MEDIA ALERT – NGOS CALL ON BULGARIA: DON’T BE AN EXPORTER OF TOXIC SHIPS

After escaping Germany, the NORTHERN VITALITY is now headed for Bulgaria   

Brussels, 23 October 2012 - In a letter sent last week to the Bulgarian Ministry of Environment and to the Bulgarian Executive Environment Agency, the NGO Shipbreaking Platform, a global coalition of environmental, human rights and labour rights organisations, calls on Bulgaria to prevent the export to India of the toxic ship NORTHERN VITALITY, a 15-year-old containership that is likely to contain hazardous materials such as asbestos, refrigerants and mercury within its structure and electronic equipment; operational oily wastes such as sludge and oil residues; and stores including paint tins and heavy cleaning agents. Under European waste law it is illegal to export an end-of-life ship containing toxic materials to India.

“We expect Bulgaria to step up to the plate and do the right thing: refuse to be a toxic waste dumper and ban the export of the NORTHERN VITALITY to a developing country”, said Patrizia Heidegger, Executive Director of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform. “The ship should be sent to a facility in the EU or Turkey where she can be recycled in an environmentally sound and safe manner.”

The NORTHERN VITALITY left Germany on the 10 October after local authorities had held her for more than a month in the port of Wilhelmshaven, and is now about to enter the Mediterranean Sea. 

On 6 September, the Platform had alerted Germany and the European Commission that the ship’s departure from German waters had to be prevented and the EU Waste Shipment Regulation had to be enforced. 

The regulation prohibits the export of ships at end-of-life to developing countries, including India. Probably to evade public scrutiny, the then-owners of the NORTHERN VITALITY, the Norddeustche Vermögen Holding, sold her to another German company, Erste Roland Shipping, which stated that the ship would be repaired in Bulgaria. According to data acquired by the NGO Shipbreaking Platform, the VITALITY should drop anchor in Varna around 4 November.

However, the Platform doubts that the repairs in Bulgaria will be little more than a halt for the ship on her way to the shipbreaking yards of South Asia. Two sister ships of the NORTHERN VITALITY, the NORTHERN DIGNITY and the NORTHERN FELICITY, which were reported as sold for breaking by the industry at the end of August, were both beached in Alang, where they now await their disastrous fate. Both ships’ names and flags changed during their last voyage.

Every year, about 1,000 ocean-going ships are broken to recycle steel and other items, but the majorities are simply left on the tidal beaches of Pakistan, Bangladesh and India where little or no consideration is given to proper management of the hazardous wastes they contain. Proper training and personal protection equipment is lacking. Accidents and lethal injuries remain common in the shipbreaking yards. Twelve workers died this year while working in the Alang yards. On 6 October, six workers were killed in a fire that broke onboard a beached ship, the Union Brave, a British-owned ship. For the first time, the Indian authorities arrested the shipbreaking yard owners.

In July, India’s Supreme Court held that all ships imported for breaking should be pre-cleaned of the hazardous wastes they contain.

“There is a need to end this transfer of toxic waste to India and other countries and it’s time that the countries responsible for creation of the waste take on the responsibility of cleaning and disposing off the same,” said Ritwick Dutta, a lawyer from New Delhi-based Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment and a member of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform. “It should be the shipowners, not the environment or the workers, who should pay for the management of end-of-life ships’ hazardous wastes.”

Last March, the European Commission presented a proposal for a regulation on ship recycling, deemed to bring an end to the export of European toxic ships to sub-standard facilities. The NGO Shipbreaking Platform is now working with the European Parliament and the European Council to strengthen the proposal.

CONTACT:

Patrizia Heidegger

Executive Director

NGO Shipbreaking Platform

patrizia@shipbreakingplatform.org

+32 2 6094 419

Source: Shipbreaking Platform. 23 October 2012

http://www.shipbreakingplatform.org/media-alert-ngos-call-on-bulgaria-dont-be-an-exporter-of-toxic-ships/

MEDIA ALERT – NGOS CALL ON GERMANY: STOP TOXIC SHIP BEFORE IT REACHES ALANG GRAVEYARD

Brussels, 7 September 2012 – The “Northern Vitality”, a 15-year-old containership owned by German company “Norddeutsche Vermögen Holding GmbH & Co” and chartered by Swiss company MSC, will  be heading next week for the shipbreaking beach of Alang in India unless German authorities step in to halt its illegal export. Hazardous materials such as asbestos, refrigerants, oil residues, sludge and heavy metals are bound to be onboard the “Northern Vitality”, either in its structure or in electronic equipment, paints and the ship’s stores. Under European waste law it is illegal to export an end-of-life ship containing toxic materials to India.

Northern Vitality

“We expect Germany to enforce existing export bans on hazardous waste trafficking to developing countries”, said Ingvild Jenssen, Director of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform, a global coalition of human rights, labour rights and environmental organisations. “German authorities have a clear legal obligation to stop the “Northern Vitality” from leaving the port of Wilhelmshaven in Lower Saxony.”

Yesterday the NGO Shipbreaking Platform alerted the Lower Saxony Ministry of Transport as well as Environmental Affairs of this imminent breach of European and German law. The Platform will closely be following up this case and already welcomes that the German authorities have taken initial steps to ensure that the European Waste Shipment Regulation is enforced.

The “Northern Vitality” was sold last week by its German owner to the famous shipbroker GMS, along with its sister ships: the “Northern Dignity” currently located in Singapore, and the “Northern Felicity” anchored in Dubai. GMS’s business is to buy ships at end-of-life and resell them to the South Asian shipbreaking yards. The economic and financial crisis is causing more ships to be sent for breaking. It is expected that 2012 will be a record year for the shipbreaking yards of South Asia.

On the Indian beach of Alang, hundreds of ships are broken every year and their steel recycled. Little or no care is given to the proper handling of the many hazardous wastes such as asbestos, refrigerants and heavy metals trapped within the ships’ structure, electrical equipment and in operational wastes. Once the ships are laid up on the tidal beach, hundreds of untrained and unprotected workers will dismantle them at the risk of being exposed to cancer due to inhalation of asbestos fibers and toxic fumes, or to fatal accidents caused by gas leaks, explosions, the falling from heights or being crushed by heavy steel plates. Hazardous debris and waste are released into the marine environment, burnt on-site or dumped in surrounding areas. More than 100 km of the coastal zone on both sides of the Alang shipbreaking yards is polluted.

On 30 July 2012, India made it clear that the “Exxon Valdez”, a ship famous for the oil pollution it caused in Alaska in 1989, and which was sold for demolition in May 2012, would be the last toxic ship to be allowed into Indian waters. The Indian Supreme Court directed the government to ensure a clean and pollution free marine environment. Hazardous materials thus need to be removed from the vessels prior to entering Indian waters for dismantling purposes.

“India simply cannot tolerate that steel is recycled from ships at such a high cost for the workers and the environment,” said Ritwick Dutta, an Indian lawyer from Legal Initiative on Forest and Environment (LIFE). “European ship owners let Indians bear the cost of dealing with the toxic waste contained in their ships, but  the Supreme  Court has stated over and over again that this is illegal.”

Contact:

Ingvild Jenssen

Director

NGO Shipbreaking Platform

Ingvild@shipbreakingplatform.org

www.shipbreakingplatform.org

Tel: 0032 (0)2 6094 419

Ritwick Dutta

Lawyer

Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE)

ritwickdutta@gmail.com

Tel: 0091 1149536656

Source: NGO Shipbreaking Platform. 7 September 2012

http://www.shipbreakingplatform.org/media-alert-ngos-call-on-germany-stop-toxic-ship-before-it-reaches-alang-graveyard/

Asbestos Laden Japan Built Vessel MV TIRAN To Enter Indian Waters:

New Delhi, June 29, 2012: Asbestos laden Japan built vessel MV TIRAN (ex Sirorat Naree, Gulf Glory, Ocean Fortress is likely to reach Indian waters on June 30, 2012 under Panama flag. Its last position as of June 27, 2012 was in Persian Gulf. Its last known port was Mina Saqr. Its last flag was Thailand when its registered owner was Precious Diamonds Pvt Ltd in 2009. Its IMO No is 8316302. This Cargo vessel was built in the year 1984 by Kanasashi Heavy Industries. Its length x breadth is 172 m X 27 m.

Asbestos is discovered in flange gaskets, coatings, pipe insulation and in accommodation areas. The classification societies are facing allegations of wrongly issuing Safety of Life at Sea (Solas) certificates for ships containing asbestos. Numerous cases of asbestos laden ships have come to light due to the laxity of Classification societies in accepting asbestos-free certificates or statements from shipyards for equipment installations without checking their accuracy.

Unlike USA, Japan is also a party to UN's Basel Convention on Transboundary of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal. India is a party to the Convention whose Article 4-2 (d) requires it to” Ensure that the transboundary movement of hazardous wastes and other wastes is reduced to the minimum consistent with the environmentally sound and efficient management of such wastes, and is conducted in a manner which will protect human health and the environment against the adverse effects which may result from such movement.” As pre India’s Hazardous Waste Management Rules, 2008 trade in asbestos waste (dust and fibers) is banned. There is complete ban on asbestos use, trade and manufacturing in Japan.

A 15-member delegation of Japan Shipowners' Association had visited Alang ship breaking yard on February 14, 2012 and met Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi on February 13 in order to make Alang's 170 recycling plots, spread over a 10 kilometre stretch fit for Japanese end-of-life ships to be dumped on Alang beach without any hassle for recycling. Japan outs its dead ships transferred as it commands 25-30 per cent share in global shipping business.

Unmindful of the fact that both the shipbreaking industry and environmental groups are opposed to International Maritime Organization (IMO)’s Hong Kong protocol for safe and environmentally-friendly recycling, formulated in 2009, the Japanese delegation campaigned for it to be adopted.

It is noteworthy that in July 2002, the IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) banned under Solas the installation of asbestos on new buildings and existing ships, with a few exceptions. A total ban was introduced on 1 January 2011. But it has come to light that asbestos in end-of-life vessels continues to be of major concern.

This poses serious risks to the health of crew members, ship surveyors and inspectors and persons working in shipbreaking yard facilities. The fact is that asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) were still being found in such places as fire blankets, joint and insulation materials, some sealants and friction material for brakes, as well as wall and ceiling coverings.

The surveyors are not properly trained to identify asbestos and where it is most likely to be found. The Directorate General of Shipping, Union Ministry of Shipping should note that declarations from the recycling shipyards are useless because they do not have control over the incoming hazardous materials.

ToxicsWatch Alliance (TWA) demands that a high powered team of toxicologists should be asked to survey presence of asbestos on end-of-life ships that enters Indian waters and also those which are which used by Indian Navy to save workers and soldiers from exposure of carcinogenic fibers..

It has come to light that the Solas ban has been flouted. Of 140 vessels inspected, asbestos was discovered on 114. The checks covered ships delivered by yards since 1 January 2003, which meant they all fell under the Solas convention. This has come to public domain in a report of Tradewinds titled “Asbestos ‘failure’ by class societies” authored by Geoff Garfield.

Both Japan built vessel MV TIRAN and the controversial US ship, ex Exxon Valdez are laden with asbestos and PCBs.

Japan has hatched a plan to skirt the Basel Convention and liberalize and promote toxic waste trade among their global neighbors in Asia. One of the key components of this plan includes utilization of bilateral trade agreements. The manner in which these trade agreements are being used constitutes non-compliance with the Basel Convention.

Environmental health groups are opposed to Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) including one with countries that allows status quo to continue with regard to hazardous waste trade. The FTA with Japan is highly regressive as it is an effort to outwit the intent of the Basel Convention. Government of India is quite secretive about the agreements with Japanese government and EU. These groups have been campaigning against the India-EU FTA that entails such free trade in hazardous waste.

In a letter dated June 28, 2012 to Director, CBI, TWA has drawn the attention towards US flagged ship called Delaware Trader (IMO No. 8008929) as well and has sought his intervention to ensure that such ships are not allowed to enter Indian waters.

The letter argues that such movements of end-of-life vessels “must be halted to demonstrate that Indian law enforcement agencies are not subservient to US Ship Disposal Policy” in compliance with two of Supreme Court's orders of October 14, 2003 and September 6, 2007, the relevant part reads: "At the international Level, India should participate...with a clear mandate for the decontamination of ships of their hazardous substances such as asbestos, waste oil, gas and PCBs prior to exports to India for breaking" besides the May 3, 2012 order. In its order dated June 25, 2012, Supreme Court’s Vacation Bench of Justice HL Gokhle and Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai has ordered that the matter of dead US ship Exxon Valdez should be placed before the appropriate Bench. The ship owners had tried their luck even before another Vacation Bench of Justice Deepak Verma and Justice Sudhanshu Jyoti Mukhopadhya on May 14. Both the benches have refused any relief to the owners of US hazardous dead vessel.

TWA’s letter demands that “CBI and other concerned agencies ought to coordinate their efforts to demonstrate sensitivity towards Indian environmental borders which is routinely being compromised so much so that since 1982 till date more than 5000 dead foreign ships have been dumped in India's fragile coastal environment of Alang beach.”

Source: countercurrents. By Toxics Watch Alliance. 29 June, 2012

http://www.countercurrents.org/twa290612.htm

Exxon Valdez may finally sink:

ALANG, India - For the ship formerly known as the Exxon Valdez, even sailing quietly into the sunset is proving difficult.

Now called the Oriental Nicety, it's floating off India in a kind of high-seas limbo as a court decides whether the vessel that dumped 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska's unspoiled Prince William Sound in 1989 can be hacked apart in this forlorn graveyard for once-mighty ships.

Local environmentalists have petitioned the High Court here in the western state of Gujarat to block its entry pending an onboard inspection for toxic chemicals, including mercury, arsenic and asbestos.

Environmentalists acknowledge it's probably no more toxic than so many other ships recycled at Alang, a city whose coastline was once edged with forest and is now lined with about 175 ramshackle yards pulling vessels apart. But they say the standoff focuses attention on India's lax environmental, labor and safety standards governing the billion-dollar ship-breaking industry.

"The ex-Exxon Valdez is a test case for the robustness of India's regulatory framework," activist Gopal Krishna of ToxicsWatch Alliance wrote in a court filing.

In an industry that benefits from cheap labor, "they want to drop the problem on the poor people of India," said Jim Puckett, Seattle-based head of the Basel Action Network activist group.

Dharamveer Sharma, 45, landed here from Bihar state. As he cut apart flammable oil cylinders with oxyacetylene torches at a yard, he said he lives in constant fear.

"But I need the money," he said. "One day I'll quit and go back home and the memories of this place will haunt me."

The scene on Alang's six-mile-long beach seems the stuff of nightmares. Because of a 38-foot tidal variation, vessels meeting their end can sail straight onto its sand, no need for expensive docks. About 35,000 migrant workers, human vultures of a sort, then hack at carcasses that soon resemble half-eaten whales.

Moving inland, yard upon yard is filled with items from aircraft carriers, cruise ships and other floating cities, including 1970s-era Pac-Man game consoles, dinner plates, sofas, lockers and half-used soy sauce bottles.

What's not easily sold off is chopped up for scrap metal in this world of Victorian squalor. In a lot beside an asbestos treatment center, a worker sat in the dirt bashing at ship instruments, toxic smoke from burning transistors curling around him, surrounded by piles of wire and glass.

The Oriental Nicety's most recent owner, Alang-based scrap company Priya Blue, says it is confident of a favorable ruling soon on the ship's fate. If not, or if the legal limbo drags on too long, it may divert the ship to Bangladesh or Pakistan. Both neighboring countries have similar laws against importing toxic material, although ships are often brought in illegally.

"We'll fight it if we learn it's happening," said Muhammad Ali Shahin, an activist with the Bangladeshi environmental group Platform on Shipbreaking.

A partner at Priya Blue stood up for the infamous vessel. "We are 110 percent sure the ship is safe," Sanjay P. Mehta said. An injured person who heals is considered healthy, he said. "It's the same with the Exxon Valdez. The spill happened a long time back. It's not hazardous."

A 2006 study commissioned by India's Supreme Court found 16 percent of ships broken apart here had asbestos traces. "I can't say we haven't had (tuberculosis) or deaths, just not an epidemic," said B.N. Singh, a ship safety officer and union official, who says at least the fibers remain wet in the surf. "Whether workers survive or die in their village, no one knows."

Alang's yards have had a record year, scrapping more than 400 ships in 2011-12, an end-of-life business that often flourishes when the economy slumps.

"We're the undertakers," said Yogesh Rehani, managing director of Maryland's Global Marketing Systems, which sends dead ships to Alang.

Rehani bid for the Oriental Nicety not knowing its history but lost out to Priya Blue, which reportedly paid $16 million - a loss that was a lucky break for Global Marketing, given the legal standoff.

The yards at Alang, the world's largest ship-breaking operation, have broken apart more than 5,900 ships since they started in 1983 by handling Soviet navy vessels. At any given time, more than 100 ships are waiting offshore or are beached in various stages of disassembly.

The yards work through worldwide agents that buy dying ships and sail them to Alang, where they're stripped of everything, their hulls then cut apart with welding torches and sold off - a process sometimes called "razor-blading," from the days when shavers made use of the recycled metal.

A yard might pay $1.5 million for a 5,000-ton ship and take in $2.25 million selling the bits three months later. India gets 8 percent of its steel from recycled ships; its jugaad culture of reusing almost everything wrings out more profit than in other countries.

With each ship arrival, workers perform a puja, or blessing, splitting a coconut for the deities, especially elephant god Ganesha, said to protect those facing dangerous tasks.

Two years ago, six people were killed when an oil cylinder caught fire. It was "like they were burned alive in a tandoori oven," said Arvind Kumar Tripathi, a safety officer at Alang's Nagarsheth Ship Breakers.

Since 1983, 372 people have died, according to the Gujarat Maritime Board, although labor and human rights groups say it's closer to 50 a year.

"They treat us like dogs and throw us away like dogs," Singh said.

Families of dead workers receive $15,000. But a greater disincentive for companies is a five-day shutdown for yards where a worker dies. "The $15,000 is loose change," Tripathi said. "But getting shut means heavy losses."

The mostly illiterate workers receive little training, and even when given masks and goggles, they often don't use them. Most live in shanties a few hundred yards from the shore without running water or toilets, and earn $2 to $7 a day. The dilapidated local hospital has no doctor. Those badly injured must travel long distances for expensive private care.

The state government, wary of bad publicity, treats the Alang coastline like a heavily guarded secret installation, with journalists, environmentalists and labor charities particularly unwelcome.

"This entire area is filled with government spies," said a driver. Nearby, a man walked by wearing a black "Greenpeace, stay out of our waters!" T-shirt.

Although most of those ripping the ships apart have little romance of the sea, crews dropping anchor for the last time bemoan their vessels' deaths.

"It makes you a bit sad," said Filipino crewman Lteo Gosos, one of 18 crew members delivering a 31-year-old vessel to Alang. "But at least we're going home. I can finally see my sons.”

Source: Standard Examiner. By Mark Magnier. 5 June 2012

http://www.standard.net/stories/2012/06/05/exxon-valdez-may-finally-sink

Exxon Valdez remains controversial near its end in India:

Indian environmentalists have filed a petition to block the Exxon Valdez from entering Alang, India, a graveyard for once-mighty ships.

Workers dismantle a vessel in Alang, India. The shipbreaking yards in the city have taken apart more than 5,900 ships since they started in 1983. (Ajit Solanki, Associated Press / March 13, 2006) 

ALANG, India — For the ship formerly known as the Exxon Valdez, even sailing quietly into the sunset is proving difficult.

Now called the Oriental Nicety, it's floating off India in a kind of high-seas limbo as a court decides whether the vessel that dumped 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska's unspoiled Prince William Sound in 1989 can be hacked apart in this forlorn graveyard for once-mighty ships.

Local environmentalists have petitioned the High Court here in the western state of Gujarat to block its entry pending an onboard inspection for toxic chemicals, including mercury, arsenic and asbestos.

Environmentalists acknowledge it's probably no more toxic than so many other ships recycled at Alang, a city whose coastline was once edged with forest and is now lined with about 175 ramshackle yards pulling vessels apart. But they say the standoff focuses attention on India's lax environmental, labor and safety standards governing the billion-dollar ship-breaking industry.

"The ex-Exxon Valdez is a test case for the robustness of India's regulatory framework," activist Gopal Krishna of ToxicsWatch Alliance wrote in a court filing.

In an industry that benefits from cheap labor, "they want to drop the problem on the poor people of India," said Jim Puckett, Seattle-based head of the Basel Action Network activist group.

Dharamveer Sharma, 45, landed here from Bihar state. As he cut apart flammable oil cylinders with oxyacetylene torches at a yard, he said he lives in constant fear.

"But I need the money," he said. "One day I'll quit and go back home and the memories of this place will haunt me."

The scene on Alang's 6-mile-long beach seems the stuff of nightmares. Because of a 38-foot tidal variation, vessels meeting their end can sail straight onto its sand, no need for expensive docks. About 35,000 migrant workers, human vultures of a sort, then hack at carcasses that soon resemble half-eaten whales.

Moving inland, yard upon yard is filled with items from aircraft carriers, cruise ships and other floating cities, including 1970s-era Pac-Man game consoles, dinner plates, sofas, lockers and half-used soy sauce bottles.

What's not easily sold off is chopped up for scrap metal in this world of Victorian squalor. In a lot beside an asbestos treatment center, a worker sat in the dirt bashing at ship instruments, toxic smoke from burning transistors curling around him, surrounded by piles of wire and glass.

The Oriental Nicety's most recent owner, Alang-based scrap company Priya Blue, says it is confident of a favorable ruling soon on the ship's fate. If not, or if the legal limbo drags on too long, it may divert the ship to Bangladesh or Pakistan. Both neighboring countries have similar laws against importing toxic material, although ships are often brought in illegally.

"We'll fight it if we learn it's happening," said Muhammad Ali Shahin, an activist with the Bangladeshi environmental group Platform on Shipbreaking.

A partner at Priya Blue stood up for the infamous vessel. "We are 110% sure the ship is safe," Sanjay P. Mehta said. An injured person who heals is considered healthy, he said. "It's the same with the Exxon Valdez. The spill happened a long time back. It's not hazardous."

A 2006 study commissioned by India's Supreme Court found 16% of ships broken apart here had asbestos traces. "I can't say we haven't had [tuberculosis] or deaths, just not an epidemic," said B.N. Singh, a ship safety officer and union official, who says at least the fibers remain wet in the surf. "Whether workers survive or die in their village, no one knows."

Alang's yards have had a record year, scrapping more than 400 ships in 2011-12, an end-of-life business that often flourishes when the economy slumps.

"We're the undertakers," said Yogesh Rehani, managing director of Maryland's Global Marketing Systems, which sends dead ships to Alang.

Rehani bid for the Oriental Nicety not knowing its history but lost out to Priya Blue, which reportedly paid $16 million — a loss that was a lucky break for Global Marketing, given the legal standoff.

The yards at Alang, the world's largest ship-breaking operation, have broken apart more than 5,900 ships since they started in 1983 by handling Soviet navy vessels. At any given time, more than 100 ships are waiting offshore or are beached in various stages of disassembly.

The yards work through worldwide agents that buy dying ships and sail them to Alang, where they're stripped of everything, their hulls then cut apart with welding torches and sold off — a process sometimes called "razor-blading," from the days when shavers made use of the recycled metal.

A yard might pay $1.5 million for a 5,000-ton ship and take in $2.25 million selling the bits three months later. India gets 8% of its steel from recycled ships; its jugaad culture of reusing almost everything wrings out more profit than in other countries.

With each ship arrival, workers perform a puja, or blessing, splitting a coconut for the deities, especially elephant god Ganesha, said to protect those facing dangerous tasks.

Two years ago, six people were killed when an oil cylinder caught fire. It was "like they were burned alive in a tandoori oven," said Arvind Kumar Tripathi, a safety officer at Alang's Nagarsheth Ship Breakers.

Since 1983, 372 people have died, according to the Gujarat Maritime Board, although labor and human rights groups say it's closer to 50 a year.

"They treat us like dogs and throw us away like dogs," Singh said.

Families of dead workers receive $15,000. But a greater disincentive for companies is a five-day shutdown for yards where a worker dies. "The $15,000 is loose change," Tripathi said. "But getting shut means heavy losses."

The mostly illiterate workers receive little training, and even when given masks and goggles, they often don't use them. Most live in shanties a few hundred yards from the shore without running water or toilets, and earn $2 to $7 a day. The dilapidated local hospital has no doctor. Those badly injured must travel long distances for expensive private care.

The state government, wary of bad publicity, treats the Alang coastline like a heavily guarded secret installation, with journalists, environmentalists and labor charities particularly unwelcome.

"This entire area is filled with government spies," said a driver. Nearby, a man walked by wearing a black "Greenpeace, stay out of our waters!" T-shirt.

Although most of those ripping the ships apart have little romance of the sea, crews dropping anchor for the last time bemoan their vessels' deaths.

"It makes you a bit sad," said Filipino crewman Leo Gosos, one of 18 crew members delivering a 31-year-old vessel to Alang. "But at least we're going home. I can finally see my sons."

Source: Los Angeles Times. By Mark Magnier. 4 June 2012

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-india-exxon-valdez-20120605,0,5736158.story

New setback for troubled ship as India bars beaching:

The company that bought the tanker formerly known as Exxon Valdez - infamous for creating one of America's biggest oil spills - has been barred from beaching it at the Alang shipbreaking yard by the Indian Supreme Court.

The 213,000-tonne ship first entered Indian waters more than a month ago and has been at anchor awaiting the necessary paperwork before being run up the beach to be broken up.

However, its new owner, Best Oasis, the shipbreaking subsidiary of Priya Blue Industries of Gujarat, was yesterday informed of the court's ruling that stated the ship cannot be beached until it has been decontaminated.

The ruling followed a petition by the Indian environmental group, the Research Foundation for Science (RFS), which asserted the ship, now called Oriental Nicety and converted to a bulk carrier, was in breach of the Basel Convention, an international shipping accord.

The convention, which deals with the movement of condemned ships, is designed to prevent "dumping" of vessels in less developed countries.

Under its rules, ships destined for breakers' yards must first have all toxic waste and materials such as asbestos, printed circuit boards and heavy metals, such as mercury, removed in the exporting country.

RFS said in its petition that the ship was already in breach of the convention and should be ordered to leave Indian waters.

"Though it has not yet been allowed to berth in any of the ports, the ship, which is alleged to be contaminated, has entered Indian waters without taking proper steps for decontamination in the port of export," said Sanjay Parekh, a solicitor for RFS, after the ruling.

"We will abide with the Supreme Court order. We are studying the order, and will appeal," a spokesman for Best Oasis told The Times of India yesterday.

The former tanker, built in 1986, was sold by its previous owners, the Chinese shipping company Cosco, to the ship demolition brokers GMC for US$15.8 million (Dh58m) in March, before being sold on to the breakers' in India.

The ship's notoriety dates back to the spring of 1989, when television stations around the world showed endless footage of sea birds and seals floundering in black, viscous crude after the Exxon Valdez ripped a hole in its hull on Bligh Reef in Alaska's Prince William Sound, disgorging 32 million gallons of cargo.

The accident, then the worst environmental disaster in United States history, surpassed only by BP's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, caused an estimated $15bn of damage and prompted a fundamental rethinking of tanker design.

ExxonMobil, the largest US oil company, spent three years and $3.86bn to clean up the spill, which damaged 1,120km of coastline and killed more than 36,000 birds, according to the US environmental protection agency.

Since the disaster, the ship's name has been changed five times.

It has sailed under two flags of convenience - the Marshall Islands and Panama - and been involved in a major collision at sea.

Several years after the disaster, it was prohibited by law from re-entering Prince William Sound when Exxon tried to return it to work in US waters.

Source: The National. By David Black (dblack@thenational.ae). 10 May 2012

http://www.thenational.ae/business/economy/new-setback-for-troubled-ship-as-india-bars-beaching

Alang-bound, Alaska fame oil tanker awaits ruling:

Oriental Nicety now stationed at Mumbai port outer anchorage

The controversial foreign oil tanker, Oriental Nicety, supposed to be headed for the Alang shipbreaking yard off the Bhavnagar port in Gujarat for dismantling, is now stationed at the outer anchorage of the Mumbai port.

The ship coming to Alang will depend on the outcome of a legal battle in the Supreme Court, says Gujarat Maritime Board Managing Director Pankaj Kumar.

The ship, earlier known as Exxon Valdez, which was involved in one of the worst U.S. oil spills off the Alaska coast in 1989, has been held up in the high seas after a voluntary organisation, the Research Foundation for Science, filed a petition seeking a direction to the Centre to prevent dismantling in India of ships which were violating the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal.

Under the convention, no country can allow a ship to berth at its port for dismantling unless it has been decontaminated in the exporting country before being sent to foreign waters.

Gujarat government sources refused to comment on the issue, pointing out that the matter was under court consideration. Also, the government was not aware of the quantity of hazardous wastes Oriental Nicety was carrying. The sources, however, expressed the confidence that the Alang yard had the capacity to handle any amount of hazardous waste without causing environmental pollution.

Source: The Hindu. By Manas Dasgupta. 12 May 2012

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3412902.ece

Stop toxic ship mid-way: Indian Supreme Court

Taking a serious view of the allegations that an ailing and contaminated US ship ‘Oriental Nicety’ has entered Indian shores to get its last rites done at Gujarat’s shipbreaking grave yard, the Supreme Court has issued notices to the Union government and the shipping ministry to inform it about the steps they have taken to cut short her voyage midway.

According to a PIL filed by Research and Science Foundation, Oriental Nicety had few more names earlier such as Exxon Valdez, Exxon Mediterranean, Sea River Mediterranean, S/R Mediterranean, Mediterranean, and Dong Fang Ocean. She has been bought by Best Oasis Company, (a subsidiary of Priya Blue Industries Pvt Ltd) based in Bhavnagar, Gujarat.

Having apprehensions based on its past experiences relating to the authorities’ indifference to complying with norms laid down in the Basel Convention regarding the shipbreaking too, RSF lawyer Sanjay Parikh said on Friday that the ship is a trespasser as she “doesn’t have the sanction to berth” at any of the shipbreaking yards.

“Though it has not yet been allowed to berth in any of the ports, the ship, which is alleged to be contaminated, has entered Indian waters without taking proper steps for decontamination in the port of export,” Parikh said.

A bench headed by Justice Altamas Kabir noted on Friday that the copies of the RSF lawsuit have been handed over to the shipping ministry’s counsel TS Doabia and environment ministry’s lawyer Ashok Bhan. They have been directed to get the instructions from the ministries concerned and file replies.

India is a signatory to the Basel Convention that provides for ensuring minimization of the “generation of hazardous wastes in terms of quantity and hazardousness’’ and such toxic wastes are disposed “as close to the source of generation as possible”. In its judgment in October 2007, the top court had laid down some statutory conditions for allowing a damned ship to anchor in Indian waters. Before a ship arrives at the port, she should be armed with “proper consent” from the authority concerned or the state maritime board that she is hazardous-free and not carrying any radioactive substances.

She should be properly decontaminated by the ship owner prior to the breaking. This should be ensured by the state pollution control boards.

According to Toxicswatch, Oriental Nicety is the second ship that has her origin in the US and that is “outwitting Indian laws”.

A report from New Orleans on March 23 last said the `Exxon Valdez’ has been sold for scrap 23 years after causing the worst tanker spill in the US history, which led to new designs for oil carriers. Now called the `Oriental Nicety’, the vessel was sold for about $16 million, said a report of Maryland-based Global Marketing Systems Inc., the world’s biggest cash buyer of ships for demolition.

Source: DNA. By Rakesh Bhatnagar. 7 May 2012

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_stop-toxic-ship-mid-way-sc_1685362

Indian ship broker buys Exxon Valdez as scrap:

NEW DELHI — An Indian company that dismantles old ships has bought the notorious Exxon Valdez, the tanker involved in one of the worst oil spills in U.S. history, a company official said today.

Though Gaurav Mehta, an official at Best Oasis Ltd., declined to say what the company had planned for the Exxon Valdez, it seemed likely the infamous tanker was headed for the scrapyard.

Mehta said his company had recently bought the tanker, which has undergone five name changes since the 1989 oil spill and is now known as the “Oriental Nicety.”

Hong Kong-based Best Oasis is a wholly owned subsidiary of Indian ship breaking firm Priya Blue Industries, based in the western state of Gujarat.

“I can confirm that Best Oasis has bought the tanker, but can give no details till we take delivery of it,” Mehta said.

On March 24, 1989, millions of gallons of crude oil spewed into Alaska's ecologically sensitive Prince William Sound when the Exxon Valdez dashed against rocks, coating the shoreline with petroleum sludge and killing nearly 40,000 birds. The spill caused incalculable environmental damage and demolished the fishing industry in the area.

Texas-based Exxon Mobil Corp., spent $900 million in restitution in a 1991 settlement and is battling more litigation from the spill.

The tanker, though, moved on, with its name and its ownership changing repeatedly in an apparent effort to keep the ship in use while distancing itself from the environmental tragedy that bears its name.

The Exxon Valdez was known at various times as the Exxon Mediterranean, SeaRiver Mediterranean, Dong Fang Ocean and, finally, the Oriental Nicety.

In 2007, it was converted into an ore carrier. Three years later, it was involved in a collision in the South China Sea.

Mehta refused to reveal the price Best Oasis paid for the tanker.

“I can't reveal any further information,” he said.

Best Oasis was set up in Hong Kong in 2010 for the “sole purpose of cash buying of vessels for recycling at Alang, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and China,” the company website said.

India has one of the world's largest industries for breaking down old ships and oil tankers located in the coastal town of Alang, along the Gulf of Cambay in Gujarat.

Source: Richmond Times Dispatch. 23 March 2012

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2012/mar/23/indian-ship-breaker-buys-exxon-valdez-scrap-ar-1788281/