Tag: accident

Platform News – Shooting and fatal accidents at Kabir shipbreaking: Belgian ship owner CMB, Greek Kanellakis Group and Standard Chartered linked

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Standard Chartered Bank, Belgian ship owner CMB / Bocimar as well as the Greek Kanellakis Group are linked to Kabir Steel, a Bangladeshi shipbreaking yard and re-rolling mill with a particularly bad accident record where private security guards shot at locals protesting the death of worker Sumon on 28 March [1]. The leading Flemish daily newspaper De Standaard has analysed CMB’s substandard shipbreaking practices in a two page article published last Friday showing how the Antwerp-based shipping company uses cash buyers to rid itself of financial and legal risks. The Platform calls on these European companies to ensure that their value chain neither contributes to such negative human rights impacts nor to hazardous waste dumping and pollution in Bangladesh.

 

Whilst NGOs and international trade unions have called upon the police to impartially investigate the circumstances of the recent shooting episode at Kabir Steel, it is no secret that the Chittagong-based firm, which runs shipbreaking yards at two different plots as well as a local steel re-rolling mill, has a particularly bad accident record. In January 2014, three workers suffered severe burn injuries in an explosion on a tanker beached at the yard. Only after Platform members took up their case did the men receive treatment and support. The case received both local and international media attention, and the CEO of the Norwegian ship owner Teekay Corporation, whose vessel was involved in the incident, publicly stated that the company will stop selling ships to substandard yards. Early in 2014, two more workers, Jafar and Lipton, were injured and taken to hospital. In August 2014, worker Afzal died in the hospital after an accident at Kabir, and a second, unidentified man suffered injuries. In September 2014, 20 year old Asad Mia was killed at Kabir’s re-rolling mill to which the scrap steel is taken.

 

The London-headquartered Standard Chartered bank has, according to local informants, been issuing letters of credit or loans to Kabir Steel for the import of end-of-life vessels. The Platform has sent a letter to Standard Chartered’s management asking why the bank is working with a yard that clearly operates in breach of Standard Chartered’s own ship recycling policy: according to this policy the bank will only work with yards that meet international workers’ rights and environmental protection standards.

"None of the shipbreaking yards in Bangladesh operate in line with international standards for the environmentally sound management of hazardous waste as there are no waste treatment facilities available. Occupational health and safety measures are absent or inadequate as accidents regularly show. Most workers do not receive a living wage and any protest against the conditions can easily lead to losing one’s job. We do not believe that a bank such as Standard Chartered should be associated to such practices. [2]"
Patrizia Heidegger - Executive Director - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

Leading banks, amongst them ABN AMRO, are cooperating with companies to invest in sustainable ship recycling in industrial platforms.

 

Also major European shipping companies are linked to the dangerous and dirty shipbreaking practices at Kabir Steel. The end-of life vessels currently being scrapped on the beach of Kabir Steel shipbreaking are the ALPHA FRIENDSHIP and the MINERAL WATER. The ALPHA FRIENDSHIP’s was sold to Kabir Steel for scrapping by Greek Kanellakis Group with the help of cash buyer Wirana. The ship owner is part of a group of shipping companies controlled by the influential Kanellakis and Angelicoussis family. The vessel arrived in Bangladesh this January while still registered under the Greek flag.

"The EU Ship Recycling Regulation sets high standards for ship recycling, and once it becomes applicable end-of-life sales like this will constitute a clear breach of European law. Greek owners top the list of worst end-of-life ship dumpers. It is high time that the Greek Government holds its shipping industry accountable for practices that put peoples’ lives and the environment in danger."
Ingvild Jenssen - Policy Director - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

The MINERAL WATER was sold to Kabir Steel by Belgian ship owner CMB N.V. S.A. and its wholly-owned Belgian subsidiary Bocimar International with the help of cash buyer Western Overseas. CMB is an Antwerp-based company specialised in bulk carriers. It is controlled by the well-known Saverys family who also holds major stakes in other leading Belgian ship-owning companies, Exmar, Euronav and Delphis. The MINERAL WATER swapped its Belgian flag to that of Niue just weeks before hitting the beach in Chittagong mid-February. Niue, a Pacific island with around 2000 inhabitants, is on the European Union’s blacklist of the world’s 30 worst-offending tax havens and has recently come up as a new low-cost flag of convenience for end-of-life vessels.

"The example of the CMB vessel shows how easy it is for ship owners to circumvent any regulation based on flag state jurisdiction. Flag of convenience states such as Niue are not likely to strictly enforce or even ratify international law. The real ship-owning nations such as Belgium cannot continue to rely on tax havens and substandard shipbreaking countries to ensure sustainable ship recycling. At the European level a financial incentive to ensure better practices is being discussed – Belgium and other Member States should support this."
Ingvild Jenssen - Policy Director - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

The Platform is calling upon the European Union, where more than 40% of the world fleet is controlled, to ensure that ship owners cannot further exploit underpaid workers exposed to extremely dangerous working conditions and the absence of properly enforced environmental protection standards.

 

 

NOTES

 

[1] As reported by the NGO Shipbreaking Platform , private security guards employed by Kabir Steel shipbreaking, injured at least seven workers and locals when they gathered at the yard’s gate in protest of the death of Summon. The young man had been killed when he was hit by a truck transporting material from the shipbreaking yard. The yard management had first refused responsibility for the accident as the truck was owned by another company. The Platform and its local member organisations as well as Bangladeshi and international trade unions have strongly criticized the use of violence against protestors. They have both called on Kabir Steel to pay compensation owed to the victim’s family, and on the police and judiciary to properly and independently investigate the case to bring those responsible to justice. Meanwhile, Kabir has paid compensation to the victim’s family and those injured by bullets.

 

[2] For more information on the conditions at the shipbreaking yards in Chittagong, see short video by National Geographic.

 

 

One of the victims, worker Afzal, who died at Kabir Steel mill in 2014

 

 

Platform publishes South Asia Quarterly Update #9

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The NGO Shipbreaking Platform publishes today the ninth South Asia Quarterly Update, a briefing paper in which it informs about the shipbreaking industry in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Providing an overview of vessels broken on the beaches of South Asia, accidents, recent on-the-ground, legislative and political developments including our activities in South Asia, we aim to inform the public about the negative impacts of substandard shipbreaking practices as well as positive steps aimed at the realisation of environmental justice and the protection of workers’ rights.

 

In this edition you will find out more about several accidents in the shipbreaking yards in Bangladesh and a revived High Court order, the effects of the European Union standard for sustainable ship recycling, and the story of the illegal export of the Horizon Trader. In the first quarter of 2016, 239 large commercial vessels were sold for breaking, 189 of these were beached in South Asia. So far this year at least seven workers have lost their lives at the shipbreaking yards in Bangladesh.

 

Platform News – Violence reaches new level: shipbreaking yard’s private security personnel fire shots and injure seven people

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In the morning of 28 March, shipbreaking worker Sumon was killed on a private road inside Kabir Steel yard located North of Bangladesh’s major port city, Chittagong. His brother, who works at the yard as well, was seriously injured in the same accident. According to local sources, Sumon was run over by a truck transporting steel plates from the yard. When a local government representative reached the yard to claim the legal compensation owed to the victim’s family, the yard management refused to take responsibility for the accident with the argument that the truck was owned and operated by another company.

 

At around 11 a.m., locals together with family members gathered outside the yard in protest and blocked traffic on the highway. They claimed, according to the English daily newspaper The Daily Star that the company was withholding Sumon’s body inside the yard. The private security personnel employed by the shipbreaking yard started shooting at the group. According to Bangladeshi newspapers, one of Kabir Steel’s guards injured seven people.

"This course of action represents unnecessary use of violence against unarmed protestors and it shows the climate of violence surrounding the shipbreaking yards. Locals and workers protesting the conditions in the yards obviously put their lives in danger in an atmosphere in which shipbreaking yards feel entitled to shoot at people."
Patrizia Heidegger - Executive Director - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

Tariqul Islam of the local police station said that the accused security guards were detained. Moreover, the Financial Express Bangladesh reported that the police seized a gun and several rounds of bullets at the yard.

"The incident shows how non-transparent this industry is. The NGO Shipbreaking Platform and its local members now expect that the police investigates this case properly. We demand rightful punishment of those responsible for the blood shed."
Rizwana Hasan - Chief Executive - Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA)
"We expect that the family of the dead worker receives its due compensation as fast as possible instead of being caught up in an argument between two companies pushing away responsibility."
Muhammed Ali Shahin - Bangladesh Coordinator - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

So far, the compensation claim has not been settled.

 

Kabir Steel’s shipbreaking yard is part of the large industrial conglomerate of Kabir Group of Industries. The NGO Shipbreaking Platform has documented several severe and fatal accidents in the yard over the last years. In 2014 alone, when the yard had the highest recorded number of accidents amongst all Bangladeshi shipbreakers, at least 2 workers were killed and six more severely injured at Kabir Steel’s shipbreaking yard and re-rolling mill in four different accidents. This included the case of three workers who suffered severe burn wounds all over their bodies after an explosion on a Norwegian-owned oil tanker used by Teekay Corporation. In another accident in the same yard, on 30 March 2016, cutter helper Md. Abdus Salam fell down from a beached vessel due to the lack of safety measures at work. As a result, he suffered serious injuries including several fractures in his arms and legs.

"The sad accidents record is proof of the fact that Kabir Steel does not ensure safer working conditions, does not comply with proper safety procedures, uses untrained workers, lacks proper infrastructure to guarantee occupational health and safety and does not organise the legally binding Safety Committee at yard level."
Repon Chowdhury - Executive Director - Bangladesh Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Foundation (OSHE)

The Platform welcomes that IndustriAll Global Union has sent a letter to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh. It joins the trade union’s call for proper investigation and for the rightful punishment of both negligent yard owners and of security guards for the bodily assault of protestors.

 

Sumon and the other workers at Kabir Steel have been hired to dismantle the Greek-owned and Greek-flagged bulk carrier Alpha Friendship. The Athens-based owner Alpha Tankers obviously does not take care of responsible ship recycling. The Platform will take up this case to illustrate the necessity for the EU and its Member States to better regulate ship owners’ sub-standard shipbreaking practices.

 

Click here to access IndustriALL’s press release on the incident.

Click here to access The Daily Star's article covering the incident.

 

Chittagong Medical College Hospital. Copyrights: NGO Shipbreaking Platform, 2014

 

 

Press Release – NGO publishes 2015 list of all ships dismantled worldwide

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Ship owners found to be irresponsible: data on shipbreaking practices in 2015 reveal appalling record

 

Read our country-specific press releases:
Belgium and France | Brazil and Portugal | Germany | Greece | Italy | Japan |  Spain

Read what the North Sea Foundation wrote (in Dutch)
Read what the Bellona Foundation wrote (in Norwegian)

Click here to download the list of all ships dismantled worldwide in 2015

 

Ignoring industry leaders and human rights and environmental organisations, ship owners continue to profit from dangerous and dirty shipbreaking practices on South Asian beaches in 2015, according to new data released today by the NGO Shipbreaking Platform. 768 large ocean-going vessels were sold to the scrap yards last year. 469 were broken on the beaches of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh where shipbreaking yards do not provide fundamental labour rights, ignore international waste trade law, and fail to respect international environmental protection standards.

 

One of many accidents that killed or maimed shipbreaking workers last year was a major gas explosion at Shitol Enterprise, a shipbreaking yard in Bangladesh. A gas cylinder burst killed four workers immediately and severely injured another four. The vessel they were breaking was sold to Shitol Enterprise by the Greek shipping company Universal Ship Management Corporation, and sailed under the flag of St. Kitts and Nevis, a typical low-cost, end-of-life flag of convenience. Greek owners by far outstripped ship owners of other nationalities by having sold the most end-of-life vessels to dirty and dangerous shipbreaking sites in South Asia, and for the first time in many years, Bangladesh was the world’s number one destination for scrap ships.

 

DUMPERS 2015 - examples of particularly bad practices

 

The worst dumper prize goes to IDAN OFER, son of shipping magnate Sammy Ofer. Idan Ofer owns QUANTUM PACIFIC GROUP and has a controlling stake in Israel's largest publicly traded company, ISRAEL CORPORATION. Combined, these shipping companies sold the highest number of vessels for substandard breaking operations in 2015: nine in total, with six of them going to Bangladesh, where conditions are known to be worst.

 

GREEK SHIP OWNERS sold the most ships to South Asian shipbreaking yards in 2015, with 87 ships in total. Since the NGO Shipbreaking Platform started to compile data on world-wide ship dismantling practices in 2009, Greek shipping companies have unceasingly topped the list of owners that opt for dirty and dangerous shipbreaking. Backed by the Greek government, they continue to refuse liability for the damage done to workers and the environment in South Asia.

 

Despite being part of several sustainable shipping initiatives and boosting environmentally friendly technologies on-board operational ships, well-known South Korean shipping companies such as HYUNDAI and HANJIN; Taiwanese container giant EVERGREEN; and Japanese companies including MOL, K-LINE and the TOYOTA owned TOYOFUJI sold vessels for breaking in Bangladesh in clear contradiction of their own company values and standards. SOUTH KOREAN SHIP OWNERS sold 27 ships exclusively to South Asia, mostly to Bangladesh. Also JAPANESE SHIP OWNERS sold exclusively to South Asia, many to Bangladesh.

 

German shipping company NORDDEUTSCHE VERMÖGEN sold three vessels to the beaches of India and Bangladesh – the Northern Glance, the Northern Diversity and the Northern Vitality. The latter had been arrested in the port of Wilhelmshaven in Germany in 2012 to prevent an imminent illegal export to India. Despite awareness of the poor conditions at the South Asian shipbreaking yards NORDDEUTSCHE VERMÖGEN did not care about their vessels hitting the beaches, one of which went to Bangladesh - no lesson learnt. See our latest blog-post on the case here.

 

Polish government-owned POLSTEAM sold ships to Bangladesh and Pakistan – and refused to take responsibility for their own actions following an alert sent by the NGO Shipbreaking Platform. Worse, the Polish government has likewise not acted.

 

"Despite a lot of international attention on the problems of shipbreaking on the beaches of South Asia, the statistics for 2015 show that the vast majority of ship owners have not changed their practice for the better. On the contrary, most have opted for one of the worst shipbreaking destination in the world – Bangladesh, where children are still illegally exploited to break ships manually on tidal mudflats. [1] "
Patrizia Heidegger - Executive Director - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

Ship owners sell their vessels to South Asian yards via cash-buyers, companies that specialise in the trade of end-of-life tonnage. Cash-buyers promise ship owners not only the highest price, but also to rid them of their responsibility to properly deal with the end-of-life management of their ships. [2] Ships contain large amounts of toxic materials such as oil sludge, asbestos and paints laden with heavy metals and would yield less profit at end-of-life if sold to a recycling facility that firmly follows environmental and occupational health and safety standards.

 

One sign of hope, is a group of leading ship owners that have vowed to take responsibility for clean and safe end-of-life management and demonstrate that alternatives are available. The European Union is also expected to publish a list of approved ship recycling facilities worldwide by the end of 2016. This will satisfy the call from those that demand better practices, including investors such as ABN-Amro and cargo owners such as H&M, Stora Enso and Phillips – none of whom wish to be associated with polluting and harmful end-of-life management of old ships. While, only vessels sailing under an EU flag will be legally obliged to use an EU approved recycling facility, any ship owner can nevertheless opt for an EU approved facility for its non-EU flagged ships on a voluntary basis. The NGO Shipbreaking Platform therefore demands that shipping companies and their investors only allow their vessels to go to yards listed on the EU list. Moreover, governments of the world’s leading maritime nations, such as Greece and Germany, must likewise take steps to ensure national use of the EU list. Introducing a financial incentive based on the polluter pays principle would go a far way in pushing irresponsible ship owners towards sustainable ship recycling. [3]

 

For detailed figures and analysis on ships dismantled in 2015, click here.
For background information on global ship dismantling practices, click here.

 

 

NOTES

 

[1] Last year, in Bangladesh alone, 16 workers lost their lives in explosions, by falling from heights or by being crushed by falling steel plates. At least 22 workers were seriously injured, and some of them are still awaiting proper medical treatment. Many more workers became ill from inhaling asbestos fibres and toxic fumes such as those released when cutting the ships with blow torches. According to the ILO and leading trade unions, shipbreaking on the beaches of South Asia is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. Pakistani shipbreaking yards in Gadani also lack proper infrastructure and facilities to protect workers or to properly manage the hazardous wastes found on-board ships. Despite reported improvements in four Indian yards that have received a Statement of Compliance with the requirements of the International Maritime Organisation’s Hong Kong Convention from Japanese classification society ClassNK, concerns persist related to the continued operations in unprotected tidal waters; the lack of proper accommodation and medical facilities for workers; and the lack of proper downstream waste management. Six workers died in accidents at shipbreaking yards in India last year, however, the authorities do not disclose the accident record to the public. Yards in other parts of the world, are not necessarily all operating in line with standards that ensure sustainable ship recycling. While many ship recyclers will seek to have their facility listed on the EU list, only those that comply with the requirements and do not use unprotected beaches and coastal areas causing pollution of the marine environment, will be approved.

 

[2] Cash-buyers, such as GMS and Wirana, are responsible for almost all sales to substandard yards in South Asia. For more on the role of cash-buyers and especially their use of Flags of Convenience at end-of-life, see our report: What a difference a flag makes. Why ship owners’ responsibility to ensure sustainable ship recycling needs to go beyond flag state jurisdiction (2015).

 

[3] Possibilities for introducing a financial incentive for safe and clean ship recycling is being discussed at the European level. The idea is that all ships entering European waters will need to hold a ‘ship recycling licence’. Money set aside would only be paid back to the last ship owner upon proof that the ship has been recycled in a safe and environmentally friendly way.

 

 

Platform publishes South Asia Quarterly Update #8

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The NGO Shipbreaking Platform publishes today the eighth South Asia Quarterly Update, a briefing paper in which it informs about the shipbreaking industry in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Providing an overview of vessels broken on the beaches of South Asia, accidents, recent on-the-ground, legislative and political developments including our activities in South Asia we aim to inform the public about the negative impacts of substandard shipbreaking practices as well as positive steps aimed at the realisation of environmental justice and the protection of workers’ rights.

 

In this edition you will find out about the appalling accident record of the shipbreaking yards in Bangladesh in 2015.Very unfortunately, the New Year has already seen its first fatal accident in the shipbreaking yards of Chittagong. Our Bangladeshi member organisation OSHE Foundation recently published a Bengali language documentary highlighting some of our major concerns regarding occupation health and safety in the yards. In the last quarter of 2015, 150 large commercial vessels were sold for breaking, 104 of these were beached in South Asia.

 

Representatives of Platform member organization BILS visit workers severely injured at Shitol Enterprise at the Chittagong Medical College Hospital