Maersk to Scrap Four More Vessels at Alang:

Maersk Group has accepted bids for scrapping four more ships at Shree Ram in Alang, India, plus an additional four at an LR-certified facility in China.

Maersk did not indicate the sale prices for the Panamax vessels, but as of November 30, typical demolition values at Alang were 25 percent higher than those paid by Chinese yards. Maersk has cited the potential for improving its bottom line in its decision to sell to beaching yards like Shree Ram; in addition, it asserts that the partnership will result in social and environmental benefits. “All past experience of changing any industry points to the fact that real engagement on the ground leads to effective change,” said Capt. Prashant S. Widge, head of ship recycling at Maersk Group Sustainability.

In October, investigative journalists with public interest outlet Danwatch released an expose of conditions at Shree Ram, the first Alang yard Maersk Group selected as a shipbreaking partner. The investigators alleged that working conditions at the yard were unsafe, with deficiencies including:

- unsafe rigging of cutting gas supply lines along the beach, a risk factor for explosions;

- a lack of appropriate personal protective equipment, including the absence of safety glasses, earplugs or respirators;

- unsanitary living conditions for workers in the nearby community;

- limited medical facilities to treat the wounded;

- and a lack of formal contract papers with shipbreaking workers.

In response, Maersk acknowledged that the improvement of the yard's practices was a work in progress, and emphasized its ongoing compliance efforts. “We have even seen improvements during the short time we’ve been here, but things still aren’t perfect. Many of the necessary hardware and capital investments have been made, but what really takes time to change is the safety mindset. I think we are a few years away from changing this, but I am confident we can make it,” said Captain Widge.

At the Chinese facility, Jiangyn Xiagang Changjiang Ship Recycling, supervision will be handled by a third party called Sea2Cradle, which boasts 15 years of experience with zero accidents. Maersk did not indicate a role for this firm at Alang; it says that recycling supervision at Shree Ram will be carried out by Maersk QHSE superintendents and external consultants.

“With this tender, we have for the first time seen that the ship recyclers compete not only on price but also on standards. This indicates a move towards higher standards, and we will continue to encourage this development,” says Annette Stube.

Maersk's position is controversial, and it contradicts its own history of opposition to beaching. The advocacy organization NGO Shipbreaking Platform, along with other watchdog organizations and a number of European politicians, have called on the EU to ban European shipowners from using beaching yards like those at Alang.

Source: maritime-executive. 19 December 2016

http://www.maritime-executive.com/article/maersk-to-scrap-four-more-vessels-at-alang

Danish opposition parties call on Government to stop beaching of Maersk vessels

The Danish Environment Minister, Esben Lunde Larsen, had to answer to the Parliament yesterday following questions put to the Government by all the opposition parties. The long list of questions had been drafted two months earlier, prompted by the revelations of Maersk’s shipbreaking practices in South Asia by the Danish investigative journalists, Danwatch, and the daily newspaper Politiken. All opposition parties called on the Danish Government to ensure that Maersk’s end-of-life vessels cannot be broken down in beaching yards, The Shipbreaking Platform website said.

Apart from a semi-attempt to filibuster by reading out the already available written answers and paraphrasing the Hong Kong Convention, the Minister insisted on quoting technical details and the obligation to follow the law. He was unable to give political direction on how the Government would work to stop Danish companies’ use of the polluting and dangerous beaching practices in South Asia and on Maersk’s threat to swap the Danish flag for a non-EU flag if the EU does not approve ship recycling on the beaches of Alang. The MPs present, representing the spectrum of Danish opposition political parties (including Social democrat member of parliament, Christian Rabjerg Madsen, and the head of Socialistisk Folkeparti, Pia Olsen Dyhr, as well as Ida Auken from Radikale Venstre, Christian Poll from Alternativet, and Marie Reumert Gjerding from Enhedslisten) and the Chair (Pia Adelsteen from Dankse Folkeparti), incessantly pressed the Minister to answer concrete and direct questions on the Danish government’s position on beaching, Maersk’s threat to flag out, and whether the government is pressing the EU Commission to list beaching yards in Alang on the upcoming EU list of accepted facilities world-wide.

If ships were broken on beaches in Denmark there would be an uproar, the MPs stated. They asked the Minister to outline how he thought safe working conditions and protection from pollution could ever be ensured when dismantling a vessel in the intertidal zone of a beach, and clearly requested the Minister to provide strong political support to end beaching. To all the questions and comments, the Minister however repeatedly appealed to his ignorance about the shipbreaking industry and to the literal text of the EU guidelines under the Ship Recycling Regulation. Whilst the Minister admitted that flagging out to circumvent EU law is not compatible with responsible business practices, he refused to answer how he would make sure that Danish shipping companies only use facilities that are on the upcoming EU List of approved recycling practices, and which is not expected to include facilities that use the beaching method. Clearly, Minister Lunde Larsen, in the two months he had to prepare before the meeting with the MPs, chose to only be briefed by the interested lobby groups who promote beaching practices; most notably the biggest company in Denmark, Maersk.

“It is shocking that the Minister gave no political comment or direction, but rather only contained a copy-pasted quotation fed to him by Maersk. It reveals the lack of political backbone when we see that Maersk is in such a powerful position to issue statements on behalf of the Danish government and that the Minister seems to believe this is acceptable,” said Ingvild Jenssen, Policy Director of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform.

The insistent drilling by the MPs to the Minister on the government’s position on beaching left no time for Esben Lunde Larsen to answer all questions. The MPs would have particularly liked to go into more depth on issues related to the government policy to enhance the ship recycling industry in Denmark, and crucially on the government’s engagement to investigate on the illegal export of the Maersk-owned oil production and storage tanker, North Sea Producer, from the UK to Bangladesh. At the end of the meeting, Pia Olsen Dyhr (SF) called for another meeting with the Minister to discuss these issues more in detail.

Source: port news. 16 December 2016

http://en.portnews.ru/news/231387/

​Maersk Sending Four More Ships to Alang:

Danish shipping giant Maersk Line has announced plans to scrap eight panamax ships at yards in India and China.

The world’s largest container shipping company has come under fire this year over its shipbreaking practices, specifically its return to beaching facilities in Alang, India where the company intends to recycle more ships in the future.

Maersk says of the eight ships, four will be recycled in Alang, including two at Shree Ram and two at Y.S. Investments. Two Maersk ships are already being recycled at Shree Ram, although at a different yard than panamax vessels will be sent to.

The four vessels to be sent to China will be recycled at Jiangyin Xiagang Changjiang Ship Recycling in China, a Lloyd’s Register certified facility.

The contract awards follow a tender issued in November in which five hand-picked ship recycling facilities in India and China were invited to participate. All ship recyclers agreed to the A.P. Moller – Maersk Responsible Ship Recycling Standard (RSRS) as a prerequisite to enter the tender.

Maersk says recycling supervision in India will be carried out by Maersk QHSE superintendents and external consultants to ensure responsible ship recycling operations according to the A.P. Moller – Maersk RSRS.

“Since our first vessels arrived in Alang earlier this year, we’ve seen significant progress – at the facility we are working with now, at the facilities that will recycle these next four vessels, and even at other facilities that have been encouraged to invest and upgrade,” says Annette Stube, Maersk Transport&Logitics Head of Sustainability.

In the coming years, Maersk Line says it expects to recycle a larger number of vessels than in previous years as more vessels are coming to their economical end of life. Maersk sees its return to Alang as an investment in specific yards that are already certified according to the Hong Kong Convention and are committed to meeting Maersk’s own standards.

“With this tender, we have for the first time seen that the ship recyclers compete not only on price but also on standards. This indicates a move towards higher standards, and we will continue to encourage this development,” says Annette Stube.

Estimated transfer dates of the eight panamax vessels to the ship recycling yards are between mid-December 2016 and mid-March 2017.

Source: gcaptain. 16 December 2016

https://gcaptain.com/maersk-to-scrap-eight-panamax-ships-in-india-and-china/

Ship Breaking Worker Killed in the Yard:

Only in 2016, at least 19 shipbreaking workers were killed and another 11 severely injured in the Bangladesh shipbreaking yard. More than 600 German-owned ships have been sold for scrap in SouthEast Asia since 2008 due to insolvencies and financial problems claims NGO Shipbreaking Platform.

A worker named Shah Jahan was killed on December 04 on the spot at Arefin shipbreaking yard in Chittagong, Bangladesh, where German container ship “Viktoria Wulff” (IMO 9252101) is currently being dismantled on the beach, says NGO.

The 35-year old man, who was made to work without any safety measures, was struck on the head by a heavy iron piece.

German ship owner Wulff went bankrupt in August and the insolvency administrator is currently selling off the company’s remaining vessels.

The “Viktoria Wulff” became the youngest container ship to be sold for demolition at an age of only 10 years without a previous accident.

“The story of the ‘Viktoria Wulff’ is characteristic for the failed business practices of German KG ship owners as well as ship funds. Nearly 600 ships have been sold due to insolvencies and financial problems since 2008, many of which ended up on the South Asian beaches. The bill for the ship owners’ and investors’ greed for profit is paid by workers and the environment in destinations like Bangladesh, where ships end up without any consideration of the human and environmental costs”, says Patrizia Heidegger, Executive Director of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform.

Patrizia added: “It is a scandal that German liquidators, who are appointed by the courts, sell end-of-life ships to substandard breaking yards risking peoples’ lives through deals that are in clear breach of international and even domestic Bangladeshi law just to sort out the books for German ship owners”.

“Only in 2016, at least 19 shipbreaking workers were killed and another 11 severely injured in the Bangladesh yards. The accident rate remains shockingly high and is not coming down, despite the promises of the yard owners and cash buyers”, says Heidegger.

“The shipbreaking yards have to be moved away from the muddy beaches to clean and safe ship recycling facilities using quays and docks where cranes can be operated to safely move cut steel sections. Otherwise, the death count of beaching will not come to a halt”.

Source: marine link. 14 December 2016

http://www.marinelink.com/news/breaking-worker-killed419452

NO WORK, NO SAFETY, NO JUSTICE – THE AFTERMATH OF PAKISTAN’S SHIPBREAKING DISASTER:

Just over one month after the deadliest accident in shipbreaking history devastated the Gadani shipbreaking yard in Pakistan, the sprawling facility has reopened with no tangible improvement to health and safety provisions and nothing in the way of compensation for affected workers and their families.

On 1 November, a floating oil production tanker, ACES (IMO #8021830), caught fire killing at least 28 workers, leaving scores missing and more than 50 people injured.

According to Shipbreaking Platform, a coalition of environmental, human rights and labour rights organisations working towards safe and clean ship recycling, “the blast was so strong that parts of the ship were blown up to two kilometres away and the fire took more than three days to extinguish”.

The tanker had recently changed from an Indonesian flag to a Djiboutian flag before its arrival in Gadani; this is common practise in an industry where unscrupulous ship owners go to great lengths to avoid liability for the prevalence of unsafe and environmentally-unfriendly shipbreaking practices.

In May 2016, for example, striking shipbreakers called on the government of Pakistan to enforce the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships and the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes.

Nasir Mansour, secretary general of the National Trade Union Federation (NTUF) told Equal Times: “And just two days before this tragic accident we held a protest demonstration in Karachi against the appalling state of affairs at Gadani.”

‘’On a daily basis, at least two labourers are sustaining serious injuries and 28 labourers are losing their lives every year due to the hazardous working environment and dearth of rescue or safety means,” he said.

Poor pay, dangerous work, no protection

Some 6,000 labourers work at Gadani in dangerous conditions with no contracts, no job security, few health and safety provisions, and for wages of between 450 (US$4.30) and 1450 (US13.80) rupees per day.

Situated about 50 kilometres from Pakistan’s commercial capital of Karachi, Gadani contains 132 shipbreaking units along 10 kilometres of beachfront and is thought to salvage more than a million tonnes of steel every year, most of which is sold domestically.

Accidents and burns are commonplace but with no access to clean water, decent sanitation or medical facilities, injured workers have to travel to Karachi to go to a clinic or hospital, and usually at their own cost. When Gadani reopened last week, none of this had changed.

On the first Sunday after the accident, some 10,000 people gathered in Gadani in solidarity with the victims and to protest the government’s failure to guarantee adequate compensation for affected workers and their families.

As of the first week of December, workers had still not received any compensation.

The NTUF is calling for three million rupees (approximately US$28,600) for each worker who died and 500,000 rupees (approximately US$4760) for each injured worker, but the government is yet to confirm how much will be paid out.

Boost for the local steel industry

Just a few days after the deadly accident, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif attended a lavish inauguration ceremony marking the acceleration of global trade with China via Pakistan’s brand-new Gwadar port.

Sharif’s entire speech was focused on glorifying the multi-billion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that aims to link China’s north-western Xinjiang region with Gwadar via a number of highways and rail links.

On the Gadani tragedy, Sharif – whose family owns the Ittefaq steel giant – limited his words and actions to the formation of a high-level committee to investigate the cause of the fire and the possibility of criminal liability.

Observers say that the temporarily closure of Gadani only served to stimulate the demand for locally produced steel, benefitting industrialists like Sharif, while producing no tangible safety improvements.

Workers at Gadani say that many shipbreaking operators import tankers containing fuel, which is then sold on the black market to compensate for the high duties and taxes imposed on the industry.

The intensity of the 1 November blast and the quality of smoke afterwards suggests that there was a quantity of fuel in the tanker, but workers say that they were unaware.

“Workers in this industry are exploited everywhere [in Pakistan],” said Mansour. “The laws for minimum wages, social security and fixed workings hours are not respected at Gwadar. In Gadani, the life of labourers is under direct threat, with literally no safety or ground rules in place.’’

But until the government of Pakistan shows the political will to institute radical reforms to protect the lives and improve the wages of vulnerable, underpaid shipbreaking workers, so it shall continue.

Source: 15 December 2016

https://www.equaltimes.org/no-work-compensation-or-safety?lang=en#.WFaY1Bt96yI