Despite an increased awareness in the shipping industry of the dangerous shipbreaking activities that take place in South Asia, there is no evidence of a slow in the number of ships broken on Asian beaches and the number of workers involved in fatal accidents.
Between July and September this year, one worker was killed at the Alang yard, India, while another was seriously injured in Chittagong, Bangladesh.
The NGO Shipbreaking Platform claims that shipowners still favour the infamous beaching yards in South Asia because it brings in more money. There is little or no investment in proper infrastructure to contain pollutants or ensure safe working conditions, the proper disposal of hazardous waste is overlooked, and migrant workers are exploited.
In the third quarter of 2017 there were 227 ships broken, with 124 of these ending up at beaches in South Asia for dirty and dangerous breaking, reports the NGO Shipbreaking Platform.
In the first quarter of 2017, 128 ships were scrapped on South Asian beaches, and in the second quarter this figure rose to 158.
The shipowners sending the most vessels to beaching yards is headed up by Greece, with 11 beached vessels this quarter. South Korea and Singapore were the second largest contributors with 6 vessels each.
Singaporean Continental Shipping Line remains the worst corporate dumper, currently sharing this position with the Greek Anangel Shipping Enterprises and the Iranian Iran Shipping Lines.
Monsoon rains have not helped the problem. The rains led to a shortage of local product being available to the domestic steel mills and driven prices for end of life ships. In South Asia, a yard can pay about US $400/LDT (light tonne displacement), whereas Turkish yards currently pay less than the US $250/LDT offered by Chinese yards.
There are however increased efforts from enforcement authorities in South Asia to reduce the number of ships sent for dangerous breaking. In Bangladesh, the Platform has been successful in taking legal action to halt the breaking of the FPSO North Sea Producer, which was illegally exported from the UK in 2016.
German authorities have also been asked by the Platform to hold ACL, a subsidiary of Italian Grimaldi Group, liable for the illegal export of two ships, the Cartier and the Conveyor, to India.
Find out more on the NGO Shipbreaking Platform’s website.
Fathom-News
editor@fathom-mi.com
