, with Ship Recycling Plans and with Inventories of Hazardous Materials developed by GMS’s qualified experts.

Having been confronted with the Dutch court’s decision on the Seatrade case and with the imminent implementation of the European Regulation on Ship Recycling, more shipowners started paying attention to the challenges of ship recycling. During the year, GMS facilitated at least seven visits to India for shipowners who wanted to see for themselves the yards and the improvements that have taken place in Alang. Also, through the year shipowners and shipowners’ associations have campaigned for the Hong Kong Convention’s entry into force (this being the rather unusual situation of the regulated campaigning for regulation).

What will 2019 bring to our industry? There are 12 Indian and six Turkish yards whose applications are at various stages of review by the European Commission and its consultants. A first major juncture in 2019 will be around spring time when the European Commission is expected to announce whether the first two Indian yards that were audited last autumn are approved and included in the European List, or not. If they are approved, more yards in India will work hard to also gain approval, and in doing so will make available more real recycling capacity for shipowners of E.U. flagged ships.

If on the other hand the Indian applications are turned down, or the Commission’s decision is postponed over convenient technicalities, then owners of end-of-life E.U. flagged ships will have little option but to flag-out. This is because the one thing I can predict with certainty is that the idea promoted by Brussels, that the ocean-going fleet of Europe can be recycled in European Union yards, will not materialize. Therefore, looking ahead, there are two European scenarios for 2019: a successful and effective implementation of the European Regulation or a failed implementation that leads to evasion.

If the European Regulation is implemented successfully in 2019 it will disseminate its underlying technical standards (which are those of Hong Kong Convention) to the wider world and in this way will support the global acceptance of the Convention’s standards. On the other hand, a failure of the European Regulation could very well result in accelerated ratifications of the Hong Kong Convention by European countries who will be justifiably pressured by their own shipping industries.

Already it has been announced that Germany has secured ratification through its Parliament, as also has Turkey. It is also understood that the Netherlands, Estonia and possibly Italy are making progress towards ratification. Japan’s ratification is expected very soon, and no doubt other countries may well be getting close to ratifying the Hong Kong Convention. Furthermore, open registers, such as Liberia and Marshall Islands, can easily ratify the Hong Kong Convention, and I believe that they will do so as soon as the shipping industry confirms that the large tonnage of these registers is not going to hinder the recycling capacity condition of the Hong Kong Convention’s entry into force from being satisfied.

At the end of the day, the entry into force of the Hong Kong Convention is ultimately dependent on its ratification by India plus one other major ship recycling country (Bangladesh, Pakistan and China - who for the next few years will continue having legacy capacity).

Let us then hope that 2019 will deliver continuing improvements in the industry and some of the necessary ratifications of the Hong Kong Convention.

Source: the maritime-executive. 25 December 2018

https://www.maritime-executive.com/editorials/ship-recycling-no-sleepless-nights-for-the-e-u  

Ship-breaking yard approved for Gwadar

QUETTA: Prime Minister Imran Khan has approved establishing ship-breaking yard in Gwadar and a policy board for the same is being formulated.

This was announced during a high-level review meeting on the subject, chaired by Chief Minister Balochistan and attended by Federal Minister for Defence Production Zubaida Jalal and Finance Minister Asad Umar.

The meeting was informed CM Balo­chistan would also be a member of this policy board.

The PC1 document of Gwadar Ship-breaking Yard was presented in 2007 but could not proceed due to lack of interest by successive governments.

Now prime minister has approved the project on a partnership basis with the induction of manufacturing, training workshops, and parking stations.

“The government will welcome all projects in the better interests of people of the province.” CM Balochistan said, lauding the centre’s initiative.

The project is expected to fulfil the ­country’s shipping needs while also creating job opportunities for the local ­population.

The meeting was also briefed regarding the project completion and land allocation for the ship-breaking yard.

The finance minister said, “All decisions regarding Balochistan and Gwadar would be made with the consultation of the provincial government,” he assured.

The meeting unanimously agreed upon that approval of Gwadar Master Plan and other affairs would be inked jointly by federal, provincial governments as well as all the stakeholders.

Source: The Dawn. 25 December 2018

https://www.dawn.com/news/1453457

Gujarat migrant crisis: In Bhavnagar's Alang ship breaking yard, it's business as usual for workers from UP, Bihar

Editor's Note: The rape of a 14-month-old girl by a migrant labourer from Bihar in Idar town of Sabarkantha district on 28 September gave way to the persecution of migrant labourers in seven of the 33 districts of Gujarat. This incident ignited anger against migrant workers whom the locals believe are the real reason for unemployment in the state. This multi-part series will examine issues concerning migrant workers and the animosity they face from locals.

Alang (Bhavnagar): Gujarat is a prosperous state with multiple industries that need to employ people from across states depending on their skill sets and working abilities. The resentment towards migrant labourers over lack of jobs for locals that led to violence in seven districts across north and central Gujarat over several days since 28 September, was not reciprocated in districts like Bhavnagar, where immigrant population constitutes an important part of the workforce and the economy.

One such industrial unit is world's largest ship-breaking and recycling yard at Alang in Bhavnagar district where business ran as usual while other districts like Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Mehsana and Gandhinagar witnessed violence. Located on the shore of Gulf of Cambay, the Alang ship breaking yard has 85-90 percent of its workforce from outside Gujarat, of which most workers are from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Workers on site at Alang ship breaking yard in Bhavnagar, Gujarat. Arvind Bhatti/101Reporters.com

Vipin Chaubey, a labour contractor who hails from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh and leads a team of around 400 workers at the yard, says the attacks on migrant labourers in northern part of Gujarat had no impact on around 10,000-12,000 odd migrant workers of the yard.

Alang ship breaking yard, which is around 30 kilometres from Bhavnagar and 230 kilometres from Ahmedabad, is spread on a stretch of around 10 km along the sea-shore. It has around 160 plots (units where ships are dismantled), which do not remain operational all at once; it depends on the work available. Each of these units employ around 200 workers and currently, about 80 units are operational.

"We are living peacefully here and there is no problem whatsoever to workers or any other person in Alang. We have not received any threats from anyone and no one has returned home from here. The police have also extended their support," Chaubey says.

Viping Chaubey at Alang Workers at Alang ship breaking yard. Hemrajsinh Vala/101Reporters.com

Along the road between Alang and Trapaj, a close-by village on the approach way, is a market for second hand goods taken out of dismantled ships, including catering equipment, furniture, etc. While this business is dominated by local Gujaratis who populate the town of Alang and nearby areas, most of the migrant workers reside in the yard itself.

Chaubey said that even when the incidents of attacks were at their peak in parts of north and central Gujarat, there was no feeling of discomfort in Alan.

"In Alang, no one is bothered about it (attacks on migrants). Although nothing untoward happened here, yet both the Superintendent of Police of Bhavnagar and Deputy SP of Mahuva visited the yard and assured all of us of our safety. They also shared numbers of police officials with us for use in case of any emergency," says Chaubey, adding that the migrant workers were told to inform the police immediately if they received any threatening or provoking messages on WhatsApp or other social media platforms.

Source: yahoo news. 13 October 2018

https://in.news.yahoo.com/gujarat-migrant-crisis-bhavnagar-apos-112745901.html

Seven laborers burnt as Gadani ship-breaking yard catches fire

HUB: A horrible incident of fire inside a ship of Gadani ship-breaking yard charred seven laborers on Sunday.

According to details, a non-functional ship parked at Gadani ship-breaking yard caught fire abruptly as a result of which seven laborers working inside were burnt, the condition of three is said to be critical.

According to police, the incident took place while cutting of an oil tanker inside the ship. The injured are being taken to Karachi for medical facilities, the police informed ARY News.

The fire brigade team is busy in extinguishing operation.

Yesterday, in a similar incident, five workers were killed after being roasted inside a ship and prior to that, a week ago, the very ship was set ablaze but no human loss or injury was reported.

In 2016, during cleaning of an oil tanker, a ship caught flames and took lives of 23 laborers working at the site.

Source: Ary News. 14 October 2018

https://arynews.tv/en/seven-laborers-burnt-as-gadani-ship-breaking-yard-catches-fire/

GMS Market Commentary on Shipbreaking in Week 37 - CURIOUS SPECULATION!

Some extraordinarily speculative sales were registered this week as a few Cash Buyers (ones rumored to have fresh access to funding) seem intent on bidding well ahead of the market, in anticipation of firming rates ahead. This move was probably initiated last week with the high priced sales of a Cape and a VLCC on an ‘as is’ basis, at some massive numbers that are certainly not reflective of current market realities. In fact, all markets have displayed worrying signs of a possible decline in preceding weeks, making much of the recent offerings highly confusing and risky for Ship Owners and Cash Buyers alike.

As it stands, Pakistan remains stuffed with tanker tonnage that have only recently received cutting permission, albeit only on a handful of the plethora of units that were beached several months ago. Furthermore, they have also been beset with an announcement of a ‘mini’ budget, the outcome of which local Buyers are waiting for.

Bangladesh has suffered a week of declines in local steel plate prices and has consequently dropped to lowest placed of all the subcontinent markets. L/C issues have also plagued the industry of late, with very few banks willing to sanction limits on the locally favored large LDT vessels such as VLCCs, Capes and Suezmax tankers.

Wrapping up the subcontinent news is the Indian Rupee, which continues to endure weeks of crippling depreciations in unprecedented and historical lows, trading well over Rs. 72 against the U.S. Dollar, finally settling a touch this week and bringing some much-needed positivity to the local market.

Finally, as China remains marooned in a Neverland of its own making, Turkey is probably the only market to report noteworthy positive gains in both fundamentals i.e. local steel plate prices as well as the Turkish Lira, resulting in firming levels this week.

For week 37 of 2018, GMS demo rankings / pricing for the week are as below.

Demo Rank	Location	Sentiment	Dry Bulk USD/LDT	Containers USD/LDT	Tankers USD/LDT
1	India	Positive	USD 425/LT	USD 445 / LT	USD 435 / LT
2	Pakistan	Stable	USD 420/LT	USD 440/LT	USD 430/LT
3	Bangladesh	Declining	USD 415/LT	USD 435/LT	USD 425/LT
4	Turkey	Firming	USD 250/MT	USD 250/MT	USD 260 / MT

Source: steel guru. 18 Sep 2018

https://steelguru.com/steel/gms-market-commentary-on-shipbreaking-in-week-37-curious-speculation/520827