EU Leads the Way for Ship Recycling:

Ask someone in the United States what happens to ocean-going ships at the end of their service life and they’ll likely describe National Geographic pictures of ships on beaches in some foreign country, with sandal-clad workers using hammers and cutting torches to take them apart. However, these recycling methods are destined to become a relic of the past. The future will be one where workers wear appropriate safety equipment. It will also be one where ships are not simply driven onto a beach. And it will be one largely driven by changes mandated by the European Union.

The future began in 2009 when the International Maritime Organization adopted the Hong Kong Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships. The goal of the convention is to ensure that ships are dismantled in conditions that do not pose “unnecessary risk to human health and safety or to the environment.” Surprisingly, the convention does not ban beaching. It will only enter into force twenty-four months after ratification by fifteen states, representing forty percent of world merchant shipping by gross tonnage, and combined maximum annual ship recycling volume not less than three per cent of their combined tonnage.

Norway was the first country to ratify the convention. Congo, France, Belgium, Panama, and Turkey followed suit, and on May 9, the Danish Parliament passed a law enabling Denmark to ratify it. Unfortunately, these seven countries aren’t enough, and more countries must act to bring the Hong Kong Convention into force.

The slow pace of the convention’s ratification has allowed the European Union to become the new standard-bearer for change. In 2013, the EU passed a regulation wherein all EU flagged ships are required to be dismantled in EU-approved facilities. The first list of approved facilities was released in December 2016, and all were within the EU.

When the list was released, the European Community Shipowners’ Associations immediately questioned why non-EU facilities were left off. “Approximately 150 container vessels were sent for recycling in 2016, the current EU list would cater for only 16 smaller container vessels . . . We thus strongly encourage the Commission to enlarge the list to non-EU facilities as soon as possible,” the association said in a statement.

There is a strong likelihood the EU will certify some non-EU facilities but not all of them, especially those that employ beaching methods.  And that’s why India, Bangladesh, China, Pakistan, and Turkey are paying attention.  These countries dismantle the majority of the world’s ships and many of their facilities still employ the beaching method.

The French environmental advocacy group Robin Des Bois estimates that in the first quarter of 2017, “225 ships out 240 were being demolished in India, in Bangladesh, in Pakistan, in China and in Turkey . . . [and only] 5 ships are being broken up in European facilities.”

In the United States, President Donald J. Trump has issued several executive orders that benefit the US ship recycling industry. Specifically, President Trump directed that pipelines be built with US steel. There is a lot of steel in obsolete U.S. commercial and military ships, and it can be re-used to make pipes. The Steel Manufacturers Association and the Specialty Steel Industry of North America estimate that the U.S. steel industry recycled 70 millions tons of scrap last year, conserving energy and reducing the burden on landfills.

So what will the remainder of 2017 look like for ship recyclers? First, the EU will continue to set the standards for world-wide dismantlement. China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Turkey will seek EU certification of their ship recycling facilities highlighting their new environmental and safety measures. And the United States will implement the President’s “America First” strategy and the steel from dismantled commercial and military ships will be used in infrastructure projects. All of these efforts will produce a worldwide ship recycling industry that is safer for workers, the environment and the world.

Source: maritime executive. 24 May 2017

http://www.maritime-executive.com/editorials/eu-leads-the-way-for-ship-recycling

Injustice of compensation

Families of workers killed in Ctg shipbreaking yards allege that they are not getting such proper benefit.

Al-Amin came to Chittagong all the way from Khulna in search of work so that he could support a seven-member family back home. But little did he know what awaited him.

While on duty, the 27-year-old worker of a shipbreaking yard in Chittagong got killed in an accident on September 5, 2015 -- an end to his struggle for bringing smile to his family members. However, the sufferings of his dear ones began as his untimely death put his entire family into poverty.

Al-Amin's sister Rabeya said the compensation they had received at the cost of the only earning member of the family was insufficient. They now find it difficult to make ends meet, she said, adding, “We got three lakh taka as compensation -- Tk 1 lakh through a labour court and Tk 2 lakh directly from the owner.”

Though there is a government regulation that shipbreaking yard owners will have to pay Tk 5 lakh for each death in accident at the yards, families of the deceased workers allege that they have not received proper compensation as per the rule.

Take another example of Abdul Karim. The 22-year-old worker was killed in an accident at another shipbreaking yard on May 29 last year, putting his family into severe financial crisis.

Karim's mother Amena Begum said she had received Tk 1 lakh through a labour court and Tk 80,000 from the owner. “Karim was the lone bread earner of the family…the money we got as compensation was very little.”

In the last 12 years, between 2005 and 2016, at least 165 workers like Al-Amin and Karim got killed in accidents at shipbreaking yards in Chittagong, according to NGO Shipbreaking Platform, a coalition of environmental, human and labour rights organisations whose goal is to prevent toxic end-of-life ships from being beached in developing countries.

However, allegation runs rife that the number of actual deaths might be higher than the abovementioned figure, as accidents at yards are not often reported to police. Therefore, exact figure of dead workers are not known, nor are the compensations paid to their families.

Tapan Dutt, convener of Shipbreaking Workers' Trade Union Forum, said owners are not paying the due compensation to the dead workers' families as per Ship Breaking and Recycling Rule 2011.

In the chapter VIII of the Rules published in December 12, 2011, it was said, “If the negligence of yard owner established, board [Ship Building and Ship Recycling Board (SBSRB)] may impose suspension of yard for one year, or a penalty from Taka one lakh to ten lakhs by realizing the magnitude of the negligence of the yard decided by SBSRB and the yard owner will pay to the next of kin up to Taka 5 (Five) lakhs as compensation for each death in accident and up to Taka 2 (Two) lakhs for deceased or seriously injured and with complete treatment and 12 months' salary as compensation or in accordance with the Labour Act 2016.”

Referring to the rules, Tapan said, “The owners must pay Tk 5 lakh as compensation to the family of each worker killed in accident at the yards.”

Echoing Tapan, Abdur Rahim, general secretary of Shipbreaking Workers Trade Union Federation, said owners usually do not want to pay Tk 5 lakh as compensation.

“We have recently realised Tk 5 lakh from an owner for a victim's family. But it is true that we cannot succeed in most of the cases,” he said, adding, “We are trying to implement it for every incident.”

Contacted, Syeda Rizwana Hasan, chief executive of Bangladesh Environment Lawyers' Association (Bela), said the owners pay compensation as per labour law.

But there is a separate rule formulated in December 2011 by the ministry of industries for shipbreaking yards, where it has been clearly said that the owners should pay Tk 5 lakh each for workers killed in accident at yards, said she.

“I don't know why the rule is not being followed,” she said, adding, “There is no scope here for considering labour law as a barrier to implement this rule.”

Bangladesh Coordinator of NGO Shipbreaking Platform Mohammad Ali Shahin also said, “We have been demanding to set the compensation amount minimum at Tk 5 lakh, but it is yet to be implemented.”

Contacted, Abdul Hai Khan, deputy inspector general, department of inspection for factories and establishment, Chittagong, said the shipbreaking and recycling rules were formed following a High Court order but act in this regard has not been formulated yet. “So we cannot enforce it,” he said, adding, “It is very important to formulate an act in this regard.”

“But we are trying to increase the amount of compensation,” he said. “In a meeting of Industrial Crisis Committee, headed by deputy commissioner of Chittagong, on September 1 last year, a decision to pay Tk 5 lakh compensation to each killed worker's family was made and we are trying to implement the decision.”

Contacted, Abu Taher, president of Bangladesh Ship Breakers Association, said no such decision was made in the meeting. “Actually it came as a proposal. We usually pay almost Tk 3 lakh to Tk 4 lakh altogether to a victim's family.”

Source: the daily star. 22 May 2017

http://www.thedailystar.net/city/the-injustice-compensation-1411432

Working conditions at Gadani ship-breaking yard ‘still bad’:

Seminar told no efforts made since November 2016 when around 40 workers had died in oil tanker explosion

Despite the loss of almost 40 lives of workers at the Gadani ship-breaking yard since November 2016, no efforts have been made by the state or the owners to improve the conditions.

This was stated by Nasser Mansoor, general secretary of the Pakistan National Trades Unions Federation (PNTUF), while addressing a seminar at the Irtiqa Institute of Social Sciences on Saturday evening.

Departments like the police and the environment took bribes from the owners to do their bidding against the labourers, he alleged.

The capitalist owners, he said, spent Rs4million on having the genuine union of the workers

De-registered. “Now we have a union but our collective bargaining is not recognised.”

Mansoor said there was total blockage of news of accidents that occurred and things were just hushed up.

“There’s no proper sanitary system for the workers, no proper messing. A plate of Daal which may be selling for Rs60 in town sells for Rs90 at Gadani. A Roti which sells for Rs5 in town is likely to cost Rs10 there.

Factories are serving as slaughter houses.”

Industrialists and politician industrialists were not playing the government-mandated minimum wage of Rs14,000 a month to their workers, despite the fact that these politicians were constantly shedding crocodile’s tears for the workers.

He said that at the time of the recent accidents, no government functionary or politician came to enquire after the welfare of the workers. The only person who came with 60 vehicles and generous aid was the late Abdul Sattar Edhi’s son, Faisal Edhi.

The way ship-breaking was being carried out, without any set code, harmful substances were being dumped into the sea polluting marine life, which was such an important source of food and protein, he said.

“It is the people who have to get together against this order and change the narrative,” he said.

Mansoor said all the oppressed and the working classes would have to unite to change the unjust order. He said that there was a deliberate attempt to shut Pakistan Steel to pander to the interests of the steel importers and a section of the bureaucracy. “If the state and the capitalists don’t go by what they have written, sooner or later there’s sure to be a mighty conflagration.”

Mansoor’s talk was preceded by the screening of a movie which showed four case studies of the state of workers after some of those countries went capitalist and workers were taken for a ride. The four case studies were those of Ukraine, Indonesia, Gadani Ship-breaking Works and China.

The movie showed the conditions of the mine workers in Ukraine after independence and the end of the socialist era and China after the country went avowedly capitalist. The condition of Chinese workers is depicted as horrible under capitalism.

Source: the news. 21 May 2017

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/205657-Working-conditions-at-Gadani-ship-breaking-yard-still-bad

Ship Breaking Yard: One killed in Chittagong; safety gears absent

A worker was killed as an iron pipe fell on him yesterday at a ship-breaking yard in Sitakunda upazila of Chittagong.

The deceased was identified as Sachindra Das, 26, son of Jaghdeb Das of South Jahanabad Jelepara of Sonapara in Sitakunda.

According to the inquest report, Sachindra was brought to Chittagong Medical College Hospital with injuries to his neck and head around 1:30am. He was declared dead at the time.

Fellow workers, who brought him to the hospital, said that an iron pipe fell on him when he was cutting a portion of iron equipment in night shift without any safety gear at Kabir Steel Ltd in Chairman Ghata Madambibir Hat.

Police, however, said the victim was an employee of Khawja Ship-Breaking Yard of the same area.

Md Saifullah, sub-inspector of Sitakunda Police Station, said both Kabir Steel Ltd and Khawja Ship-Breaking Yard were owned by Md Shahjahan. “That is probably why wrong company name was entered [into the hospital records]”

The accident took place around 12:10am, said Mangal Das under whom Sachindra was working.

The authority of Khawja Ship-Breaking Yard said the accident occurred on Saturday evening when workers were about to leave the place.

“We gave him primary treatment at our own medical facility and sent him to Chittagong Medical College Hospital as his condition deteriorated,” Shahidul Islam, who identified himself as assistant officer (admin) of the yard, said on phone.

He refuted the allegation that employees worked night shifts without safety gears. But he could not answer to the question as to why the victim had suffered injuries to the head if he wore a helmet.

Md Shahjahan, owner of the ship-breaking yards, could not be reached by phone for comments.

Meanwhile, an unnatural death case has been filed in connection with the incident, according to police.   

Source: the daily star. 22 May 2017

http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/ship-breaking-yard-one-killed-ctg-safety-gears-absent-1408756

Courts Criticized After Deaths in Breaking YardsCredit: NGO Shipbreaking Platform - Hanjin Rome beached in Chittagong, Bangladesh

Credit: NGO Shipbreaking Platform - Hanjin Rome beached in Chittagong, Bangladesh

The NGO Shipbreaking Platform reports that two workers lost their lives at Chittagong shipbreaking yards in May, bringing the total death toll this year to six workers.

On 6 May, 26-year-old Shahinoor died at Jamuna Shipbreaking yard after falling whilst working on the Hanjin Rome, the first vessel arrested after the collapse of Hanjin Shipping last year. The vessel was put up for auction by the High Court in Singapore early this year, and the Platform said the vessel was sold to a cash buyer for recycling.

This is not the first time that courts, in deciding on bankruptcy cases, completely ignore the environmental and human repercussions of selling shipping assets to beaches, with the sole purpose of sorting out failed companies’ balance books, says Ingvild Jenssen, Founding Director of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform.

Jenssen says deaths on the beaches have also been a direct consequence from bankruptcy cases in Germany, such as the sale of the King Justus to Alang and the Viktoria Wulff to Chittagong.

“That insolvency administrators appointed by the courts in Singapore and Germany have been allowed to trade unprofitable ships to the beaches of South Asia is shocking,” she says.

On 9 May, winch operator Ishaq was hit by a wire cable and died on the spot at KR Steel. According to local sources, KR Steel was dismantling the vessels Sea Zenith and Kota Wisata when Ishaq was killed.

Earlier this year the Institute for Global Labor and Human Rights (IGLHR) published a detailed account of the fatal accidents that killed 19 workers in Chittagong in 2016. The report includes interviews with workers that describe harsh conditions, lack of protective equipment, exposure to toxic gases and fumes and a constant fear of dying at work:

“There are enclosed dark places on the ship, where there is no ventilation. The cutters go in first [to cut holes in the sides to let light in]. Especially they get sick and nauseous,” a worker reports to IGLHR.

“All of us cutters get sick from the chemicals. It always happens,” other workers add. “I work at night because the owner wanted me to work the night shift,” says a worker, adding, “it is cooler. You sweat less. So for me, it is better. But it is more dangerous. That is the biggest worry: It is very risky. At any time, I could lose my life”.

Chittagong-based Platform member Young Power in Social Action (YPSA) recently organized a human chain and a rally gathering more than 100 workers and their family members.

“Six workers have died this year. Many more workers have suffered serious injuries. Safety and workers’ rights are shamefully being ignored in most yards,” said Muhammed Ali Shahin from YPSA. “Whereas the Bangladesh Shipbreakers’ Association is reluctant to take any action on the yards where workers are dying, the Courts should act immediately to ensure that no yard is allowed to operate in breach of national laws on occupational safety and environmental protection.”

Source: maritime executive. 18 May 2017

http://maritime-executive.com/editorials/courts-criticized-after-deaths-in-breaking-yards