Ship-breaking industry in South Asia, be it in Ala...

2006-07-09T06:09:00.000-07:00

Ship-breaking industry in South Asia, be it in Alang and Mumbai, India, Chittangong in Bangladesh or Gadani in Pakistan, present a case of criminal negelct with regard to the workers safety and environmental risks.

The 'Indian Platform on Ship-breaking' has condemned the entry of the 'SS Blue Lady' (ex SS Norway, SS France) in Indian territorial waters at Gujarat's Pipavav port of Amreli district. Indian Platform on Ship-breaking has called upon authorities to act against Star Cruises Ltd who is the owner of the ship.

Admittedly, there are more than 1,200 metric tonnes of asbestos and unknown quantities of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other toxic substances in the ship. India does not have the facilities or capacity to deal with asbestos, and has never dealt with PCBs. This is further corroborated by a report entitled "Memo: SS Blue Lady case-Potential hazardous materials
and removal options" by Aage Anderson. The Platform has also alerted the German Embassy in India about the illegal export of the SS Blue Lady (aka SS Norway, SS France) to Asia from Bremerhaven, Germany last 23 May 2005.

The Platform deems entry of the ship as a systematic and deliberate violation of Indian, German, EU and International law on trans-boundary movement of hazardous waste by the ship's owner Star Cruise. Star Cruises is one of the world's leading luxury liner company with presence in India as well. The Indian Supreme Court allowed the vessel to anchor off Alang on humanitarian grounds. However, the ship-owners and buyers chose not to use the lenient gesture of the Supreme Court and moved the ship to Dubai through monsoon waters endangering the crew on board.

The Platform has submitted another report entitled "Norwegian Cruise Lines and Star Cruises Ltd: Deceiving Germany and Violating International Laws in the Export of the SS Norway to India" to the Technical Experts committee appointed by the Indian Supreme Court. This report discloses new evidence on how Star Cruises and its subsidiary, Norwegian Cruise Lines, deceived German authorities of their intent to dispose of the vessel in India.

The Platform has appealed to Germany to enforce the law because the decision to scrap the ship was made before the ship left Bremerhaven in Germany. Under EU law and Basel Convention, the ship's export from Germany constitutes an illegal hazardous waste export.

Meanwhile, The International Metalworkers' Federation's (IMF) have recently published findings from a survey of over 1600 workers from the ship breaking industry in India. IMF report said, "The rate of injury is 50 workers per day and sometime workers die due to inadequate or lack of medical facility. Report of casualty is seldom made. It further says, "The service and working
conditions are very much exploitative and poor. The workers have no specific training on handling the hazardous toxic material and they are ignorant of its ill effects" amid "absence of labour legislations."

These workers are among the most vulnerable workers in our sectors, constantly migrating in search of seasonal jobs in the shipyards, subject to ruthless employers who are callous about their occupational health and safety and totally ignored by the political authorities. Workers in Alang face daily exploitation and exposure to life-threatening hazards due to the inability of the government to establish and enforce standards.

The Supreme Court's Technical Committee's recommendations allowing Blue Lady to enter into India on 5th June, 2006 were made without hearing the petitioner, without adequate information or the legally mandated paperwork, and in violation of the Supreme Court's own order of October 2003 which seeks prior decontamination and an inventory of hazardous wastes on board.

The entry of the ship is highly irregular, considering that the Government has not insisted on Court-mandated paperwork for such imports. The Technical Committee admits that no comprehensive inventory of toxic substances is available, and the quantity of PCB-contaminated material is not known. There is no documentation to prove that Haryana Ship Demolitions has even purchased the ship. No mention is made of the fact that the Government of Bangladesh rejected the ship on environmental grounds. The ship owner and ship breaker have misled the Supreme Court of India by providing wrong information to a Technical Committee set up by the Court in February 2006. The ship owner sought permission for anchoring off Alang citing
"difficulties due to monsoon storm" after having timed the ship's departure to coincide with monsoons after an 8-month wait in Malaysia.

Meanwhile in Chittagong, Bangladesh two workers died in two different accidents in the shipyard of Chittagong in last week. Motin of loader group, died when a big iron piece fall on his body while he was slipped by the mud. He was working in a shipyard named Chittagong Ship cutting yard. Its confirmed that the worker was working bare foot. Another worker died in the shipyard named Harun Steel. He died when he was climbing to get up to the ship by ropes. Suddenly the rope was cut and he fell and died. It was known that the rope was not strong enough. Workers are dying because of carelessness of shipbreaking owners. Evidently, there is paucity of safety for workers.

One of the High Court has ordered the government to formulate policy to ensure workers’ safety and protect environment pollution. The court said as MT Alfa was identified as a cargo ship and it can’t be beached for scrapping in the shipbreaking yard of Bangladesh, according to the Basel Convention.
This order of the court will discourage the shipbreaking owners to import toxic ship for cutting.

Generally, the names of the workers who get injured and those who die is not disclosed in media. In such a situation media urgently needs a course in Labour Journalism.

Comments on mediavigil: New Evidence Against Blue Lady/SS Norway

Ship-breaking industry in South Asia, be it in Ala...