Platform News - Dead U.S. Ship on Four-Month Tow Ends on Indian Beach

Platform News – Dead U.S. Ship on Four-Month Tow Ends on Indian Beach

Published in January 25th, 2016

The HORIZON TRADER, a 42 year-old American built and operated container ship, was beached earlier this month at the notorious shipbreaking site of Alang, India, despite the last ship owner Matson, Inc. having sold it for recycling in the US.

The dead vessel contains hazardous materials, making its final voyage from the U.S. to India illegal waste trafficking under the Basel Convention, which controls the transboundary movements of hazardous wastes. The vessel likely contains polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which also makes the sale an illegal export of PCBs from the US. According to environmental justice group Basel Action Network (BAN), responsibility not only falls on the former U.S. ship owner, but also on the five countries that failed to uphold their obligations to stop the renegade vessel along its four-month journey.

BAN photographed the HORIZON TRADER on 2 September 2015 as a U.S. tug named GAUNTLET (also known as MISS GAUNT) towed it out of the Port of Brownsville, Texas. BAN tracked the vessels along the four-month journey through Trinidad and Tobago, Namibia, and Mauritius before arriving in Indian waters on 30 December 2015.

While BAN notified authorities in each country prior to the vessels' arrival, and called on authorities to uphold their legal obligations under the Basel Convention, each country failed to intervene to halt the illegal transport and prevent it from being run aground in Alang. The HORIZON TRADER arrived in Alang, under the name D.V. ("dead vessel") TRADER and was beached on 8 January 2016.

Some have argued that the Basel Convention does not effectively control the export of hazardous end-of-life ships because it's difficult to determine when a ship actually becomes waste along its journey. However, in this case, the "dead" ship was defined as waste before it departed the U.S. The failing lies not with the law but rather with the countries that ignored their obligations under international law: Mauritius, Trinidad and Tobago, Namibia, and India, all of which are Parties to the Basel Convention.

The HORIZON TRADER first gained notoriety in September 2015, when All Star Metals, a U.S. ship recycler based in Brownsville, Texas, who was thought to have scrapped the vessel themselves at their ship recycling facility, resold the ship in 2015 for breaking in India without the knowledge or consent of Matson, Inc., the ship's former owner.

Matson sold the vessel to All Star with the expectation that All Star would recycle it at their facility, but BAN's investigation discovered otherwise. Matson has since assured BAN that in the future they would vigilantly uphold a policy of forbidding the export of their old ships to South Asian beaches.

The hazardous waste management costs of the TRADER would have been significant in the U.S., perhaps even higher than the value of scrap metals contained in the vessel, especially with commodity prices so low. Hazardous waste management costs are not an important consideration at the beach breaking facilities in India. Hazardous waste streams, PCBs in particular, aren't treated or disposed of with the necessary care, hence a cost savings at the expense of environmental and human health. Asbestos-containing materials can even be resold for further use.

BAN and the NGO Shipbreaking Platform call on the Government of India to refloat the vessel and repatriate the ship to the U.S. to uphold their obligations under the Basel Convention.

They also call on the United States to disallow export to developing countries without a thorough PCB study conducted by the government at the cost of the exporter.

Brussels, Jan 23rd 2024

Press Release – Two workers killed at Gadani shipbreaking yards

NGOs join trade unions in calling for enforcement of occupational health and safety standards.

Brussels/Chittagong, Dec 07th 2017

Press Release – NGOs and trade unions denounce certification issued to PHP yard by classification society RINA

In October, the PHP Family (Peace Happiness and Prosperity) shipbreaking yard received a Statement of Compliance with the Hong Kong Convention [1] by the Italian classification society… Read More

Brussels, Jan 25th 2017

Platform News – ‘With Bare Hands’: an immersive journey into the problems of shipbreaking

International media outlets publish ‘With bare hands’, the first multimedia and data-driven reporting project that documents the negative impacts on the environment and the human costs of… Read More

Brussels, Jan 31st 2025

Platform News – Turkish Civil Society Organisations take legal action to ensure Environmental Impact Assessment of the ship recycling sector in Aliağa

On 10 January 2024 a coalition of organisations, including Aegean Environment and Culture Platform (EGEÇEP), İzmir Bar Association, TMMOB Chamber of Architects, İzmir Medical Chamber, and eight… Read More

MORE NEWS

Copenhagen, Dec 15th 2016

Press Release – Danish opposition parties call on Government to stop beaching of Maersk vessels

The Danish Environment Minister, Esben Lunde Larsen, had to answer to the Parliament yesterday following questions put to the Government by all the opposition parties. The… Read More

Brussels, May 12th 2016

Platform News – Indian NGOs voice concerns as ship owners promote beaching

Indian NGOs voice serious concerns regarding the beaching of end-of-life vessels in Alang in reaction to the recent visit to the Alang shipbreaking yards organised by ECSA… Read More

Brussels, Dec 20th 2016

Platform News – No more dead workers!

The Berge Stahl, one of the world’s largest iron ore bulkers, made its last visit at the Port of Rotterdam last week. The NGO Shipbreaking Platform… Read More

Bergen, Mar 23rd 2022

Press Release – Appeal Court confirms prison sentence for Norwegian ship owner

According to the Appeal Court, having sold the vessel to a middle man and not directly to a beaching yard does not provide for exempting the ship owner from being held liable for having committed an environmental crime.