Platform News – Surge of fatal accidents in Chittagong

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 – Clean Shipping Coalition: Maersk undermines its reputation with plan to circumvent ship recycling law

The Clean Shipping Coalition criticises container ship giant Maersk for its statement that is considers to flag out end-of-life vessels from the Danish or other European registries in order to circumvent the European Ship Recycling Regulation. The Clean Shipping Coalition, a global coalition of nine organisations promoting sustainable shipping, argues that Maersk’s move “seriously undermines its credibility as a responsible ship operator”.

"Maersk is a European company and should abide by European laws. Suggesting that it might use a flag of convenience to escape EU ship breaking rules designed to protect the environment and worker safety is scandalous, and will seriously undermine its credibility as a responsible ship owner and operator."
John Maggs - Senior Policy Advisor at Seas At Risk and President of the Clean Shipping Coalition
"While Maersk supports innovation in reducing air polluting emissions, this move shows a cavalier attitude towards the environmental impacts of dismantling ships in the intertidal zone. Maersk needs to reverse course on practices that it previously denounced and that would never be allowed in Europe."
Sotiris Raptis - Shipping Officer - Transport & Environment

Maersk has recently decided to go back to India to have its old ships scrapped in yards that operate breaking activities in the intertidal zone of the beach. These yards will not be listed by the European Commission as they cannot comply with the requirements under the European Ship Recycling Regulation.

"Maersk has sent a clear signal: either European environmental regulation accommodates for its practices in India, or the world’s largest ship owner will just ignore the Ship Recycling Regulation by flagging out. The threat to resort to non-European flags amounts to blackmailing law makers who seek to ensure that European ship owners have to maintain European standards in their business activities around the world."
Patrizia Heidegger - Executive Director - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

Click here to access the Clean Shipping Coalition's press release.

 

Platform News – Norway’s largest Pension Fund highlights human rights and environmental risks related to shipbreaking in South Asia

KLP, Norway’s largest pension fund [1], commissioned the International Law and Policy Institute (ILPI) [2] to write a report on the human rights and environmental risks related to the current practice of dismantling end-of-life ships on intertidal beaches. The report entitled Shipbreaking practices in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. An investor perspective on the human rights and environmental impacts of beaching was released last week and examines the shipbreaking practices in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan in light of internationally recognised frameworks for responsible business conduct, as well as the practice of the Council on Ethics for the Norwegian Governmental Pension Fund.

 

The report argues that the responsibility of companies operating in the global market place does not stop at its own doorstep, but extends to adverse human rights impacts in the entire value chain. KLP joins a number of other investors and clients of shipping [3] that increasingly raise concerns over the current conditions of the shipbreaking industry in South Asia.

"The dismantling of ships using the ‘beaching’ method as it is practiced on the beaches of South Asia is dangerous for people and the environment."
Jeanett Bergan - Head of responsible investment - KLP

International standards by which corporate responsibility can be measured include the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights (UNGP). Companies are required to carry out a risk-based due diligence with respect to the human rights as well as environmental impact of their business activities, including their value chain.

 

In the report’s foreword, CEO of KLP, Håvard Gulbrandsen, states: “We hope that the report can help raise awareness of the severe human and environmental risks beaching can entail for shipping industry companies, their customers, and also for other investors. […] KLP hopes to encourage investors to work together to engage with companies on improving labour and environmental conditions. The shipping industry is and will be an important part of Norwegian investors' portfolios for the foreseeable future. KLP's goal is to work towards a future where responsible shipbreaking is the industry standard.”

 

 

NOTES

 

[1] KLP is Norway's largest life insurance company. Kommunal Landspensjonskasse (KLP) delivers financial and insurance services to the public sector, enterprises associated with the public sector and their employees.

 

[2] International Law and Policy Institute (ILPI) is an independent institute focusing on good governance, peace and conflict, and international law. Their approach to solving global challenges is based on the integration of law and social sciences and on bridging the gap between academia and politics. They provide research, analysis, policy advice, process support and training to clients ranging from private companies and institutions to governments and international organisations.

 

[3] Major companies such as H&M, Tetra Laval, ABB, Philips, Volvo and Volkswagen do not want to be associated with substandard shipbreaking practices in South Asia and have asked their forwarders – the shipping companies they use to transport their goods – to adopt sustainable ship recycling policies. For more information click here.

 

 

Platform News – NGO Shipbreaking Platform presents Annual Report 2015

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.

 

 

Platform News – UN Special Rapporteur concerned about German shipbreaking practices

In a written submission to the German Government, UN Special Rapporteur Baskut Tuncak has expressed serious concerns related to the substandard shipbreaking practices of German ship owners, in particular fatalities and toxic chemical exposure of workers and the local population. The Special Rapporteur on the implications for human rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes has raised shipbreaking as one example where German companies face challenges to prevent harm caused by toxic and hazardous substances.

 

German ship owners operate the world’s third largest merchant fleet (in terms of number of vessels), and have been linked to fatalities and toxic chemical exposure of workers and local populations including children, who dismantle end-of-life ships in deadly conditions. In 2014, German ship owners sold a record high 95% of their end-of-life tonnage for substandard breaking on the beaches of South Asia,” he writes.

 

The Special Rapporteur argues that the preparation of the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights, which is currently being developed under the lead of the German Foreign Office, provides an opportunity to address the challenges related to the protection of human rights in the business sphere. He calls on the Government to ensure that companies reduce the use of hazardous substances and prevent double standards. Moreover, he calls on the German Government “to create the much needed incentives and frameworks for German businesses to foster a positive human rights record”. The Special Rapporteur undertook an official country visit to Germany late in 2015, where he met with key stakeholders on the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights.

"We could not agree more with the Special Rapporteur’s conclusions. German ship owners need to take responsibility for sustainable recycling and stop the dumping of toxic end-of-life vessels via cash buyers in developing countries. When it comes to end-of-life management, human rights due diligence translates into the ship owners’ responsibility to prevent environmental pollution and the workers’ exposure to hazardous substances."
Patrizia Heidegger - Executive Director - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

The NGO Shipbreaking Platform calls on the German Government to raise the issue with the shipping community and to address their unacceptable practices in the National Action Plan. In 2015 alone, 23 large commercial vessels from Germany ended up in substandard shipbreaking yards, making German ship owners the fifth biggest dumpers globally. Several German ships were broken down in Bangladesh where environmental pollution, hazardous waste dumping and working conditions are the worst. The Platform has been able to link fatal and severe accidents in Indian and Bangladeshi shipbreaking yards to the demolition of German vessels. The latest severe accident related to a German ship owner concerns Hamburg-based ship owner Neu Seeschiffahrt GmbH who sold its end-of-life ore carrier RENATE N (IMO 9006851) to Seiko Steel / Darussalam Enterprise with the help of cash buyer Wirana this February. Mominul, an only 20 years old worker, was severely injured when he fell from great heights working without adequate protection gear. He will remain disabled for the rest of his life. The yard management has not paid for the necessary operation only available in a specialised hospital.

 

Apart from Germany’s largest ship owner Hapag Lloyd, which has a progressive ship recycling policy, the rest of the ship-owning community has remained shamefully inactive with regards to finding sustainable and safe solutions to the issue.

 

More information from the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre.

 

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 (European Community Shipowners’ Association). Late in April, the European ship owners had invited government representatives from France, Germany and Belgium, as well as the European Commission to a promotional tour of Alang. NGOs, including the NGO Shipbreaking Platform and its Indian members, were not allowed to join the visit. Additionally, ECSA did not take the time to meet with the local trade union or the affected workers themselves.

"ECSA should be aware of the fact that environmental groups in India remain very critical with regards to the state of the shipbreaking industry in Alang. None of the yards in Alang have to undergo an environmental impact assessment (EIA) even when they open new yards or set up new infrastructure. EIAs are required by the law, and they would ensure a transparent process, including a proper assessment of the environmental impacts of the industry, as well as allow for civil society and local communities such as fishermen to express their views."
Ritwick Dutta - Advocate - Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE)

Indian NGOs are concerned about the negative environmental impact of dismantling end-of-life vessels in the intertidal zone where large amounts of debris, including toxic paint chips, are released, accumulate in the environment and are washed out by the tide. Moreover, the secondary cutting areas, which have been concreted in some of the beaching yards, show cracks in the surface, which raises doubts as to whether they can qualify as impermeable floors.

"The shipping industry often forgets that shipbreaking is not only about recycling, but also generates hazardous wastes that need to be disposed of in an environmentally sound manner. However, in India, the enforcement of hazardous waste rules is not very effective and systems for tracking waste are inadequate. This results in leakages of hazardous waste. There is also no incinerator available to destroy PCBs. Moreover: why should India be responsible for the disposal of hazardous wastes belonging to foreign ship owners?"
Satish Sinha - Toxic Links

Local environmental groups have submitted letters to the European Commission highlighting pollution caused by the beaching method, the lack of transparent and adequate downstream management, as well as labour rights violations. The letters sent by Gujarati NGOs Paryavaran Mitra and Machimar Adhikar Sangarsh Sangstha welcome that the EU has taken “a strong stance against the continued acceptance of breaking ships directly on the beach”, a practice which is banned in other parts of the world, as the local environmentalists argue.

 

ECSA and its members have found a convenient solution in referring to the Hong Kong Convention (HKC), an IMO Convention that is unlikely to enter into force any day soon: the HKC does not ban the beaching method and it does not introduce strict rules on downstream waste management. Moreover, anyone can hand out Statements of Compliance (SOCs) to shipbreaking yards claiming they operate in line with the convention. While some certifiers act with more diligence, others have started to offer cheaper and quicker certifications. It is expected that many yards will soon hold a HKC compliance certificate. This is a development similar to ISO 30.000, for which most yards in India and Bangladesh were quick to produce certificates, rendering the standard meaningless.

"We share the Gujarat-based NGOs’ concerns and demand that European ship owners do not settle for double standards. Ship owners should only use facilities that operate at a level which is accepted in the European Union. We and our Indian partners believe that the environment, local communities and workers in India deserve the same level of protection which is reflected in the European Ship Recycling Regulation."
Patrizia Heidegger - Executive Director - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

 

 

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

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

 

 

Press Release – European ship owners on promotional tour in Alang – environmental and human rights activists denied access

Tomorrow, European ship owners, government representatives of France, Germany and Belgium, and the European Commission will visit the Alang shipbreaking yards. Despite several indications that NGOs, including the NGO Shipbreaking Platform, would be part of the delegation, no NGO was invited to join in the end.

"We were clearly not welcome to join this visit. Critical civil society voices are not wanted in Alang – neither by ship owners, nor by the yards – this confirms the lack of transparency under which the yards in Alang operate."
Patrizia Heidegger - Executive Director - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

The delegation will also not meet trade union representatives or workers, and will only visit a selection of very few yards. The visit is organised by industry association ECSA (European Community Shipowners’ Association) that represents the interests of European ship owners. It is an attempt by both ship owners and certain yards in India to convince European policy makers that yards in Alang should be approved for the upcoming EU list of accepted ship recycling facilities. However, under the European Ship Recycling Regulation and the recently published technical guidelines on the requirements for ship recycling facilities, it is clear that beaching facilities do not qualify for the EU list.

 

With regards to tomorrow’s visit, local environmental groups have raised several concerns related to the deplorable working conditions, poor downstream waste management and continued pollution of the coastal waters in Alang.

"We share the Gujarat-based NGOs’ concerns and demand that European ship owners do not settle for double standards. European ship owners should only use facilities that operate at a level which is accepted in the European Union. The low-cost method of beaching will not feature on the EU list."
Patrizia Heidegger - Executive Director - NGO Shipbreaking Platform
Photo by Adam Cohn - www.adamcohn.com - Ship Breaking Detritus, Alang Shipyards, 2015

 

 

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

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 – Maersk end-of-life vessels to hit the beaches again. NGOs denounce container ship company’s step back to boost profits

The NGO Shipbreaking Platform and Transport and Environment (T&E) denounce Maersk Group’s decision to beach their end-of-life vessels in India [1]. The world’s leading container ship owner was previously guided by a progressive policy on ship recycling: its old vessels were dismantled in modern ship recycling facilities in either China, Turkey or Europe. Maersk’s decision to resort to the low-cost beaching method in India undermines European efforts to improve global conditions and the company’s position as industry leader.

"Maersk estimates they can realise an additional 1-2 million USD per ship by onselling to dismantling companies in India. It is hypocritical to see Maersk’s engagement in India presented proudly in the company’s CSR Report as one that aims at promoting higher standards. The fact is that they are already selling ships now to facilities that operate under conditions that would not be allowed in Europe - they admit themselves that the decision to go to India is primarily taken to make their financial report look better."
Patrizia Heidegger - Executive Director - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

The Platform had welcomed Maersk’s initial idea to set up a long-term cooperation with stakeholders in India provided that the objective was to set up a modern ship recycling facility in line with the safety and environmental requirements set out by the European Ship Recycling Regulation. However, the hasty decision to sell off end-of-life vessels to Alang shows that the decision is merely driven by profits. In times of low freight rates, Maersk intends to boost its profits by selling to yards that do not comply with European standards.

 

All yards in Alang dismantle vessels in the intertidal zone. This means that ships are broken in an unprotected marine environment – a method which has been identified at the international level as one that needs to be phased-out and that European law has banned. Environmental concerns remain linked to the abrasion of toxic paints during the beaching process and when cut-off blocks and hulls are winched further up the beach, oil spills and the release of slag and paints chips into the water, and the debris created by the gravity method when blocks crash down on the intertidal zone.

 

Moreover, working and living conditions in Alang remain inadequate. The lack of decent accommodation will not be solved before the first Maersk vessels arrives in Alang, nor will there be access to a proper hospital specialised in accidents and burn wounds. Maersk seems also to ignore the lacunae of proper downstream waste management in India: asbestos-containing materials can and are re-sold freely and PCBs cannot be properly destroyed. These issues are not dealt with by the Hong Kong Convention - for European Union approval these problems will however need to be addressed.

"The situation in Alang is not ‘fantastic’ as stated by Maersk. Similar conditions would not be accepted in Denmark, in any other shipping nation in Europe, or in the shipping hubs in East Asia. By selling ships to the Alang beach, Maersk is externalising costs for proper recycling and undermining the standard set by the European Ship Recycling Regulation. We expected visionary leadership from Maersk and that their CSR report boasted support for the setting up of a truly modern ship recycling facility in India. Instead they are rubberstamping practices that they previously denounced."
Patrizia Heidegger - Executive Director - NGO Shipbreaking Platform
Photo by Adam Cohn - www.adamcohn.com - Kicking an Oil Drum, Alang Shipyards, 2015

 

NOTE

 

[1] Maersk has stated in Danish press that several of their ships will be sold to the beach of Alang in the coming six months.