Press Release – Indian authority shuts NGOs out from Alang yards
The NGO Shipbreaking Platform expresses dismay over the continued failure of the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) to be transparent and to grant civil society access to see the working and environmental conditions at the shipbreaking yards in Alang. For the past two months, the GMB has turned a cold shoulder to repeated requests by the Platform, via the Indian member organisation Toxics Link, to visit the shipbreaking yards on the tidal beach of Alang, where toxic vessels are broken without containment or stable platforms that other recycling methods provide. By refusing to reply to the requests to visit the yards, the GMB has opted to keep the negative environmental and labour impacts of the operations at Alang out of sight.
Last year, also the European Community Shipowners’ Associations (ECSA) and the Danish shipping line Maersk excluded the Platform from joining field visits they organised to Alang. Maersk recently reversed its ship recycling policy and began breaking ships on the Indian tidal shore. The return to the beach by Maersk has had the devastating effect of legitimising across the industry the beaching method, which inherently pollutes coastal areas and exposes communities to toxins, conditions that the GMB wants to conceal.
“In dismissing the Platform’s request to visit Alang, the GMB has chosen to protect industry attempts to green-wash the dirty and dangerous breaking of ships on beaches. This lack of openness is disappointing and represents a decision by the GMB to keep Indian ship recycling in the dark ages”, says Ingvild Jenssen, Director and Founder of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform.
The European Commission is anticipated to prohibit the recycling of EU-flagged ships in beaching yards when it publishes its upcoming list of approved ship recycling facilities in non-EU countries. The EU list represents an important turning point for sustainable ship recycling by setting a benchmark for an industry in which standards have been historically absent.
Related news
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
Press Release – Surge of accidents at yards owned by Kabir Group in Bangladesh
Since the beginning of 2022, out of the eighteen accidents that shook the Bangladeshi shipbreaking industry, six have taken place at yards owned by Kabir Steel Re-Rolling Mills (KSRM).
... Read MorePlatform publishes South Asia Quarterly Update #25
Nine workers suffered an accident on South Asian beaches in the first quarter of 2021.
... Read MorePress Release – Sale of asbestos-laden aircraft carrier São Paulo raises concerns
The NGO Shipbreaking Platform, Basel Action Network (BAN), BAN Asbestos France, International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS), İstanbul Isig Meclisi and Brazilian ABREA have alerted the Turkish Ministry… Read More
Press Release – Union Bay residents still fighting against hazardous shipbreaking
The infamous shipbreaking company DWR persists in scrapping vessels in blatant violation of international and national rules and standards.
... Read MorePlatform News – Dead U.S. Ship on Four-Month Tow Ends on Indian Beach
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… Read More
Platform News – Greenpeace regrets beaching of Rongdhonu (ex Rainbow Warrior II)
The NGO Shipbreaking Platform regrets that the Rongdhonu, former Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior II, has been sold for scrapping on the beaches of Chittagong, Bangladesh. Greenpeace International had… Read More