Tag: accident

Press Release – Platform publishes list of ships dismantled worldwide in 2016

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European ship owners top the list of global dumpers: the EU must do more to reverse this scandal

 

Read our country-specific press releases:
Brazil | Germany | Greece | Italy

 

The list of all ships dismantled around the world in 2016, which the NGO Shipbreaking Platform has compiled and analysed, shows no improvements of the shipping industry’s management of its end-of-life vessels. Far from it: the Platform today releases data that indicate an increase in the number of ships sold for polluting and unsafe shipbreaking on the beaches of South Asia. In 2016, a total of 668 vessels were broken on tidal beaches, that is as much as 87% of all tonnage dismantled globally.

"The shipping industry is nowhere close to ensuring sustainable ship recycling practices. Last year, we saw not only an increase in the market share for dangerous and dirty shipbreaking, but also a record-breaking number of EU-owned vessels on the South Asian beaches. A jaw-dropping 84% of all European end-of-life ships ended up in either India, Pakistan or Bangladesh. Beaching yards are not only well known for their failure to respect international environmental protection standards, but also for their disrespect of fundamental labour rights and international waste trade law."
Patrizia Heidegger - Executive Director - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

A higher number of ships beached means that workers, the environment and local communities in South Asia are exposed to ever increased hardship. 2016 saw the worst catastrophe in the history of the industry: on 1 November, at least 28 workers were killed instantly and more than 50 injured when an explosion and a massive fire shook a tanker beached in Gadani, Pakistan. The death toll in the Bangladeshi yards, which the Platform was able to document, reached 22 in 2016, with another 29 workers having suffered serious injuries. Whilst accident records in Indian shipbreaking yards are kept a secret, the Platform was informed of at least two fatal deaths in Alang.

 

DUMPERS 2016 - Worst 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 It may seem a big surprise for a country whose industry is proud of green technology and engineering solutions, but GERMANY is responsible for the worst shipbreaking practices amongst all shipping nations when one compares the size of its fleet to the number of ships broken irresponsibly. German owners, banks and ship funds had a staggering 97 ships rammed up on the beaches of South Asia out of a total of 99 vessels sold for demolition: 98% of all obsolete German ships ended up on a beach! That not being enough, close to 40% were broken in Bangladesh, where conditions are known to be the worst. Amongst the most irresponsible owners are Hansa Mare with 12 ships, Alpha Ship, F. Laeisz and Peter Doehle with 7 each, and Dr. Peters, König & Cie, Norddeutsche Vermögen and Rickmers with 6 each.

 

The German shipbreaking practices come with a high death toll. During the breaking period of the RENATE N. at Seiko shipbreaking in Chittagong, Bangladesh, three workers were killed and three more injured (see “Accidents” in the Platform’s South Asia Quarterly Update). The vessel owned by Neu Seeschifffahrt had been traded through cash buyer Wirana. Even the UN Special Rapporteur on Toxics and Human Rights expressed serious concerns in a submission to the German Government, criticizing the substandard practices of German owners. In November, another Bangladeshi worker was killed during the demolition of the only 10 year-old, loss-making container ship VIKOTRIA WULFF.

 

“It is not the first time that shipbreaking workers pay with their lives for the failed business practices of German ship owners and their ship funds. Due to numerous bankruptcies resulting from short-sighted and high-risk investment, insolvency administrators appointed by the courts quickly trade the unprofitable ships to the beaches of South Asia, and the bill for the shipping industry’s greed is paid by people and the environment”, comments Patrizia Heidegger.

 

GREECE was responsible for the highest absolute number of ships sold to South Asian shipbreaking yards in 2016: 104 ships in total. Since the Platform has started to compile data 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. A Greek ship beached in Pakistan in December 2016 caused the death of five workers in January when a fire broke out on the GAZ FOUNTAIN owned by Athens-based Naftomar.

 

The worst corporate dumper prize goes to the UK-based ZODIAC. The company is operated out of London and owned by Eyal Ofer, son of late shipping magnate Sammy Ofer. Zodiac alone has sold 12 ships for breaking on the beaches in 2016, mostly to Bangladesh, and the company has been linked to severe accidents. During the demolition of Ofer’s ship SNOWDON, beached in Pakistan in October, a worker was killed in January this year. Eyal’s brother Idan, owner of the QUANTUM PACIFIC GROUP and holder of a controlling stake in the ISRAEL CORPORATION, received the worst dumper award in 2015 for selling most of his end-of-life vessels to Bangladesh breakers – a more than dubious practice for a family that wants to be known for its philanthropy.

 

"It is scandalous that the burden to deal with Europe’s profit-greedy shipbuilding boom is shifted to communities and workers in South Asia: first the shipping industry creates a large overcapacity on the market, and then it fails to find responsible solutions for its obsolete ships."
Patrizia Heidegger - Executive Director - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

In 2016, also Maersk decided to take a U-turn on its previously progressive ship recycling policy: the Danish container ship giant decided to go back to the shipbreaking beaches of India where it is offered higher prices for its unwanted ships. Being one of the catalysts of the overcapacity on the shipping market itself, Maersk has to get rid of 75 – 100 ships in the coming years.

"This move to boost profits does not only help to rubberstamp the beaching method, but, very regrettably, it is also stalling real progress and innovation in India to move ship recycling to the next level – off the beach – to modern ship recycling facilities."
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.

 

The data compiled by the Platform also show that ship owners continue to shield themselves from responsibility through the use of cash buyers such as GMS and Wirana. These scrap dealers reflag end-of-life vessels to last-voyage flags of convenience, such as Palau, Comoros and St Kitts and Nevis, and sell them off for the highest price offered by the worst yards.

"Looking at the flags used at end-of-life, it is clear that legislation based on flag state jurisdiction will not be able to bring substantial change to the current practices: who believes that a non-compliant flag and a cash buyer benefitting from the worst conditions will enforce improvements in shipbreaking yards? The global shipbreaking crisis can only be solved through measures that go beyond flag state jurisdiction. That is why we call on the EU to demand a ship recycling licence from all vessels visiting EU ports."
Ingvild Jenssen - Policy Director - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

In 2017, the EU will publish a list of ship recycling facilities around the world that comply with high standards for environmental protection and workers’ safety. The list will be the first of its kind and an important reference point for sustainable ship recycling. German container line Hapag-Lloyd has already committed its end-of-life ships off the beach, and has announced that it will only use EU listed facilities. A financial incentive affecting ships trading with the EU is however needed to ensure that irresponsible ship owners are directed towards the facilities listed as approved by the EU. A proposed Ship Recycling Licence scheme is now being discussed. The many scandals involving European shipping companies are also a driver behind the strong interest that various financial institutions have started to show in ship recycling: to ensure responsible business practices some are now setting criteria for shipping companies they finance while looking at the EU Ship Recycling Regulation for guidance.

 

For the list of all ships dismantled worldwide in 2016, click here.
For detailed figures and analysis on ships dismantled in 2016, click here.
For background information on global ship dismantling practices, click here.

 

 

 

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

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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 shipbreaking in South Asia. Spanish daily newspaper El Pais and international news channel Al Jazeera are the first to make this reporting available.

 

Isacco Chiaf, graphic designer, and Tomaso Clavarino, journalist and photographer, are behind this outstanding project, which was funded by the European Journalism Centre. The two Italians 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.

 

"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. Armed guards were securing the entry to the yards and our every move was tracked. The local police is clearly enmeshed with the ship breakers that don’t want their business practices revealed. 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."
Tomaso Clavarino - Journalist and Photographer

The multimedia platform highlights the issues of child labour, environmental pollution and lack of healthy and safe working and living conditions. Maps and graphs, based on the NGO Shipbreaking Platform’s data, focus on the practices of the shipping industry such as the use of flags of convenience and cases of illegal trafficking. Interviews with Patrizia Heidegger, the Platform’s executive director, and Muhammed Ali (Shahin), the Platform’s coordinator in Bangladesh, are also featured.

 

Platform News – Fire on Greek ship raises death toll in Pakistan

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Another catastrophic fire shakes Gadani shipbreaking yards

 

Five more shipbreaking workers were killed and one injured in yet another fire that took place in the shipbreaking yards of Gadani, Pakistan, yesterday morning. The deadly fire broke out on board of the beached vessel GAZ FOUNTAIN (IMO 8406054). The LPG tanker’s last beneficial owner was the Greek shipping line Naftomar. The vessel’s name was changed to RAIN and its Panama flag swapped for the end-of-life flag Comoros just before the last voyage – a clear indicator of the use of a cash buyer. Shipping newspaper TradeWinds asked cash buyer Wirana for a comment in December, when a first fire had occurred on the same ship. Wirana, one of the world’s largest firms specialised in end-of-life deals, lists Naftomar as a client.

 

The accident occurred at yard n° 60, owned by Rizwan Diwan Farooq, the former president of the Pakistan Ship Breakers’ Association. According to The Dawn [1], a leading daily newspaper, Farooq was detained after having fled the yard. The newspaper reported that the fire broke out due to a “chemical foam” present in the ship. The local Environment Department said that all combustibles should have been removed before the cutting process started and that the accident signalled serious neglect. No worker was injured in the earlier fire that had broken out on the vessel on 21 December; however, that incident did not result in any further safety measures that could have prevented yesterday’s deadly accident. According to another media source, the bodies of Saeed Khan, Alif Khan, Muhammad Saeed, Sabir and Naimat were sent to their native town of Peshawar on the expense of the victim’s families [2].

"Less than three months after the worst explosion in the history of shipbreaking shook Gadani, five more men are dead. We wonder how many lives must be lost before the Government cracks down on the appalling working conditions. It is shameful for both the ship owner, Naftomar, and the cash buyer to benefit from a situation in which workers’ lives are risked to maximise profits. We ask ship owners to ensure that their end-of-life ships are dismantled in clean and safe ship recycling facilities off the beach."
Patrizia Heidegger - Executive Director - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

Cash buyers such as GMS and Wirana promote their so-called “green” ship recycling services, but both continue to trade vessels to the world’s worst shipbreaking yards. The Platform has shown that these cash buyers sell old ship to yards with appalling accident records, and facilitate dubious deals such as the illegal export of the “North Sea Producer” from the UK to Bangladesh.

 

On 1 November 2016, at least 27 workers were killed and 58 injured in an explosion on an oil tanker beached at yard n° 54 at Gadani. Four more workers are still missing as their families have not been able to find their bodies in the mortuary. After the catastrophe, the Government stopped work at the shipbreaking yards, and several key persons of the industry were arrested. However, the yards were soon allowed to return to business as usual, and the Government has yet to prove that it will ensure that the Pakistan shipbreaking industry is moved to industrial platforms that can provide necessary safety measures for workers and prevent pollution of the coastal environment.

 

On 8 January, another worker, the 24 year old Dilshaad, was killed in a separate incident, when a lifeboat crashed down from the SNOWDON (IMO 9112313) [3]. The beached ship’s last beneficial owner was the Zodiac Group, a Monaco and London-based shipping company owned by the Ofer family. Over the last years, the Platform has been able to link severe accidents in Bangladesh to Zodiac vessels being broken on the beach.

 

In November, Platform member organisation Centre of the Rule of Law, Islamabad (CRoLI), filed a petition in the courts to press for further action and the release of information to which the Government of Pakistan and the Government of the province of Balochistan, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Labour department have to reply to. As a result, the Prime Minister has ordered an inquiry. The Government’s report is yet to be published.

"The death of 33 workers in these last months must be a wake-up call for the Pakistan Government. There is growing awareness amongst ship owners. In particular, investors, shipping banks and the clients of the shipping industry are growing weary of such gruesome accidents. If Pakistan does not want to lose this industry, the Government needs to ensure it is shifted to industrial sites off the beach."
Patrizia Heidegger - Executive Director - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

The NGO Shipbreaking Platform is calling for the closure of the Gadani beaching yards and for a move of the industry off the beach to areas that are under strict control, using alternative and safer methods in docks or along piers.

© Łukasz Wypior - Gadani, Pakistan, 2016

 

NOTES

 

[1] See article in The Dawn

 

[2] See article.

 

[3] See article in the Dawn.

 

 

 

Platform News – No more dead workers!

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Platform calls for responsible solution for Berge Stahl, flag ship of the Port of Rotterdam

 

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 calls on the ship owner, Berge Bulk, and the Dutch authorities to ensure the responsible recycling of the 30 year old vessel. Berge Bulk, founded and lead by James Marshall and headquartered in Singapore, is one of the world’s largest operators of dry bulkers and has recently sold several of its end-of-life ships to substandard shipbreaking yards on the beaches of South Asia. At least two workers were killed and four more injured at Seiko Steel shipbreaking yard in Bangladesh earlier this year while the bulker company’s Berge Matterhorn was under demolition there. The Berge Stahl has called at Rotterdam’s ore terminal 249 times over the last 25 years. It was for a long time the largest dry bulk vessel in the world and considered to be the Port of Rotterdam’s unofficial ‘flag ship’. The Port of Rotterdam bid farewell to its iconic ship last week.

"Both the Port of Rotterdam and the Dutch authorities must have an interest in the responsible recycling of its ‘flag ship’ that made many in the port proud and regularly attracted fans. We call on Berge Bulk, a company so far known for irresponsible shipbreaking practices with fatal consequences to see this as an opportunity to review its scrapping practices and commit to responsible recycling. For a company that claims that ‘sustainability is at the core of everything we do’ and promises ‘people first’ and ‘clean planet’, ship recycling in a modern facility off the beach is mandatory. Dead workers and a polluted environment in Bangladesh do not go well together with the desired clean image."
Patrizia Heidegger - Executive Director - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

Apart from the fatal and severe accidents at the yard that was cutting down the Berge Matterhorn in Bangladesh, the Berge Vik and the Berge Prosperity ended up on the beaches of Gadani, Pakistan, in May last year. The destination has recently been shaken by the worst explosion in the history of the shipbreaking industry that resulted in at least 28 workers dead and more than 50 men severely injured.

 

Given the age of the vessel and the current low freight rates, experts assume that the Berge Stahl is soon going for demolition. When the vessel arrived in Rotterdam, the Platform alerted the Dutch authorities to ensure that the ship, which becomes hazardous waste under European and international environmental law once there is an intent to sell it for scrap, will not be illegally exported to the infamous shipbreaking beaches of India, Pakistan or Bangladesh. While the authorities have taken the case very seriously, Berge Bulk was able to reassure them that the vessel will continue to be operated and will go for dry docking in China. The Platform is now closely monitoring every move of the ship.

"The vessel’s story is a very good example of why a European Ship Recycling License is necessary to ensure responsible ship recycling in the future. The Berge Stahl has been coming to Rotterdam for 25 years on a very regular basis delivering iron ore for German steel producer Thyssen. If Berge Bulk had set aside funds over 25 years through a mandatory Ship Recycling License, the ship owner would now have a strong incentive to recycle it in an EU-approved facility in order to be able to recover the accumulated moneys – even though the CEO sits in Singapore and could easily circumvent the European Ship Recycling Regulation by swapping the ship’s current flag, Isle of Man, to one outside the EU. We call on European lawmakers to effectively regulate the end-of-life fate of ships that have such close ties to EU trade by supporting financial incentives such as the Ship Recycling License."
Ingvild Jenssen - Policy Director - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

Platform News – Worker killed in yard breaking German-owned container ship “Viktoria Wulff”

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On 4 December, worker Shah Jahan was killed on the spot at Arefin shipbreaking yard in Chittagong, Bangladesh, where German container ship “Viktoria Wulff” (IMO 9252101) is currently being dismantled on the beach. The 35-year old man, who was made to work without any safety measures, was struck on the head by a heavy iron piece.

 

German ship owner Wulff went bankrupt in August and the insolvency administrator is currently selling off the company’s remaining vessels. The “Viktoria Wulff” became the youngest container ship to be sold for demolition at an age of only 10 years without a previous accident.

"The story of the ‘Viktoria Wulff’ is characteristic for the failed business practices of German KG ship owners as well as ship funds. Nearly 600 ships have been sold due to insolvencies and financial problems since 2008, many of which ended up on the South Asian beaches. The bill for the ship owners’ and investors’ greed for profit is paid by workers and the environment in destinations like Bangladesh, where ships end up without any consideration of the human and environmental costs. It is a scandal that German liquidators, who are appointed by the courts, sell end-of-life ships to substandard breaking yards risking peoples’ lives through deals that are in clear breach of international and even domestic Bangladeshi law just to sort out the books for German ship owners."
Patrizia Heidegger- Executive Director - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

This is not the first case of fatal accidents in the shipbreaking yards of South Asia that the Platform was able to link to bankruptcies of German ship owners. Last year, the Platform, together with broadcaster NDR, revealed the case of the “King Justus” which was sold after the insolvency of König & Cie. A worker was killed breaking the ship on the beaches of Alang, India. At the time, the Environment Minister of North German state Lower Saxony also criticised NordLB, a bank with a major shipping portfolio overseen by the State Government, for its involvement in the financing of the ship.

 

In Bangladesh, fatal accidents in the shipbreaking industry remain very frequent, a situation that is widely known – but largely ignored – by the shipping industry, insolvency administrators selling off unwanted ships, as well as by the brokers and cash buyers setting up the end-of-life deals. German owners have had at least 32 old ships ramped up on the beaches of Bangladesh this year. With 83 end-of-life vessels sold to beaching yards in South Asia in 2016, German ship owners top the list of global dumpers together with Greek shipping lines. Several end-of-life sales were in direct breach of the European Waste Shipment Regulation that bans the export of hazardous waste to developing countries. The “Viktoria Wulff” was most probably traded through an anonymous cash buyer using the end-of-life flag St Kitts and Nevis before it was beached in Chittagong.

"Only in 2016, at least 19 shipbreaking workers were killed and another 11 severely injured in the Bangladesh yards. The accident rate remains shockingly high and is not coming down, despite the promises of the yard owners and cash buyers. The shipbreaking yards have to be moved away from the muddy beaches to clean and safe ship recycling facilities using quays and docks where cranes can be operated to safely move cut steel sections. Otherwise, the death count of beaching will not come to a halt."
Patrizia Heidegger- Executive Director - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

In an attempt to hide the accident, the yard management kept the body of Shah Jahan inside the premises, but fellow workers and locals rushed to the site and started demonstrating. The body was consequently sent to the morgue of the Chittagong Medical College Hospital. The following day, the worker was quickly buried without a post mortem. Platform member organisations in Bangladesh attended the funeral and now seek to support the victim’s relatives. The family and the yard owners have settled for a one-off payment and a monthly allowance to help them cover their living costs. However, money will not be able to replace Shah Jahan who leaves behind a wife and a young child.

 

Platform publishes South Asia Quarterly Update #11

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The NGO Shipbreaking Platform publishes today the eleventh 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 the catastrophic explosion that occurred in Pakistan in November and other tragic accidents in both the Bangladeshi and Indian ship breaking yards, our follow up of the North Sea Producer case as well as the ongoing investigations on the Pakistani blast. Last but not least, watch the video featuring our South Asian members who were interviewed in June by the European Economic and Social Committee.

 

Press Release – NGOs denounce dangerous working conditions after major explosion at Gadani shipbreaking yard in Pakistan killing at least 21 workers

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A major blast caused by several gas cylinder explosions onboard an oil production and storage tanker, beached at Gadani shipbreaking plot number 56, killed at least 21 workers yesterday. More than 60 workers are reported injured. It is feared that the death toll will increase as many workers are in a critical state suffering from severe burn injuries. More workers are missing and reportedly still remain stuck in the ship. 24 hours after the blast, the fire on the vessel is not put out.

© IndustriALL
"This terrific accident is a painful reminder of the dangerous working conditions at the shipbreaking yards in Gadani. Our thoughts go first and foremost to the victims, to their families and friends."
Ingvild Jenssen - Policy Director - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

The floating oil production tanker, ACES (IMO # 8021830), was sold to the Gadani shipbreaker by Jakarta-based PT Sinar Mentari Prima and was used in the Jabung Batanghari terminal owned by the Indonesian government company BPMIGAS and operated by PetroChina. The change of flag and name of the ship happened just weeks before it reached the beach of Gadani, which strongly point towards the use of a cash buyer for the sale of the end-of-life vessel. [1] Cash buyers, such as GMS and Wirana, are middle men that specialise in the selling of ships to the beaching yards in South Asia.

 

The Pakistan National Trade Union Federation (NTUF) has announced three days mourning and a strike at all yards. Workers participated to a rally in Gadani today, protesting against the deplorable working conditions and lack of government support to enforce safety and occupational health laws. [2] The Platform joins NTUF’s demand that all victims of the oil tanker explosion must receive adequate treatment for their injuries and that they, or their relatives, must receive financial compensation for their losses.

"Health and safety must come first. This terrible blast could have been avoided. There is a clear lack of infrastructure and equipment in Gadani to prevent such a deadly accident. Rescue operations are extremely difficult due to the lack of ambulances and firefighting equipment and because rapid access to the ship and the workers that are still stuck inside is extremely challenging."
Abid Qaiyum Suleri - Executive Director - Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI)

The NGO Shipbreaking Platform is calling for the closure of the Gadani beaching yards and for a move of the industry off the beach to areas that are under strict control, using alternative and safer methods in docks or along piers.

 

NOTES

 

[1] The flag was changed from Indonesia to Djibouti and the name from to FEDERAL I to ACES.

 

[2] Demanding their right to health and safety, NTUF also held a demonstration in Karachi on Sunday 30 October and called upon the federal and Balochistan governments to address the many breaches of international workers’ rights shipbreaking workers in Gadani are facing.

 

 

Platform publishes South Asia Quarterly Update #10

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The NGO Shipbreaking Platform publishes today the tenth 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 a dramatic surge of fatal accidents in the Bangladesh shipbreaking yards in May-June and the case study of young worker Mominul who was crippled while breaking European ships, our follow up of the Kabir Steel case with businesses in the yard's value chain as well as the UN Special Rapporteur's critique of German shipbreaking practices in substandard beaching yards. Last but not least, read our reaction to ECSA's so-called fact-finding report on their visit to the Alang shipbreaking yards.

 

Platform News – Surge of fatal accidents in Chittagong

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10 shipbreaking workers killed or severely injured in one month only

 

At least five shipbreaking workers have been killed and five more severely injured in a series of fatal accidents in Bangladesh in one month only. On 23 May, 21-year old Rubel died at Seiko Steel shipbreaking yard when he fell from great heights. He was working without safety equipment. Only six days later, on 29 May, 5 workers were struck by falling steel plates at the same yard which is also referred to as Darussalam or Madina Enterprise. One worker died on the spot, another in hospital. The three remaining workers were severely injured. In a third accident on 5 June at Laskar Shipbreaking, 35-year old Babul was crushed by a falling steel plate. On 19 June, two workers fell victim to a cylinder blast at Bhatiary Steel shipbreaking yard. One of the workers, Swapan, died in hospital three days later, while Mayching suffers from severe burn wounds in his face and upper body. He is struggling for his life. On 23 June, Samesh suffered severe injuries from a fall at Kabir Steel, a yard that was in the headlines in April after Kabir’s private security personnel shot at workers and locals protesting a fatal accident.

"This horrific series of accidents shows that occupational health and safety measures are absent. We are witnessing the same accidents again and again: workers are not equipped with safety harnesses and fall to their death. Others are crushed under heavy steel parts as a consequence of the dangerous gravity method by which cut steel sections are simply dropped into the sea and on the beach. Gas cylinders cannot be handled safely on the beach and explosions cause death and terrible burn wounds. As long as ships are scrapped on the beaches, workers will continue to die."
Muhammed Ali Shahin - Bangladesh Coordinator - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

As documented by the NGO Shipbreaking Platform before, European-owned vessels are often involved in these accidents. The two accidents at Seiko Steel occurred while the workers dismantled the German-owned vessel Renate N. (IMO 9006851). The demolition of the ship, whose last beneficial owner was the Hamburg-based Neu Seeschifffahrt, cost the life of three workers, and severely injured three additional workers. German shipping companies, except for industry leader Hapag Lloyd, are known to show little interest in the negative environmental and social impact of their shipbreaking practices. They simply sell their end-of-life vessels to beaching yards, including the worst in Bangladesh, with the help of cash buyers.

 

Recently, representatives of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), which is implementing a NORAD-funded project in Bangladesh to improve conditions in the shipbreaking yards, presented their work on assessing the social and economic impacts of the industry in Chittagong. Bangladesh members of the Platform assisted the presentation and are concerned that human rights abuses and pollution caused by the shipbreaking industry will be side-lined in the NORAD-funded study.

"Figures on GDP contribution, tax income and the amount of scrap steel imported through shipbreaking have always been used to legitimise this industry in Bangladesh. What is urgently needed is an honest cost-benefit analysis bringing environmental and human costs of beaching into the equation. What benefit remains once we deduct the costs for massive coastal pollution, the threatened livelihoods of local fisher folk, the accumulation of millions of tons of hazardous waste over decades, dead workers whose families are thrown back into extreme poverty, crippled young men without a future, occupational diseases, and illegal child labour keeping young workers out of school while exposing them so severe health risk?"
Patrizia Heidegger - Executive Director - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

The series of fatal accidents have sparked local resistance. On 10 June, the Shipbreaking Workers Trade Union Forum together with the Bangladesh Institute for Labour Studies (BILS) organised a human chain in Sitakunda, the shipbreaking area, to protest the recent deaths. BILS and the trade unionists met with the victims’ families and visited the graves of workers recently killed in shipbreaking. The Shipbreaking Workers Trade Union Forum also handed over a letter to the president of the Bangladesh Shipbreakers Association (BSBA) demanding proper investigation and the payment of compensation owed to the families of dead workers and those workers who suffered from injuries.

 

The Platform calls on the Government of Bangladesh to investigate these accidents and to sanction yards with regular fatal and severe accidents, such as Kabir Steel and Seiko Steel. Moreover, the Platform demands that European ship owners stop selling their end-of-life vessels to the beaching yards of Bangladesh. It is not acceptable to turn a blind eye on the precarious situation for the sake of maximum profit – European ship owners are fully aware of the dire conditions in Chittagong and more sustainable alternatives to the beaching method exist.

 

© BILS – Trade unionists visit grave of killed worker

 

 

Platform News – NGO Shipbreaking Platform presents Annual Report 2015

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The NGO Shipbreaking Platform presents its Annual Report 2015.

 

Check the new Annual Report to find out more about:

- our findings about global shipbreaking practices in 2015, including an overview of developments on the ground and statistics on the total number of ships dismantled in 2015;

- our activities and campaigns in 2015, including our policy campaign aimed at creating a legal framework that ensures the growth of clean and safe ship recycling globally; our corporate campaign calling upon ship owners, cargo owners, ship financers and recyclers to commit to sustainable ship recycling; and our work in the shipbreaking countries where there is a need for strengthened regulation and implementation of existing legislation to protect the workers and the environment;

- our wide outreach in the press and on social media;

- latest organisational developments.

 

Download the Platform’s Annual Report 2015 here, or send us an email to order a hard copy.