Cleaning Up the Ghost Fleet of Suisun Bay:

Baykeeper Secures Agreement to Remove the Ghost Fleet

San Francisco Baykeeper has successfully settled our lawsuit against the Maritime Administration to clean up the Ghost Fleet of Suisun Bay. The agency will be required to permanently remove the ships by 2017, removing the worst ships first, and to clean up the loose and peeling paint from the vessels' exteriors within the year.

More than 50 decommissioned and deteriorating vessels are anchored in Suisun Bay, leaching toxic paint and heavy metals into the water and sediment of the Bay.

An estimated 20 tons of heavy metals – including lead, zinc, copper and cadmium – have already fallen, blown or washed off the ships into the water, according to a MARAD-commissioned analysis. Projections indicate that the ships would have lost an additional 50 tons of heavy metals to San Francisco Bay in future years as the vessels’ condition deteriorated further.

Baykeeper – along with Arc Ecology and Natural Resources Defense Council – first sued to end the discharge of toxic heavy metals and to force the cleanup of these deteriorating vessels in 2007.

On January 21, 2010, a federal court ruled that the Maritime Administration, the federal agency responsible for the fleet, is illegally polluting the Bay and illegally storing hazardous waste.

Internal communications and testimony obtained by the environmental groups through the lawsuit show that MARAD knew about the problem for more than a decade. Yet the agency never stopped the illegal pollution, and repeatedly ignored several acts of Congress requiring disposal of the ships.

Suisun Bay, located in northern San Francisco Bay near the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, is critical habitat for several species of endangered fish, including Chinook salmon and Delta smelt. The State of California has warned residents to limit consumption of fish caught in Suisun Bay due to pollution. Pollutants in the sediment directly below the vessels were found to be in concentrations that exceed California’s hazardous waste toxicity criteria and in levels high enough for sediment-dwelling creatures to consume the toxins, which introduces them to the food chain of the Bay.

The ships in the Ghost Fleet were decommissioned and placed in “storage” in Suisun Bay after World War II and the Korean War with the idea that they could be reactivated for wartime use. Most vessels are no longer seaworthy, however, and water must be pumped from them regularly to keep them afloat, they leak fuel, and most are severely rusted and are peeling toxic paint.

Baykeeper is pleased to have secured a strong cleanup plan for protecting the waters of Suisun Bay and the larger San Francisco Bay ecosystem from the pollution of the Ghost Fleet.

Source: San Francisco BayKeeper

http://baykeeper.org/articles/cleaning-ghost-fleet-suisun-bay

Hellas: Shipowners turn to scrapping as a result of hefty prices

Hellenic shipowners have proven the most active in scrapping older vessels during January, according to the latest weekly report by shipbrokers and consultants N. Cotzias Shipping Group.

In total during the first month of 2010, 87 ships of all types were scrapped, bearing an aggregate capacity of 3,659,775 Dwt, while their average age was 30.7 years old. Out of them, 18 were owned by Hellenic ship owners, which means that they accounted for almost 21% of the total, while Singaporean and Syrian owners came in 2^nd place with 7 ships each (share of 8%).

What’s more interesting is that as Cotzias notes out, the ship demolition market is currently booming, with average prices going up. During January average prices by shipbreakers stood at $351 per liquefied ton, when during the previous months the numbers were closer to the low $300. At the moment though, there are offers even at $400 per ton, which provide for a hefty compensation to ship owners.

In total during January, 13 dry bulk carriers were sold for scrap (464,361 dwt), coupled by an additional and rather impressive 38 tankers (2,595,203 dwt) and 25 container ships.

The turn of the new Year saw a number of important factors that affected international shipping. First of all, after a positive start the Baltic Dry Index has kept a rather erratic pace, mostly falling to lows unseen for many months. At the same time, fears of an impending oversupply clout scared the market, while Chinese iron ore imports were lower than usual, with everyone’s hopes for a pick up in activity, lying with the end of the country’s festivities. As a result, with healthy scrap prices currently available, more owners are looking for opportunities in the demolition market.

Earlier in the month, researchers at Clarkson said that total scrapping activity is expected to more than double during 2010, surpassing the 60 million tons mark. During 2009, which also recorded one of the fastest pick up of demolition activity, a total of 29.88 million tons of vessels was scrapped.

Lower freight rates and a huge orderbook in most ship types across the industry led many ship owners to scrap their older vessels, in an effort to pave the way for their expected new buildings.

Based on Clarkson figures the 2009 scrapping figures were the highest in a decade as 246 dry bulk carriers were scrapped, together with 188 tankers and 180 container ships. Their average age stood at 29 years old. Just for comparison 2008 saw the scrapping of just 377 ships with a capacity of 13.2 million tons, with an average age of 30.5 years old, a bit higher than those scrapped last year. In fact, most of them leaving the world’s fleet during the last quarter of the year, when the economic crisis broke out, leaving the shipping industry stunned. Scrapping figures from other sources vary, but it seems that approximately 30-35 million tons of shipping capacity left the fleet last year.

According to shipbroker consultants N. Cotzias Ltd., 34.6 million tons of carrying capacity was removed from the market.

During the whole of 2009,

• India got the lion’s share in terms of units acquired with 473 ships,
• China came in 2^nd place with 271 units,
• Bangladesh was 3^rd with 211 units and
• Turkey finished in 4^th place with 105 units.

Average prices for the whole year were around the $270 per ton mark and that number includes the price offered by Turkey.

Source: Macor Shipping. 17 February 2010

http://macorship.blogspot.com/2010/02/hellas-shipowners-turn-to-scrapping-as.html

Load of Old Scrap:

In total during the first month of 2010, 87 ships of all types were scrapped, bearing an aggregate capacity of 3,659,775 Dwt, while their average age was 30.7 years old. Out of them, 18 were owned by Hellenic ship owners, which mean that they accounted for almost 21% of the total, while Singaporean and Syrian owners came in second place with seven ships each (share of 8%).

What’s more interesting is that as Cotzias notes out, the ship demolition market is currently booming, with average prices going up. During January average prices by shipbreakers stood at $351 per liquefied ton, when during the previous months the numbers were closer to the low $300.

At the moment though, there are offers even at $400 per ton, which provide for a hefty compensation to ship owners. In total during January, 13 dry bulk carriers were sold for scrap (464,361 dwt), coupled by an additional and rather impressive 38 tankers (2,595,203 dwt) and 25 container ships.

Source: Container Marketing Services. 16 February 2010

http://www.containermarketingservices.com/containers/load-old-scrap

Empowering migrant women in Mumbai shipyards:

Women self-help groups in Mumbai support efforts of IMF affiliate MPTDGWU to improve working and living conditions of the migrant workers' families around the shipbreaking yards

INDIA: Women self-help groups met a delegation from the International Metalworkers' Federation in Mumbai, January 2010, to explore ways to improve working and living conditions at the shipbreaking yards.

The situation of the workers' families settled around the shipbreaking yards in very precarious conditions is completely disregarded by employers and local authorities. No housing  facilities, drinking water, sanitation or schooling  are provided for the families of the migrant workers who have followed  the men of the family engaged in the shipbreaking yards. The women, in the minority among thousands of workers, are often harassed, cheated or abused by the local mafias. Small children roam around barefoot and in rags in an extremely hazardous environment.  No job opportunities or formal education are available for any members of the families.

The IMF discussed with its affiliate in Mumbai, the Mumbai Port Trust Dock and General Workers' Union (MPTDGWU) how to improve the living conditions of the workers and, in the framework of the current  organising  project for the shipbreaking workers, how to support the women.

A group of over 40 women activists and unionists from self-help groups formed in residential communities near the shipbreaking yards met with representatives of IMF and UK affiliate GMB on January 20, to speak about their own experiences and to jointly explore possibilities of creating women's groups among the ship breakers' families. The constituted self-help groups, supported by public funds, seek to build up women's self esteem, teach them basic skills in economic literacy, health, nutrition and childcare. These groups have gained access to micro-credits, thus the opportunity to set up small income generating activities such as preparing food for workers, selling vegetables and tailoring, which improve the families' income.

Ms Manisha Pendurkar, vice-president of the trade union federation Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS) in Maharashtra, and Ms.Vrishali V. Rane, president of one the self-help groups, propose to expand the groups to the surroundings of shipbreaking yards by setting up basic health care centres for children and pregnant women to attract the interest and support of the workers.

IMF and GMB promised to look for support for this initiative and to maintain close contact with this group of women activists in Mumbai and to develop a programme for the workers' families.

Source: International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF). Suzana Miller. 4 February 2010

http://www.imfmetal.org/index.cfm?c=22016

Judge: Ghost Fleet pollution illegal

For decades, the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) and its parent agency, the Department of Transportation (DOT), have moored dozens of decrepit and non-operational former military support vessels in San Francisco Bay and abandoned them to the ravages of time and weather, as seen in this B-roll.

More than twenty tons of heavy metals – lead, cadmium, zinc, copper, and others neurotoxins – have already fallen off these vessels into the center of California’s fragile Bay-Delta, which provides critical habitat for numerous endangered and threatened species.

Today, a federal court in Sacramento, California, ruled that the ongoing pollution caused by MARAD’s neglect is illegal.

MARAD has known about this illegal toxic pollution for more than a decade, but had an affirmative policy of ignoring it until NRDC, and our partners Arc Ecology and Baykeeper, sued. As described in court filings, internal MARAD documents and testimony obtained through litigation reveal that MARAD has been aware since the late 1990s that Suisun Bay ships were discharging hazardous, lead-based paint to Suisun Bay.

For example, one internal memo from 1997 warned that “exfoliating paint on MARAD ships is an issue that must be addressed,” that “lead paint waste … will be classified as hazardous under RCRA,” and that discharges “are prohibited by federal, state, and local environmental regulations.” And in 2000, DOT’s inspector general reported that MARAD’s non-retention ships were “literally rotting and disintegrating” into the water. Yet when MARAD discovered the pollution, the agency made a conscious policy decision to do nothing to stop the discharge, failed to seek required permits, and continued to miss disposal deadlines set by acts of Congress.

There are two lessons in this story.

• The first is that the government itself sometimes acts as if it is above the law.
• The second is the power of litigation in the hands of private citizens to bring dysfunctional government into line.

Through our lawsuit, which the California Regional Water Quality Control Board ultimately joined, NRDC, Arc Ecology, and Baykeeper are accomplishing what even Congress found itself incapable of accomplishing. After the lawsuit was filed, MARAD began taking steps to remove a few of the most decrepit ships and to clean others. I blogged about this in October in my blog, 2vessels (almost) down, 55 to go. Much work remains to be done.

These measures are welcome, whether prompted by a change in Administration or the prospect of an imminent trial that could be prove embarrassing to a federal government that is supposed to enforce environmental laws rather than break them. But the work MARAD has done to date is not enough. MARAD has recently shown some signs of being willing to move further, faster. We hope that it will.

Today’s ruling underscores the need for MARAD to halt its illegal conduct immediately. If MARAD does not submit to a prompt, thorough, and enforceable plan to fix the problem, NRDC and its co-plaintiffs will seek an order requiring a cleanup when trial commences in June.

Source: Switch Board. Natural Resources Defense Council. By Michael Wall.

21 January 2010

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/mwall/judge_ghost_fleet_pollution_il.html