Author: Nicola Mulinaris

Platform News – Platform welcomes new Indonesian partner organisation

Posted on by Nicola Mulinaris

The NGO Shipbreaking Platform, a coalition of environmental, human rights and labour rights organisations, welcomes the Nexus Foundation for Environmental, Health, and Development, also known as Nexus3 Foundation, as new partner organisation. 

 

The Nexus3 Foundation (f.k.a. BaliFokus Foundation) is based in Indonesia. The organisation works to safeguard both the public, especially vulnerable populations, and the environment from the negative impacts of global development, promoting a just, toxic-free, and sustainable future. Its goals are i) to support reducing and eliminating the world’s most hazardous chemicals, ii) to halt the spread of toxic metals, iii) to strengthen Indonesian chemical and wastes management policies, and iv) to enhance institutional capacity to enable communities and civil society organisations in Indonesia to promote safer chemicals and waste management. 

"It is good now to be part of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform, after having been engaged with some of its members on cross-campaigns for a number of years. We look forward to join forces and shed light on Indonesian dangerous shipbreaking practices and transboundary movements of hazardous waste by ships."
Yuyun Ismawati Drwiega - Senior Advisor and Co-founder - Nexus3 Foundation

Every year, numerous toxic ships and oil and gas wastes are illegally exported from Indonesian ports to the infamous shipbreaking beaches of South Asia. Recently, local activists and international NGOs warned Indonesian authorities about the illegal departure of several mercury-laden tankers, such as the FPSO Yetagun and the FSO J NAT. Oil sludge residues from the processing of crude oil extracted in the East-Asia region commonly contain mercury, which ends up contaminating the offshore units’ structures, tanks and piping. 

 

Exposure to mercury, even at low levels, has been linked to central nervous system damage, kidney and liver impairment, reproductive and development disorders, defects in fetuses and learning deficits. When heated up by simple methods such as sand blasting, water blasting, grinding and gas axing, extremely toxic mercury vapors are released, bypassing most commercial personal protection equipment (PPE). The toxicity of the vessels that are illegally exported from Indonesia is, however, not the only concern. In fact, media investigations also revealed appalling social and environmental conditions at small scrapping yards located in the country.

 

Shipbreaking in Cilincing, Jakarta - © Yudha Baskoro 2018
Shipbreaking in Cilincing, Jakarta - © Yudha Baskoro 2018
"Together with our new partners at the Nexus3 Foundation, we will keep raising awareness on the numerous illegal exports of toxics ships from Indonesia. We will also focus our attention on the appalling labour and environmental conditions at the domestic shipbreaking yards, to make sure the workers and the environment are fully protected."
Nicola Mulinaris - Communication and Policy Officer - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

Press Release – Prosecutor launches investigation after Icelandic journalists shed light on illegal export of toxic ships to India

Posted on by Nicola Mulinaris

Cash buyer GMS once again under the spotlight

 

Icelandic program Kveikur released yesterday an investigation on the murky sale of two ships owned by Icelandic company Eimskip. In a documentary broadcasted by radio and television Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV), Kveikur uncovers the illegal export of the container ships GODAFOSS and LAXFOSS to the Indian beach of Alang for dirty and dangerous scrapping. The Icelandic authorities have confirmed that the case has been brought to the public prosecutor for further investigation.

 

In an interview with RÚV, and in response to Kveikur’s documentary, Iceland’s Environment Minister Guðmundur Ingi Gudbrandsson said: “First, I am shocked over what I saw. You feel sad and, at the same time, angry that a company in the West would exploit vulnerable people that have no choice but to work under such horrible conditions. Workers are at constant risk of accidents and even losing their life, and environmental issues are given zero attention. The owners of these companies must respond to whether this is, in their view, morally acceptable, and if this is in line with the environmental and social responsibility policy that they set for themselves. That is the question that I, and I believe many others, were left with.”

 

At the end of 2019, Eimskip sold, as part of its fleet renewal, the GODAFOSS and LAXFOSS, while simultaneously agreeing with the buyer to charter the ships back until the company’s new-buildings were delivered. What may have seemed like a sale for further operational use was actually a scrap deal – Eimskip’s counterpart to the sale was none other than GMS, one of the most well-known cash buyers of end-of-life ships. GMS is behind nearly half of the total tonnage that has been beached in the Indian subcontinent so far in 2020. The company has also been linked by media and civil society to several toxic trade scandals, at least two of which are currently being criminally investigated by enforcement authorities in the UK. [1]

 

Eimskip denies any involvement in the decision to sell the ships for recycling and claims having been in the dark about their final destination.

"It is hard to believe Eimskip when they claim that they were unaware of the final destination of the vessels. Companies have a duty of care and responsibility to ensure that their operations follow environmental law, also within their supply-chain. Due diligence when selecting business partners is part and parcel of that responsibility."
Ingvild Jenssen - Executive Director and Founder - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

The export of the two container vessels to South Asia was in clear breach of European waste laws, which prohibit the trade of hazardous waste, including end-of-life ships, from OECD countries to non-OECD countries. Both the GODAFOSS and LAXFOSS were in European waters when the decision to sell for scrap was taken. Before reaching the Indian beach of Alang, via Suez, they briefly stopped in Rotterdam and Athens respectively. At the time of the export of the ships, the NGO Shipbreaking Platform formally requested Icelandic, Dutch and Greek authorities to hold all the parties involved in the sale accountable for breaching EU waste legislation. 

 

Researchers and journalists that have recently visited the Indian shipbreaking yards, often unannounced and undercover, have documented a reality that starkly contrasts with the industry efforts to greenwash beaching. The BBC exposed the case, which sees again the involvement of cash buyer GMS, of five oil and gas units owned by Diamond Offshore. Two of the units ended up being broken in Alang under dire conditions before the remaining three were arrested in Scotland, as it was suspected that the buyers sought to illegally export them to South Asia. Dutch programme ZEMBLA brought back similar accounts of horrifying practices in Alang, revealing how workers unknowingly were exposed to highly toxic mercury fumes when torching apart an FSO owned by offshore company SBM. In 2019 alone, at least fourteen vessels were sold to beaching yards in breach of the EU Waste Shipment Regulation. The Icelandic case adds itself to several ongoing criminal investigations.

 

 

NOTE

 

[1] See North Sea Producer case and Diamond Offshore case. 

 

Raising awareness campaign – Lisbon 2023

Posted on by Nicola Mulinaris

RAISING AWARENESS CAMPAIGN

In Spring 2023, the NGO Shipbreaking Platform organised in Portugal a series of cultural initiatives aimed at raising awareness on the topic of shipbreaking.
 
Fifteen powerful images were pasted on selected walls of the city of Lisbon. Via visual storytelling, the project not only showed how the huge metal skeletons of old vessels are still dangerously stripped apart on the shores of the Global South but also opened a window into the lives of the exploited workers and vulnerable local communities, denouncing the illegality of this toxic trade. The Platform also organised two live performances at Largo Residências and at MAD - Marvilla Art District. Live music, visuals and theatre were combined by artists Serenella Martufi and Isacco Chiaf to provide a comprehensive overview of the issue through a unique multimedia format.

 

Both projects were based on the multimedia work With Bare Hands, created by award-winning photojournalist Tomaso Clavarino and videomaker Isacco Chiaf in 2016.

 

Nicola Mulinaris, Platform's staff member, during the pasting of the posters - © Illusive

 

The campaign saw the financial support of private donors and the partnership of several local and international entities.

 

PARTNERS

Circular Economy Portugal, Human Rights Watch, Illusive Studios, Largo Residências, MAD - Marvilla Art District Sciaena, Sciaena, SOS Amianto, ZERO.

 

SUPPORTERS

Ghost Creative Productions, Câmara Municipal de Lisboa, Polo Cultural Gaivotas - Boavista, Junta de Freguesia da Misericórdia.