Platform publishes South Asia Quarterly Update #16

There were a total of 220 ships broken in the second quarter of 2018. Of these, 169 ships were sold to the beaches of South Asia for dirty and dangerous breaking [1]. Between April and June, 6 workers have lost their lives and 7 workers have been severely injured when breaking ships in Chittagong, Bangladesh. Another worker was reported dead after an accident at a shipbreaking yard in Alang, India. So far this year, Platform sources have recorded 18 deaths and 9 injuries in South Asia.

 

 

As reported in our previous update, worker Shahidul Islam died at Zuma Enterprise in April while breaking the Greek tanker EKTA, owned by Anangel Group. Belal Hossain, Md Musa and Md Najmuddin Alazy were all mortally struck by falling iron pieces during the cutting operations at Asadi Steel, KR Steel and S Trading yards respectively. On 22 May, three workers got severely injured at SN Corporation, where two other workers were killed last year. Farid Ahmed, a cutter man from the Gaibanda region, was hit by an iron piece and killed at Janata Steel on 31 May. One month later, 22 years old Nayon, an employee of Kabir Steel’s Khawja shipbreaking yard, lost his life. Local sources claim that the death of Nayon has been treated as a road accident by the yard management, although there are no police records of such a type of accident having taken place. In 2018, there have already been three deaths linked to Kabir Steel.

 

According to local sources, three yards in which fatalities occurred this quarter – Kabir Steel, SN Corporation and Janata Steel – are clients of Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), although the bank neither confirmed nor denied this when asked. SN Corporation and Kabir Steel are recurring names on the list of companies involved in the death of shipbreaking workers. Janata Steel is the company that bought the infamous FPSO North Sea Producer for which the Bangladesh Supreme Court is expected to pronounce itself shortly with regards to its illegal import. A responsible financer is expected to divest from companies that have an extremely bad track record and continue to ignore basic health and safety precautions for the purpose of cutting costs.

 

In India, one accident in Alang, which cost the life of a worker, was reported: on 13 April, Ravindra Chaudhari, who was working in Plot 2, was hit by a falling steel plate and died. Plot 2, which has applied to be on the EU List of approved ship recycling facilities, and was one of the first yards in Alang to receive a so-called Statement of Compliance with the Hong Kong Convention by ClassNK, is the main yard of Leela Ship Recycling Pvt. Ltd. Apart from this incident, little is known about accident records in Alang as no information is made publically available by the authorities, and access to the yards by civil society organisations and journalists is not allowed.

 

In the second quarter of 2018, American ship owners sold the most ships to the South Asian yards with 26 vessels beached, followed by Greek and UAE owners. American company Tidewater was the worst corporate dumper with fifteen vessels beached. In the end of April, Pakistan re-opened the market to the import of tankers. In two months alone, twenty-two tankers reached the shores of Gadani to be scrapped. Industry sources report that devaluing freight rates have contributed to the demolition of over 100 tankers in the first half of 2018.

 

Only three ships had a European flag – Greece, Malta and Norway – when they were beached last quarter. All ships sold to the Chittagong, Alang and Gadani yards pass via the hands of scrap-dealers, also known as cash-buyers, that often re-register and re-flag the vessel on its final voyage. Grey- and black-listed flags of convenience are particularly popular with cash-buyers, and more than half of the ships sold to South Asia this quarter changed flag to the registries of Comoros, Niue, Palau and St. Kitts and Nevis just weeks before hitting the beach. This is the highest number of flag changes recorded by the NGO Shipbreaking Platform and raises serious concerns with regards to the effectiveness of legislation based on flag state jurisdiction. These flags are not typically used during the operational life of ships and offer ‘last voyage registration’ discounts. They are grey- and black-listed due to their poor implementation of international maritime law.

 

NOTE

 

[1] During the second quarter of 2018, the following number of vessels were broken in other locations: 33 in Turkey, 5 in China, 4 in Europe and 9 in the rest of the world.

 

Platform News – Shipping industry presses to undermine European Ship Recycling Regulation

On Monday, the EU member states’ experts on ship recycling met in Brussels to discuss the latest developments, six months ahead of the application of the 2013 Ship Recycling Regulation. With the recent decision by the Chinese government to stop the import of end-of-life ships for scrapping, the shipping industry is quick to lament that there will not be enough recycling capacity and that there will be too few options for them under the EU List of approved recycling facilities. The industry claims that the standard set by the EU must be lowered so that beaching yards can be approved.

 

As much as it is a pity that the Chinese yards who have already made efforts to be included on the List may now no longer be receiving EU-flagged ships for recycling, the Platform has calculated that the facilities which are currently on the List, the 21 EU-based ones only, are in fact sufficient to recycle the entire EU-flagged fleet at end-of-life. [1]

 

Moreover, there are still other facilities outside the EU, as well as those operating in Italy and Norway, which are expected to be included on the List before the application of the Regulation. Indian beaching yards that have applied to be on the EU List will not be included as there is no way for these yards to comply with the requirements of the Regulation as long as ships are beached. The overall capacity and sizes of all the facilities that are compliant with EU law will easily accommodate the recycling needs of EU-flagged ships by 1 January 2019. The scaremongering of the shipping industry therefore needs to be debunked, and the European Commission should not bow-down to the “fake news” spread by the ship owners.

 

SeaEurope, IndustriAll Europe and the Platform have urged that a financial incentive is needed to push more ship owners towards clean and safe ship recycling. French trade Union CGT also recently called upon the French government to support the development of ship recycling capacity in the Mediterranean. With China potentially leaving the international market of ship recycling already next year, there is a clear opportunity for other regions to tailor for clean and safe ship recycling off the beach.

"The EU should aim at ensuring that the European shipping industry no longer causes harm to the environment and workers on the South Asian beaches. 30 percent of end-of-life ships are owned by European companies – compared to only six percent registered under an EU flag. There will be a need to support the expansion of existing or building of new facilities to ensure the clean and safe recycling of the many larger vessels that are owned by European companies. Circular economy is the buzz-word and a return scheme for ships is the solution."
Ingvild Jenssen - Executive Director and Founder - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

 

NOTE

 

[1] The 21 facilities that are currently on the EU List have the capacity to recycle at least 1 mill LDT. Whilst most can only take in smaller vessels, at least 10 of the facilities on the List can take in larger vessels. In 2017, less than 500.000 LDT was registered under an EU flag at end-of-life, out of which 245.827 LDT ended up on the South Asian beaches. All EU-flagged vessels broken last year could have been recycled in facilities that are on the EU List, both in terms of LDT and size. Even when adding also the 423.369 LDT of the 24 ships that swapped their EU flag for a non-EU one few weeks before beaching, the total tonnage does not exceed the capacity of the current EU-listed facilities.

 

Press Release – NGO Shipbreaking Platform presents Annual Report 2017

The NGO Shipbreaking Platform presents its Annual Report 2017.

 

The NGO Shipbreaking Platform works to ensure that vessels are recycled without causing harm to workers and the environment. Thanks to our continued efforts, concerned policy makers, progressive investors and banks, and law enforcers are now echoing the Platform’s demand. Read more about this in our new Annual Report.

 

We need your support to effectively prevent the human rights abuses and environmental injustice provoked when ships are traded to dirty and dangerous breaking yards! Share this publication and make a donation.

Download the Platform’s Annual Report 2017 here.

 

Platform News – Problems of shipbreaking presented at the 2018 Vicino/Lontano Festival

The NGO Shipbreaking Platform is grateful to have participated in the 2018 Vicino/Lontano Festival, which was held from 10 May to 13 May in Udine, Italy.

 

The Vicino/Lontano Festival has, since its very beginning, been closely linked to the figure of journalist and writer Tiziano Terzani, to whose memory the Festival’s annual literary prize is dedicated. It encompasses a broad range of initiatives and events, including debates, discussion forums, seminars, lectures, exhibitions, performances and screenings. Scholars, journalists, writers and artists of international renown gather together to analyze the economic, social, cultural, and geopolitical trends currently impacting our globalized world, and, in the process, attempt to reach a better understanding of the forces and mechanisms driving global change and how these are likely to shape future realities.

 

The photo exhibition ‘With Bare Hands – The human and environmental costs of shipbreaking’, an extract from a web documentary done by Tomaso Clavarino and Isacco Chiaf, was the Platform’s entry to this year’s festival edition that focused on global inequalities. In 2016, Clavarino, journalist and photographer, and Chiaf, video maker and graphic designer, travelled to Bangladesh and India, where dirty and dangerous scrapping is conducted on the tidal beaches of Chittagong and Alang. With texts, infographics, videos, photo-essays, interviews and maps, they have been able to show how shipbreaking activities are contributing to the destruction of the ecosystem and negatively affecting the lives of thousands of people.

 

 

The official inauguration of the exhibition took place on 11 May at the gallery MAKE. With the presence of Vicino/Lontano’s vice-president and the City Councillor responsible for culture, Clavarino and Nicola Mulinaris, the Platform’s communication officer, introduced the audience to the topic of shipbreaking, highlighting its international dimension and negative impacts.

 

What impressed me the most during the days spent in Bangladesh and India, besides the extremely inhuman working conditions and evident pollution, was the difficulty to access this industry. That journalists and photographers are not welcome was clearly communicated. We still managed to penetrate this extremely closed industry – and the devastating stories we documented cannot be ignored”, said Tomaso Clavarino.

 

In the last two years, With Bare Hands, which was funded by the European Journalism Centre, has been published in several international media outlets [1]. The Platform, with the support of its member organisation Legambiente and the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament, presented the project to the public in the form of photo exhibition also at the European Parliament in Brussels (June 2017) and at RED La Feltrinelli in Rome (January 2018).

 

NOTE

 

[1] E.g. Al Jazeera, El Pais, Corriere della Sera.

 

Press Release – South Asian trade unions assert their rights

In Chittagong, Bangladesh, on the International Labour Day of 1 May, the Platform member organisation YPSA brought together shipbreaking workers for a demonstration to claim their right for a healthy and safe workplace.

 

OSHE, another Platform member, and YPSA also organised demonstrations on the World Day for Health at Work, on 28 April. Concerns related to especially the vulnerability of young workers in hazardous occupations such as shipbreaking were raised, and the call for safe working conditions was joined by prominent trade union representatives.

 

These events have taken place at a time when the shipbreaking industry has seen a high number of accidents occurring in the yards in the first quarter of this year, with already 10 workers who have lost their lives.

 

In Pakistan, the National Trade Union Federation (NTUF), member of IndustriAll, has been officially recognised as a trade union in the re-rolling mills. The mills in Gadani receive the scrap metal that originates from, amongst other, the shipbreaking activities and employ about 15,000 workers. Whilst NTUF has faced difficulties in being recognised as a trade union at the shipbreaking yards in Gadani, its acceptance as a collective bargaining association at the re-rolling mills will greatly benefit the workers who do not have a written contract and work in precarious conditions.

 

Official recognition of the re-rolling mill workers’ union is an important achievement and will pave the way for the union being able to improve working conditions, health and safety, social security and wages”, said Nasir Mansoor from NTUF.

 

 

Platform publishes South Asia Quarterly Update #15

There were a total of 206 ships broken in the first quarter of 2018. Of these, 152 ships were sold to the beaches of South Asia for dirty and dangerous breaking [1]. So far this year, 10 workers have lost their lives and 2 workers have been severely injured when breaking ships in Chittagong, Bangladesh. Another two workers were reported dead after an accident at a shipbreaking yard in Alang, India.

 

 

2018 has so far seen a high number of fatalities at the shipbreaking yards in South Asia. Platform sources have recorded 10 workers who have lost their lives and 2 who have been seriously injured at the shipbreaking yards in Chittagong. A fire on the South Korean Sinokor-owned PACIFIC CAPE broke out on 18 February at the Jamuna Shipbreaking yard, costing the life of a fitter man, Harun, and causing serious burn wounds to workers Moajjem and Johirul. The breaking of the tanker EKTA at Zuma Enterprise yard has been particularly hazardous: there, two fatalities have been recorded on two separate occasions. Fitter man Muhammad Khalil fell from great height while working on the EKTA on 31 March; and only three days ago, on 24 April, Shahidul Islam died when hit by a falling steel plate. According to industry sources, the EKTA was owned by the Greek company Anangel Group, and, in the last weeks prior to its breaking, the vessel was operated by Wirana, one of the world’s largest cash-buyers.

 

Also in Bangladesh this quarter, Abul Hossain died in RA Shipbreaking yard. However, the local police and the yard owner claim that the cause of death was a heart attack. Another worker, Borhan, died in Premium Trade Corporation shipbreaking yard – in this case the yard owner is claiming that the cause of death was a road accident. The ASTUTE, which was sold for breaking by shipping company Teekay, was beached at the Premium Trade Corporation yard at the time of the accident. Another Teekay ship, TINA, was beached at Kabir Steel when Azahar Molla died after falling from height. Abdul Mannan Juarder was hit by a falling steel plate at H.M. Steel Shipyard. Md. Babul fell down from the stairs when he was on top of a ship beached at M. A. Ship Breaking Ltd and got seriously injured – he was brought to hospital, where doctors announced his death. At the same yard, M. A. Ship Breaking Ltd, Shofiqul Islam died when he was hit by an iron piece. Worker Offil Rema died of burn wounds after a fire broke out in a tank at Khawja Shipbreaking yard.

 

On 28 April, on World Day for Safety and Health at Work, the Platform member organisations, OSHE and YPSA, are organising a demonstration in Chittagong to protest against the serious lack of safety measures at the shipbreaking yards and to denounce the particularly high accident rate at the yards so far this year. Demonstrations by the members will also be held on 1 May to mark International Labour Day.

 

There were victims in Indian shipbreaking yards this quarter too. The Times of India reported that two workers lost their lives due to a toxic gas leak on plot 32 on 14 March. Earlier that month it was reported that an accident happened on plot 7, where the tower of a rig crashed onto plot 9. The extent of damage and injuries caused is unknown. The lack of transparency on the conditions at the yards in Alang is disconcerting – no record of any accident is made publically available by the GMB, the local authority regulating the industry. The Platform has on several occasions called upon the industry and authorities to put on record every single accident which happens in the Alang shipbreaking yards. Injured and dead workers should never remain hidden and go forgotten.

 

Ship owners continue to sell their ships to the beaching yards despite the well documented deplorable conditions. The prices offered for ships this first quarter have been high in South Asia, especially when compared to the figures of last year. Whilst a South Asian beaching yard can pay about USD 450/LDT, Turkish and Chinese yards are respectively currently paying USD 280/LDT and USD 210/LDT. This situation led to especially a significant decrease in number of vessels recycled in China, where only 7 vessels were scrapped this quarter.

 

South Korean and UAE ship owners have sold the most ships to South Asian yards the first quarter of 2018 with 14 beached vessels each, followed by Greek and Russian owners. Shipping companies from the United States beached 5 vessels. South Korean Sinokor is, for now, the worst corporate dumper with seven vessels beached in South Asia in 2018. South Korean H-Line Shipping is a close runner-up, with five ships sold for dirty and dangerous scrapping on the beach. Following the ban on the import of tankers to Pakistan due to major explosions that occurred in 2016 and 2017, no tankers were sold to the Gadani yards this first quarter. However, Pakistan has re-opened to the import of tankers this week.

 

Only 3 ships had a European flag – Belgium, Italy and Norway – when they arrived on the beach. All ships sold to the beaching yards pass via the hands of scrap-dealers, also known as cash-buyers, that often re-register and re-flag the vessel on its last voyage. In this regard, flags of convenience, in particular those that are grey- and black-listed under the Paris MoU, are used by cash-buyers to send ships to the worst breaking locations. Almost half of the ships sold to South Asia this quarter changed flag to the grey- and black-listed registries of Comoros, Niue, Palau and St. Kitts and Nevis just weeks before hitting the beach. These flags are not typically used during the operational life of ships and offer ‘last voyage registration’ discounts. They are grey- and black-listed due to their poor implementation of international maritime law.

 

NOTE

 

[1] During the first quarter of 2018, the following number of vessels were broken in other locations: 27 in Turkey, 7 in China, 11 in Europe and 9 in the rest of the world.

 

Press Release – Seatrade convicted for trafficking toxic ships

Today, the Rotterdam District Court sentenced, on the basis of the EU Waste Shipment Regulation, shipping company Seatrade for the illegal export of vessels sent for scrapping on the beaches of South Asia. The Seatrade company has been heavily fined, and two of its executives have also been banned from exercising the profession as director, commissioner, advisor or employee of a shipping company for one year.

 

For the first time, a European shipping company has been held criminally liable for having sold vessels for scrap to substandard shipbreaking yards in India and Bangladesh, where, as widely acknowledged and according to the Prosecutor, “current ship dismantling methods endanger the lives and health of workers and pollute the environment”. The Prosecutor’s request that the Seatrade executives face prison was only waived in light of this being the first time such criminal charges had been pressed.

 

This groundbreaking judgement sets a European-wide precedent for holding ship owners accountable for knowingly selling vessels, via shady cash-buyers, for dirty and dangerous breaking in order to maximize profits.

"We strongly welcome the judgement of the Rotterdam Court. The ruling sends a clear-cut message that dirty and dangerous scrapping will no longer be tolerated."
Ingvild Jenssen - Executive Director and Founder - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

Press Release – NGOs respond to legal threats by shipbreaking industry and withdraw from industry conference

On Monday, the NGO Shipbreaking Platform, an international coalition of labour, human rights and environmental organisations, withdrew their participation from the TradeWinds Ship Recycling Forum that starts today in Hamburg. This is in response to a letter from cash buyer GMS threatening to sue unless the Platform removes all mention of GMS from their website. The Platform has frequently exposed the cash buyer for enabling the dirtiest and most underhanded practices in the shipbreaking industry [1]. Tradewinds refused to replace GMS company staff as chair in the sessions in which the Platform was to participate as experts, despite being noted that it is a conflict of interest and inappropriate to allow discussions to be moderated by a person representing a company that is threatening to legally attack a session invitee.

 

No company would accept to participate in a debate moderated by someone threatening to sue them”, says Ingvild Jenssen, Founder and Director of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform. “We regret not being able to present our views at TradeWinds where we would have especially provided our support to the many financers, investors and authorities that are now engaging to set a standard for the industry and who are demanding to move the industry off the beach”, she adds.

 

In reaction to the attempt by GMS to silence critical civil society voices that reveal the company’s unethical, dangerous and environmentally disastrous business practices, the Platform’s legal counsel in Belgium and in the US has further responded in a letter that neither an apology nor retractions will be forthcoming.

 

We have no intention to remove truthful information from our website and will not apologise for reporting on the business of trafficking ships for dirty and dangerous breaking. It is our organisation’s mission to provide authorities, journalists, and industry stakeholders with information on the deplorable realities of current shipbreaking practices which encourage the circumvention of existing labour and environmental protection laws“, says Ingvild Jenssen.

 

The harassment by GMS comes in addition to the earlier threat to sue the Platform made by PHP, a Bangladeshi shipbreaking yard and a supporting sponsor of this year’s TradeWinds Ship Recycling Forum.

 

NOTE

 

[1] Dubai-based GMS has been involved in several cases of illegal hazardous waste exports that are being/have been investigated by authorities and the police in several countries. For instance:
- GMS was revealed to be the cash-buyer for the illegal export of the North Sea Producer from the UK to Bangladesh: https://old.danwatch.dk/en/undersogelse/maersk-og-det-farlige-affald-i-bangladesh
- Three drill rigs stacked in Scotland were stopped from leaving after their destination was suspected to be to a beaching yard in South Asia. GMS has been confirmed as the buyer of the rigs: https://www.energyvoice.com/opinion/162853/opinion-scrap-shady-underbelly-offshore-industry/?utm_source=twitter
- Last year, a worker in Bangladesh claimed compensation for injuries incurred while breaking a ship owned by Zodiac Maritime. GMS was revealed to be the cash buyer behind the sale to the shipbreaking yard: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/dec/02/chittagong-shipbreaking-yards-legal-fight
- In 2009 the company was fined $518,500 dollars by the US EPA for illegally exporting a PCB laden passenger liner to South Asia: http://www.marinelog.com/DOCS/NEWSMMIX/2009jan00311.html

 

 

Maersk’s toxic trade: the North Sea Producer case

Maersk's toxic trade: the North Sea Producer case

In August 2016 the FPSO NORTH SEA PRODUCER was beached in Chittagong, Bangladesh. The ship was allowed to leave the UK based on false claims that it would be further operationally used in the Tin Can port in Nigeria. In both the UK and Bangladesh, the Platform is fronting the battle to hold the owners, and cash buyer GMS, accountable for the illegal export of the FPSO.

 

The North Sea Producer (ex Dagmar Maersk) was deployed in the McCulloch field in the North Sea, transporting and extracting oil from the UK continental shelf for 17 years. It was owned by the North Sea Production Company, a single-ship joint venture between Danish A.P. Moeller Maersk and Brazilian Odebrecht. Once the field closed, the NORTH SEA PRODUCER was laid up in Teesport, UK, for a year while the owners were looking for buyers. For scrapping purposes the ship was only allowed to be sold to a facility within the OECD as any export of hazardous waste outside the OECD is in breach of EU law. 

 

Maersk and Odebrecht chose to sell the ship to the largest vessels’ scrap dealer, cash buyer GMS, through a St. Kitts and Nevis post box company called Conquistador Shipping Corporation. They then provided the UK authorities with a false contract stating that the NORTH SEA PRODUCER had found a new owner who would operate the ship in Nigeria.

 

Despite the vessel being under the radar of local communities in Teesside and was well-known in the shipping industry for needing to be scrapped, the UK authorities relied on the false contract to allow the FPSO to leave on tug. But the NORTH SEA PRODUCER never ended up in Nigeria. Instead it was towed directly all the way from the UK, around the African continent, to Bangladesh. The Platform was quick to alert both the UK and Bangladesh governments of the illegal export. It was only once the FPSO had left the UK – and after the case was strongly criticised in Danish and international press – that Maersk was “very, very sorry” that Conquistador Shipping Corporation had beached the NORTH SEA PRODUCER in Chittagong. According to Maersk, the new owners took this decision independently – and Maersk had been tricked. In their Sustainability Report 2016, Maersk also stated that they had cut all commercial ties with the buyer of the NORTH SEA PRODUCER: an obviously meaningless statement if that implies cutting ties with Conquistador Shipping Corporation, a single-ship post box company. Only when caught red-handed did Maersk admit that they knew all along the buyers were GMS, the largest waste traffickers in end-of-life ships. Maersk and Odebrecht knew the vessel would be scrapped - they also knew GMS would bring it to South Asia for dirty and dangerous scrapping in breach of EU waste laws.

 

Once the ship arrived at the Janata Steel shipbreaking yard in Chittagong, and upon alerts issued by local NGOs, the Bangladesh Attorney General of the Department of Environment set up a special committee to determine the presence of contaminated residues and to investigate the ship’s illegal import due to the lack of necessary clearances and false claims that it was hazardous-free. Having operated in the North Sea, the vessel’s pipelines likely contain residues contaminated by radioactive materials and sulphur. Other toxics, such as asbestos and heavy metals, are contained within the structure and paints of the ship. 

 

Upon a request from the Platform’s member organisation Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers’ Association (BELA), the report on the ship’s condition was released: it’s conclusion was that radioactive residues were found upon inspection and that further surveys needed to be carried out on the whole ship. BELA subsequently succeeded in getting an injunction on the breaking of the NORTH SEA PRODUCER. On 14 November the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh declared the import, beaching and breaking of the infamous FPSO North Sea Producer illegal.

 

The Court further noted with dismay the incessant violations of national and international laws by the shipbreaking industry, and passed several directions upon the government to regulate the sector in line with earlier rulings. The Court directed authorities to i) subject cash buyers and agents to stricter scrutiny, including a detailed recording of their particulars, and to hold them accountable to the strictest sanctions; ii) regulate the import of vessels registered under “last voyage” grey- or black-listed flags which are particularly popular with cash buyers, including Comoros, Palau and St. Kits and Nevis, and; iii) ensure that no vessel is imported without proper verifiable pre-cleaning certificates and declarations of in-built hazardous wastes, and/or by yards that do not fully comply with the requirements for obtaining an Environmental Clearance.

 

In the UK, the Platform demanded the Secretary of State for Environment to investigate the illegal export from Teesside. UK authorities have been looking into the case since then to establish the responsibility of all parties involved. Providing fraudulent documentation in order to circumvent existing waste export bans is a criminal offence, in Europe and internationally via the Basel Convention. In parallel Danish parliamentarians have requested that the Environment Minister to also take action to hold Maersk accountable.

 

Maersk and Odebrecht were well acquainted with the GMS’ notorious trafficking of waste ships. They were also well aware of the illegality of selling the vessel for scrapping in South Asia. This is not a case of poor human rights due diligence, but one where companies collude to earn big bucks on the back of people and the environment.

 

 

The controversial case of the Harrier: holding business to account

The controversial case of the Harrier

It all started with an anonymous letter informing us that the EIDE CARRIER was sold for scrap. Having been laid up for many years on the Norwegian west coast the Platform immediately contacted the owners, Eide Group, to make them aware that exporting the vessel to a South Asian beaching yard would be in breach of European waste laws. Eide Group categorically refuted at the time that the vessel sold for scrap. Little did they – or we – know what would then happen.

 

Almost a year and a half later, in February 2017, the vessel attempted to leave Norway under a new name, new flag and new registered owner. After a simple stroke of paint to alter the first letter, the vessel was now called TIDE CARRIER. The ship had swapped its flag to that of Comoros and was registered under an anonymous St. Kitts and Nevis post-box company called Julia Shipping Inc. All solid indications that a cash buyer - a scrap dealer specialised in the trading of end-of-life ships to the South Asian beaching yards - was involved.

 

Only hours after its departure, the engine stopped. Despite the ship’s deteriorating condition and bad weather conditions, the vessel’s new captain, from Nabeel Ship Management, did not call for help. The ship was drifting towards one of Norway’s most renowned beaches and the Norwegian coastguards were forced to trigger a salvage operation to avoid the risk of oil spill and grounding. The rescue operation included the emergency evacuation of 5 crew members – one of which suffered from a broken shoulder – and the deployment of two tugboats to bring the ship to safety. 

 

At the request of the owners, Julia Shipping Inc., the ship was laid up in Gismarvik. Its name was re-painted and changed this time to HARRIER. The flag also changed again, from Comoros to another popular end-of-life flag, Palau. According to the Comoros registry, which was contacted by the Norwegian authorities, the vessel had in fact never been registered under the Comoros flag.

 

The Platform alerted the authorities that the vessel in all likelihood had been sold to a beaching yard in South Asia to be scrapped, and that the post box company Julia Shipping Inc. in all likelihood was concealing a cash buyer. We also alerted that there were suspicions that the ship had been used to store hazardous sludge.

 

When the Norwegian Environment Agency boarded the laid-up vessel they found evidence that the HARRIER was indeed under a “break up voyage” insurance from Norway to Gadani, Pakistan. They also found unidentified and excessive amounts of sludge and fuel oils. The sales contract that dated from summer 2015 – when we had first received the anonymous tip-off – revealed that the contact person for Julia Shipping Inc. was Keyur Dave, Chief Financial Officer at cash buyer Wirana. It thus became clear that the repair contract from the Middle-East which had been provided to the Norwegian authorities as a way to escape checks for the illegal export of the vessel for breaking was false. The HARRIER was now under arrest and not allowed to leave Norway unless it was to sail to a ship recycling destination in line with international and European hazardous waste laws. 

 

Norwegian authorities pressed charges against the owners for having attempted to illegally export hazardous waste and rejected the complaint of Julia Shipping Inc., represented by law firm Wikborg Rein, for the arrest order.

 

Without having paid the fees for lay-up in Gismarvik, the HARRIER was moved to be anchored off the coast of Farsund. There, two crew members remained confined onboard the ship for more than one year. With the help of Norsk Gjennvinning, Wirana finally obtained the approval from both Norwegian and Turkish authorities to scrap the ship in Aliaga, Turkey, where it arrived in August 2018 – three years after its initial sale for breaking. Before leaving Norway, Wirana was forced to pay GMC in Gismarvik EUR 700.000 for lay-up costs that had still not been settled. 

 

Bad omen, or rather just another sign of how reckless cash buyers are: on its way to Aliaga, the HARRIER caused an oil spill in the Izmir region. Turkish authorities have given the owners a fine of USD 300.000 for the spill and also requested them to pay for the clean-up operation, estimated at 4,5 mill USD. Until the fine and clean-up costs are paid, the recycling of the ship is at halt. In the meantime, the recycling yard in Aliaga, SOK, is stuck with a vessel it has already paid Wirana for and cannot start recycling – and Julia Shipping Inc. has disappeared…

 

In Norway, police investigations, now headed by the financial crimes division, are targeting the former and current owners of the ship, Georg Eide and cash buyer Wirana. On the one hand, Mr Eide was sentenced in November 2020 to six months unconditional imprisonment for having assisted scrap dealer Wirana in the attempt to illegally export the ship. The Court also ordered the confiscation of criminal dividends of NOK 2 million from Eide Marine Eidendom AS. On the other hand, cash buyer Wirana has been fined NOK 7 million for having falsified papers to deceive Norwegian authorities about the ship's true destination and its seaworthiness to allow the vessel to leave Norway. The cash buyer agreed to pay the fine, but without acknowledging wrongdoing. Also marine warranty surveyor Aqualis Offshore and insurance company Skuld Maritime Agency have been under investigation for their involvement in the attempt to illegally export the Harrier to Pakistan. Aqualis Offshore issued two certificates for the ship on the same day – one for a break-up voyage to Pakistan, another for a voyage to Dubai. Skuld Maritime Agency was involved in issuing the last-voyage insurance for the vessel. For undisclosed reasons, the public prosecutors’ office recently dismissed the charge and withdrew the penalty charge notice issued to Aqualis Offshore.

 

The HARRIER case reveals the business practices of ship owners and cash buyers, and adds to several other cases where authorities have been lied to and provided false information as a way to escape checks for the illegal export of end-of-life ships. It is also a case that illustrates the many risks of entering into business relationships with unreliable companies that have a bad track record putting profit above people and the environment.