NO TO DUMPING TOXIC SHIPS ON DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

YES TO CLEAN SHIPS – YES TO POLLUTER PAYS – YES TO GREEN JOBS IN EUROPE

Petition to the European Parliament and to the European Council for an enhanced ship recycling regulation 15 April 2013

We, the undersigned organisations active in environmental protection, sustainable development, health, labour and human rights, call on the European Parliament and the European Council to strengthen the proposed regulation on ship recycling (COM(2012)118) as presented by the European Commission on 23 March 2012.

We believe that the proposed regulation will not prevent European owned ships – making up 40% of the world’s fleet – from being scrapped on the beaches of Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan in foreseeable time. Nor do we believe that the proposed regulation will lead to substantial improvements to existing shipbreaking facilities in South Asia to lessen the severe environmental damage, the human rights abuses and loss of lives occurring at these facilities.

We call on the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union to work together to finally put an end to the breaking of ships on tidal beaches, to take care for workers’ safety, to provide adequate protection of the marine environment from ship-borne pollutants and to hold the shipping industry accountable.

A dangerous precedent in EU environmental law

We believe that the proposal in its present form sets an extremely dangerous precedent insofar as it allows the EU to unilaterally withdraw from the UN Basel Convention. Under the Basel Ban Amendment - adopted in 1995 by the Parties to the Basel Convention and ratified by the EU in 1997 - exports of hazardous wastes such as end-of-life vessels to non-OECD countries, notably developing countries, are prohibited.

The European Commission has proposed to remove end-of-life ships from its implementing legislation of the Basel Convention, the EU Waste Shipment Regulation (EC 1013/2006). Under international law, however, such a unilateral withdrawal by the EU is illegal, as the Basel Convention has not removed ships from its definition of hazardous waste. The European Parliament and the Council must consider the gravity of this misstep.

We urge the European Parliament and the Council to improve the proposal so that it will remain in conformity with the binding legal provisions of the Basel Convention.

No perpetuation of beaching of ships

In addition, the Commission proposal lacks clarity when it comes to banning beaching, namely the sending of end-of-life ships flying a European flag and/or owned by European companies to the beaches in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh for dismantling. Nowhere does the proposal address the role of flags-of-convenience as a root of the systematic disregard of the international regulations and the continuous illegal export of toxic wastes to non-OECD countries.

The well-known loopholes, which allow shipowners to easily circumvent the Basel Convention and the Waste Shipment Regulation, must be closed. At the same time, the implementation of the already existing regimes must be enforced and ships must remain under the Waste Shipment Regulation.

A green shipping industry in Europe

We demand that the new regulation includes an incentive to dismantle ships within the European Union and to support the European recycling industry as well as the environmentally sound and safe management of waste. Moreover, the proposal should draw a clear link between the support of pre-cleaning of the ships throughout their operational life and the development of green jobs in Europe. Not only would classification societies and other service providers benefit from mandatory inventories and auditing schemes for yards, but R&D within shipbuilding and dismantling, recycling and waste management, as well as refitting operations would also provide sorely needed jobs.

A financial mechanism to establish the polluter pays principle

The current proposal does not display any ambition to hold the shipping industry accountable for externalizing the costs of the recycling of their vessels onto developing countries. Whereas EU environmental law clearly supports the polluter pays principle for other industries, it shies away from establishing a financial mechanism for the shipping industry in order to include those who benefit from the ships into the bill.

We demand an EU regulation on ship recycling that –

·         upholds the current prohibition on the export of ships containing hazardous materials to developing countries and to enforce the existing ban;

·         explicitly bans the method of beaching ships for dismantling;

·         covers not only EU-flagged ships (as only 8% of end-of-life vessels still use EU flags), but also incorporates a financial mechanism to include European-owned vessels and ships calling at EU ports;

·         promotes green ship building and ship recycling within the EU (cradle-to-cradle principle);

·         establishes the polluter pays principle and holds the shipping industry accountable.

Signed by:

The NGO Shipbreaking Platform, Belgium

Patrizia Heidegger

Executive Director

The Platform’s member organisations also signed this petition:

Basel Action Network (BAN), USA

Jim Puckett

Executive Director

Ban Asbestos, France

Annie Thébaud-Mony

Spokesperson and Chair of the Henri Pézerat association

Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA), Bangladesh

Rizwana Hasan

Chief Executive

Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies, Bangladesh

Nazrul Islam Khan

Executive Director & Secretary General

The Bellona Foundation, Norway

Svend Søyland

Senior international advisor

The Corporate Accountability Desk – The Other Media, India

Madhumitta Dutta

Spokesperson

Transport & Environment, Belgium

Bill Hemmings

Programme manager

Fédération Internationale des Droits de l’Homme (FIDH), France

 Elin Wrzoncki

Head of globalization and human rights office

Greenpeace, Netherlands

Marietta Harjono

Toxics Campaigner

International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS), UK

Laurie Kazan-Allen

Coordinator

Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE), India

Ritwick Dutta

Environmental Lawyer

Stichting De Noordzee/The North Sea Foundation, Netherlands

Merijn Hougee

Project Manager

The Bangladesh Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Foundation (OSHE), Bangladesh

Repon Chowdhury

Executive Director

Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), Pakistan

Kanwar Iqbal

Senior Research Associate

Toxics Link, India

Satish Sinha

Associate Director

Young Power in Social Action (YPSA), Bangladesh

Muhammad Ali Shahin

Platform Project Coordinator in Bangladesh

This petition was also signed by the following European NGOs:

Catalan Oceanographic Association, Spain

Fernando Condal Domingo

Marine biologist

Clydebank Asbestos Group, UK

Hope Roberston

Secretary

Ecologistas en Acción, Spain

Lydia Chaparro Elias

Sea campaign coordinator

European Environmental Bureau, Belgium

Jeremy Wates

Secretary General

Greenpeace European Unit, Belgium

Jorgo Riss

Director

Legambiente, Italy

Antonio Pergolizzi

National coordinator – Ecomafie observatory

LPN – Liga para a Protecção da Natureza, Portugal

Sidónio Paes

Fisheries Policy Officer

LuminaConsult, Belgium

Roberto Ferrigno

Executive Director

MEDITERRANEAN SOS Network, Greece

Ermioni Frezouli

Environmental Policy Coordinator

Robin des Bois, France

Jacky Bonnemains

President

Seas at Risk, Belgium

John Maggs

Policy Advisor

Waste Free Oceans, Belgium

Bernard Merkx

Co-founder and Project Manager

Zentralinstitut für Arbeitsmedizin und Maritime Medizin, Germany

Dr. Evelyn Glensk

Source: shipbreaking platform. 15 April 2013              

http://www.shipbreakingplatform.org/shipbrea_wp2011/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Petition-for-safe-and-sound-ship-recycling-EP-and-EU-Council-15-April-2013-FINAL.pdf

Ship Recycling – Global Shipping Industry Slams Unworkable European Parliament Proposals That Will Offend EU Trading Partners

The world’s national shipowners’ associations in nearly 50 countries – represented by the European Community Shipowners’ Associations (ECSA), the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and the Asian Shipowners’ Forum (ASF) – have united to condemn proposed amendments, to be voted on by the European Parliament this week (probably on 18 April), on a new EU Ship Recycling Regulation.

Shipowners especially object to the proposal by the EP Environment Committee to impose a tax on merchant ships of all flags calling at EU ports, in order to fund ship recycling facilities in the European Union.

“This is an unacceptable tax on trade and will cause grave offense to the EU’s trading partners, not just major ship recycling nations such as China and India, but to major shipping nations such as Japan and Singapore.  These proposals have simply not been thought through.” said ECSA Secretary General Alfons Guinier.  “As a matter of principle, it is wrong to impose a tax on one industrial sector in order to assist another, especially without proper consultation with the parties affected.  Shipping is a global industry operating under global rules.  The European Parliament should really not be contemplating measures which will work against the aim to improve recycling conditions globally, an aim which we fully support.”

The shipowners’ groups also believe that, if adopted, the EP amendments will fatally undermine the entry into force of the International Convention for Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships (Hong Kong) which was adopted by the UN International Maritime Organization (IMO) in 2009 – with full industry support – to improve working and environmental conditions in the world’s ship recycling yards, most of which are located in Asia.

The IMO Convention has not yet entered into force, pending the development of detailed Guidelines on implementation that have only recently been finalised by IMO.  But the Convention has the full support of the global shipping industry, which has already produced its own recommendations so that shipowners can comply with the IMO requirements in advance of governments formally ratifying the Hong Kong Convention – see www.ics-shipping.org/recycling.htm

“If the proposed amendments are taken forward, it will be seriously damaging to  the Hong Kong Convention.  The EP measures would therefore be completely counterproductive.” said ICS Secretary General, Peter Hinchliffe.  “It’s not just the tax.  Many of the other measures being proposed, such as sanctions against non-EU shipowners who don’t comply, and the creation of a unilateral list of recycling facilities that meet EU requirements, will almost certainly mean that Asian nations will be unable to ratify the IMO Convention.  This will undermine years of hard work by governments at IMO (including EU Member States) as well as by shipowners and ship recyclers to develop a binding global solution that will actually work.”

ASF Secretary General, Yuichi Sonoda, added, “It is important to understand that under the terms of the Hong Kong Convention’s entry into force criteria, it is  not possible for the Convention to enter into force unless it is ratified by the major ship recycling nations.   An opportunity to improve standards via the Hong Kong Convention will be lost for a generation by these astounding and incomprehensible proposals which are creating huge concern amongst industry and governments alike in Asia.”

If the proposals are taken forward by the European Parliament, the shipping industry will be working with EU Member States to ensure that the proposals are stopped before it is too late.  The international shipping industry is also working with governments in non-EU shipping nations, which can be expected to make strong representations in Brussels should the European Parliament vote the proposals through.

Source: marine insight. 15 April 2013

http://www.marineinsight.com/shipping-news/ship-recycling-global-shipping-industry-slams-unworkable-european-parliament-proposals-that-will-offend-eu-trading-partners/

Former VP of shipbreaking company gets 21 months in scrap-metal scheme

The former vice president of a ship-breaking company was sentenced to 21 months in prison Friday in a scheme in which almost $200,000 worth of scrap metal was stolen.

Stephen Michael Dunavant, 58, of Powhatan County, who pleaded guilty earlier to wire fraud, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson. Dunavant must also pay $199,885 in restitution.

According to authorities, Dunavant worked for Modern American Recycling Services Inc., which has operations in Louisiana, Florida, Alabama and Virginia, buying vessels to cut up for scrap metal sold for recycling.

Dunavant oversaw the demolition of vessels belonging to MARS and the sale of scrap at various locations, including the firm’s Charles City County site on waterfront leased at the Shirley Plantation.

Without the company’s knowledge, Dunavant sold some of the scrap to a recycling business in Richmond, either delivering it himself or paying others to do so. In pleading guilty, Dunavant admitted he was paid by check or wire for the scrap.

Federal sentencing guidelines called for a prison term of 15 to 21 months. In a motion filed with the court, Dunavant’s lawyer, Charles E. James Jr., asked for a term below the guidelines, pointing out that Dunavant had no prior record and admitted his wrongdoing.

“He is a broken man,” wrote James, who said Dunavant and his wife have filed for bankruptcy and “he is, and will always be, keenly aware of what might have been, and his own consciousness of the way he wasted his opportunities.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office asked for a term within the sentencing guidelines.

Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch. BY FRANK GREEN. 14 April 2013

http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/former-vp-of-ship-breaking-company-gets-months-in-scrap/article_2c7bb03d-49fa-541c-8b5d-f2f872c5291d.html