Tag: corporate

Press Release – Norwegian Central Bank excludes companies from government Pension Fund Global because of their beaching practices

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Evergreen and Precious Shipping loose investments from the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world

 

The Norwegian Central Bank announced today its decision to exclude ship owners Evergreen Marine Corporation, Precious Shipping, Korea Line Corporation and Thorensen Thai Agencies from the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) [1]. The exclusion is based on the companies’ poor management of their end-of-life ships and the sale of these for dirty and dangerous shipbreaking on the beaches of Gadani, Pakistan and Chittagong, Bangladesh.

 

The Norwegian Council on Ethics directs the Norwegian Central Bank, which manages the Government Pension Fund Global, on which companies should be excluded from investments in the fund, based on human rights and humanitarian violations, corruption and environmental degradation records. The GPFG is the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world, owning 1% of all investments worldwide, and the recommendations of the Council on Ethics weigh on other investors as indications of good financing.

"This is the first time that shipping companies have been excluded from an investment fund based on their poor shipbreaking practices, and coming from the largest investment fund in the world, it sends out a strong signal to all financial institutions to follow suit."
Ingvild Jenssen - Executive Director and Founder - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

The NGO Shipbreaking Platform has documented that in the last three years, 20 ships were sold by Evergreen, Korea Line, Precious Shipping and Thoresen Thai Agencies to beaching facilities in South Asia. The companies have been excluded from the GPFG because the beaching of their vessels cause severe environmental damage and serious human rights violations [2].

 

Whilst the exclusions so far are limited to companies that have sold their end-of-life vessels to be beached in Bangladesh and Pakistan, the reports clearly state that “to date, the Council on Ethics has not examined the way ships are broken up in India.” Many of the concerns raised by the Council also apply to the beaching practices in Alang, India. Indeed, as stated in their reports: “One particular problem with beaching is that shipbreaking takes place when the vessels are standing in mud and sand. As a result, the pollution leaches into the ground and is washed out with the tides. Even if arrangements were put in place at the beaching sites for the treatment of asbestos and PCBs, for example, the fundamental problem of containing and collecting the pollution would be impossible to resolve”. In light of this, the Platform encourages the Council on Ethics to also engage with companies that sell their ships for breaking on the beach of Alang, India.

 

According to the Council on Ethics, selling a vessel to a beaching yard “is a consequence of an active choice on the part of the company that owned the vessel to maximise its profit. In the Council’s opinion, that company must shoulder an independent responsibility for doing so. There are better ways of dismantling ships that are readily available to the shipowner, but these are more expensive”.

"Ship recycling is a heavy industry that requires industrial methods and infrastructure. We fully support the Council on Ethics conclusion that clean and safe ship recycling cannot be done on a beach."
Ingvild Jenssen - Executive Director and Founder - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

Bearing in mind that Taiwan used to be the destination for breaking ships before the boom of the industry in South Asia, it is particularly damning for Evergreen – a Taiwanese company – not to remember the legacy that the industry left in its country following the explosion in the port of Kaohsiung in 1988.

 

© Studio Fasching – Chittagong, Bangladesh – 2017

 

NOTES

 

[1] An additional company, the South Korean Pan Ocean Co Ltd, has been placed under observation. In its assessment of the likelihood that the company will in future contribute to such norm violations, the Council on Ethics has attached importance to the company’s assurance that it is willing in future to take the method of breakup into account as far as possible when making decisions on the sale of vessels for scrapping.

 

[2] The following serious concerns related to beaching are outlined by the Council of Ethics:
- continuous, innumerable and serious violations of a number of ILO conventions whose purpose it is to establish minimum standards which safeguard the lives and health of workers. Wide-ranging and serious violations of these conventions must be deemed to infringe fundamental rights to life and health, the sum of which must be said to constitute a serious breach of fundamental human rights.
- serious pollution and the dispersal of environmental toxins, which in turn have a negative impact on human health and ecosystems in the area.

 

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

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In October, the PHP Family (Peace Happiness and Prosperity) shipbreaking yard received a Statement of Compliance with the Hong Kong Convention [1] by the Italian classification society RINA. Trade unions in Bangladesh, as well as the Platform’s member Bangladesh Institute for Labour Studies (BILS), are concerned that such a labelling sets a dangerous precedent for the further green-washing of the Chittagong beaching yards. Workers and the environment are not protected as long as ships are broken on the beach, and as long as fundamental labour rights and proper infrastructure are not secured.

 

PHP is run by a renowned business family in Chittagong, who also runs activities in the steel re-rolling and construction industries, and owns TV channels. Trade unions made a formal request to represent the workers at the PHP yard, but the management has systematically rejected the workers’ right to freedom of association, and employees that have strongly engaged in demanding respect of workers’ rights have even been fired. Any worker association or NGO which does not praise PHP is received with hostility and is not even allowed to visit the yard. As reported yesterday by the Platform, accidents at the PHP shipbreaking yard continue to happen.

 

“It is shocking that a company that rejects legitimate trade union activities can be stamped as operating in line with international laws”, says Nazim Uddin, local trade union leader and Bangladesh representative at IndustriALL.

 

Despite some investments in the PHP yard to concrete parts of the upper beach, the severe deficiencies in infrastructure for the containment of toxics renders any statement of compliance with pollution prevention standards ludicrous. When vessels are cut in the intertidal zone, toxics are inevitably released in the sea. The entire Chittagong area is heavily polluted, and there is no means for any beaching yard to handle and dispose hazardous waste, such as oil residues, heavy metals and asbestos, in a safe and environmentally sound manner. The Hong Kong Convention’s ship recycling requirements stop at the gate of the yard, therefore the fact that Bangladesh still has no waste treatment facility for general waste, let alone for the toxic materials coming from ships, is completely overlooked by the Convention. Statements of Compliance with the Hong Kong Convention are clearly no guarantee that the environment and workers are protected from the many risks connected to the heavy and hazardous industry of ship recycling.

 

“That a beaching yard in Chittagong is able to comply with the Hong Kong Convention tells us a lot about the extremely low standard set by the International Maritime Organisation”, said Ingvild Jenssen, Director and Founder of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform. “Any ship owner looking for a safe and clean location for the recycling of their ship will be wise to disregard the very misleading Statements of Compliance with the Hong Kong Convention, and instead consult the upcoming EU List of approved ship recycling facilities”, she adds.

 

An aerial view of the PHP shipbreaking yard – 2017 – © Google Earth

* Updated on 26 January 2018 – Quote by Nazim Uddin changed following his request

 

NOTE

 

[1] Statements of Compliance with the Hong Kong Convention were first issued to beaching yards by the Japanese company Class NK in Alang, India, last year. Other classification societies, such as RINA and the Indian Ship Registry, have now entered the business of issuing these statements, and a total of 47 yards have received such statements in India, whilst PHP is the first, and so far, the only one in Bangladesh.

 

Press Release – Surge in number of accidents in Bangladesh shipbreaking yards

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NGOs call on the Bangladesh government and ship owning nations to hold business accountable

 

UPDATE

PHP shipbreaking yard informed the Platform on 26 January 2018 of the following:

The death of worker Harun Rashid, whose body was found in a pond near the PHP shipbreaking yard, was caused by drowning. PHP informs the Platform: “It is understood from Harun Rashid’s family that around 7:30 p.m. he decided to bathe in a local pond and did not return. His body was discovered the next day at around 10:30 a.m. from the pond. The next of kin of worker Harun Rashid released his body from police custody upon filing an application with the local police station to retrieve his body for burial without post-mortem as there was no reason to believe that he had passed away in anything other than normal circumstances”. According to PHP, Harun Rashid was a casual worker at the PHP shipbreaking yard, and PHP paid a substantial compensation to Harun’s family even though they had no obligations under the law to do so. Also according to PHP, the other worker – also called Harun Rashid – was injured in a traffic accident. PHP informs the Platform: “The incident occurred when the worker was heading home to attend a family emergency, and while crossing the street, he was struck by an oncoming bus. The hit-and-run incident left him with injuries, to recuperate from which, he applied for paid leave to his employer”.

 

Until September the NGO Shipbreaking Platform had observed a decrease in the number of accidents in the shipbreaking yards in Chittagong, Bangladesh. Now, however, the accident rate for the three first quarters of 2017 has surged with 8 injuries and 6 deaths recorded in ten separate incidents in the last two months alone.

 

On 23 October, Jalal, who worked as a cutter man, died struck by a cable at Arafin Enterprise, the yard where the product tanker LOBATO, owned by Petrobras, is currently being scrapped. Despite early warnings to the Brazilian government, the vessel was illegally exported from Brazil for dirty and dangerous scrapping on the beaches of South Asia and arrived in Chittagong in October. Shipbreaking worker Khalil died while working on an oil section of the Indonesian-owned tanker ECHO, beached at Ferdous Steel shipbreaking yard. One more worker was injured in that accident. Mizan, employed by Fahim Enterprise shipbreaking yard, lost his life on 14 November. He fell from the ship LABRI, sold for breaking by the Greek Polys Haji-Ioannou Group, after a fire broke out on the upper deck. Four more workers, who are now supposedly receiving treatment in the BSBA Hospital, suffered injuries due to a fire at Tania Enterprise shipbreaking yard. Moreover, during a nightshift on 4 December, Mojammel suffocated from inhaling toxic gases and then fell, dying on the spot. He was working at the SN Corporation yard on the ship INOX, owned by the Hong Kong-based HNA Group International. According to local sources, Mojammel and his colleagues were oddly sent to start breaking the vessel just a few hours after its beaching.

 

A local newspaper in Chittagong further revealed that the body of a worker, Harun Rashid, was found lifeless in a pond close to the PHP shipbreaking yard. Harun was a permanent staff member of PHP and was working as cutter helper. According to the attendance register, he was present and on duty on the day he was found dead. Harun’s cause of death has not yet been cleared by the police and, despite having paid a lump sum to Harun’s family, PHP’s representatives are silent about the incident. Still at PHP, another worker suffered an injury to his left leg and has spent the last three weeks in the BSBA Hospital for treatment.

 

Details on the remaining 2 injuries and the 1 death at the shipbreaking yards are still unclear.

 

In October, two major accidents also occurred in the steel re-rolling mills that are connected to the shipbreaking yards and where the steel from the ships are re-rolled into steel bars. According to the Bangladesh Insitute of Labour Studies (BILS), on 10 October 4 workers died in GPH Ispat, and less than a week later an accident at SARM re-rolling mill killed 1 worker and injured as many as 9.

 

“The working conditions in all the Chittagong shipbreaking yards are deplorable. Claims that the situation in the yards has somewhat improved are misleading: workers are still exposed to enormous risks and are killed because of the lack of basic safety procedures and infrastructure”, says Muhammed Ali Shahin, local contact of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform.

 

Ship owners that sell their ships for dirty and dangerous breaking are now also being brought to court. On Sunday, The Guardian published an article exposing the human costs of shipbreaking in Bangladesh. Mohamed Edris, who also worked at Ferdous Steel, was severely injured in 2015 while cutting the EURUS LONDON, owned by Zodiac Maritime, and is now seeking compensation in the UK courts from the shipping company. It is the first time that an injured worker demands compensation from a ship owner directly. Zodiac Maritime took the commercial decision to recklessly sell the EURUS LONDON to a beaching yard with the only aim of making a maximum profit, thus consciously neglecting the human rights abuses that shipbreaking in Bangladesh entails. This case could set a precedent for other workers who want to bring the ultimate profit-makers of dangerous and polluting practices to justice.

 

So far this year, 51 out of the total 152 ships that have been beached in Chittagong are owned by European companies. Zodiac has continued to sell its ships to Bangladesh, despite the pending legal case against them, demonstrating that they have no consideration for causing harm as a result of their dirty business. Other big companies, such as Teekay, Berge Bulk and Costamare, have also unscrupulously sold ships to the Chittagong beach this year.

 

One of the Zodiac’s ships currently beached in Bangladesh – 2017 – © NGO Shipbreaking Platform

 

 

Platform News – Atlantic Container Line steaming for sunshine

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Grimaldi Group’s subsidiary ACL illegally exports toxic waste to South Asia, while authorities are inert

 

During the summer, the Swedish-flagged ATLANTIC CARTIER and ATLANTIC CONVEYOR, the two last G3 vessels operated by the Italian Grimaldi Group’s subsidiary Atlantic Container Line (ACL), were sold for demolition. The German competent authorities were alerted about the imminent illegal export of the ships from the port of Hamburg and prompted to take action to stop the vessels from departing. Despite the warnings and the clear signs that the ships were destined for scrap, the authorities did not halt the ships. The ATLANTIC CARTIER arrived in Alang, India, on the 20th of September, and the ATLANTIC CONVEYOR hit the beach on the 7th of October, after vessel tracking providers curiously indicated that the container carrier was “Steaming 4 Sunshine”.

 

 

International waste laws and the EU Waste Shipment Regulation are usually circumvented by ship owners who falsely declare that end-of-life ships are in continued operational use when leaving a port, thereby concealing the fact that they are destined for scrapping and have, therefore, become a waste. The cases of the CARTIER and the CONVEYOR are no exception.

 

The German authorities were not the only ones that have been contacted before the vessels’ final voyage. Also authorities from Canada and the UK, countries through which the CARTIER and the CONVEYOR sailed before arriving in Hamburg for their last EU port call, knew that the ships had been sold to the beach; yet, when questioned, ACL did not reveal that the ships were sold for breaking. Once having left the EU, both vessels operated for a short while in South-Eastern Africa – still under the same name, flag and ownership – waiting for the attention on them to fade. During that time, ACL contacted the Swedish authorities asking for advice on which steps should be taken if the company decided to recycle the ships. Despite the recommendations of Sweden to scrap the vessels in the EU or in an OECD country, there was no way to ensure that these recommendations would be followed, since at that point the ships were no longer in the EU. Rather, it is clear that this communication was a way for ACL to make it seem like the company had acted diligently by seeking advice from the flag-state, as well as to fraudulently make it seem as the decision to dispose of the container carriers was only taken once outside of EU waters.

 

According to the German port authorities, there was no evidence base for the arrest of the vessels, even though the logos of both the CARTIER and the CONVEYOR had been painted over before the final voyage. Moreover, it was well-known within the industry that these two sister ships would be sold for breaking in the summer, as ACL itself indicated that the ships would be scrapped on the cash-buyer GMS’ website last year. In light of this, the Platform has recently sent aletter to the German authorities asking them to hold Grimaldi Group’s ACL accountable for having breached European waste laws.

 

End-of-life sales to South Asian yards are done with the help of a cash-buyer, a company specialised in trading end-of-life vessels to the dirty and dangerous beaching yards. It is not the first time that Grimaldi Group sends its ships to be broken on the beaches: the ATLANTIC CONCERT and ATLANTIC COMPASS were beached in Alang last year. In 2016, during an official meeting in Rome, the Platform raised serious concerns regarding the more than 90 Italian-owned end-of-life vessels that had been sent to dirty and dangerous scrapping yards in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan in the last seven years. The Platform advised the Italian Ship Owners Association, including representatives of Grimaldi Group, to stop selling their end-of-life vessels to unscrupulous cash buyers, and urged the Italian ship owners to ensure the safe and environmentally sound recycling of their ships. Hence, it is clear that the Platform’s message has not been taken into consideration.

 

Platform News – Investigations ongoing after Norwegian authorities press charges against owners of Harrier

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The HARRIER is still under arrest in Norway after its owners failed to illegally set sail for the dangerous and dirty scrapping yards in Gadani, Pakistan, last February. The owners are now forced to find a safe and environmentally sound recycling destination. In parallel, investigations are still ongoing following the charges pressed by the Norwegian environmental authorities against the owners of the TIDE CARRIER for having attempted to breach existing waste trade laws [1].

 

At the edge of bankruptcy, Eide Group sold the previously named EIDE CARRIER, which had been laid up for 10 years, to cash buyer Wirana, a scrap dealer specialized in trading toxic ships to dirty and dangerous scrapping yards in South Asia. Wirana registered the vessel under an anonymous Saint Kitts and Nevis post box company called Julia Shipping Inc. The ship was renamed TIDE CARRIER and supposedly changed registry to the Paris MoU black-listed flag of Comoros. Based on fraudulent information that the vessel was heading for repair works in the Middle-East, Norwegian authorities allowed the ship to leave the west coast of Norway on 22 February 2017.

 

Had Wirana disclosed that the true destination was the beach of Gadani in Pakistan the vessel would not have been allowed to depart: exporting ships for dirty and dangerous scrapping is illegal under international waste trade laws. All ships contain many toxic materials within their structure and in their paints and the law requires that these should be managed in a way that protects people and the environment from harm. Extremely low operating standards at the beaching yards enable them to offer higher prices for the ships than facilities that operate in line with safety and environmental norms. Wirana knows this and the law very well, and for the sake of extra profits they therefore presented a fake contract for repairs in Oman.

 

However, the ship’s deteriorating condition caused the engine to stop only hours after its departure. Despite stormy weather, the vessel’s new captain from Nabeel Ship Management did not call for help. The risk of oil spill and grounding close to one of the most known beaches in Norway was high and was only dodged thanks to the Norwegian coastguard’s decision to trigger a salvage operation. An environmental disaster in Norway was avoided, and with the arrest of the ship in April the Norwegian authorities effectively averted another environmental injustice on the Gadani beach, where it was actually destined for scrap. Less than a year ago Gadani saw the worst shipbreaking catastrophe of the industry’s history[2].

 

Already in the summer of 2015, the Platform was informed that the vessel had been sold for breaking. Confronted with the illegality of exporting the ship to South Asia, Eide Group denied that the vessel would be scrapped at the time. One and a half years later, after the ship had been salvaged and was laid up in Gismarvik, the Environment Agency and the police found evidence that the vessel was under a “break up voyage” insurance from Norway to Gadani, Pakistan. That, and the fact that the contact person for Julia Shipping Inc in the sales contract that dated from summer 2015 is Keyur J. Dave, Chief Financial Officer at Wirana, are clear indicators that the vessel was headed to a scrap yard in Pakistan when it left Norway. All vessels broken in South Asia pass via the hands of a cash buyer. Singapore-based Wirana and US-based GMS are the two largest cash buyers, both of which are inherently entangled with the South Asian breakers.

 

Consequently, it became clear that the repair contract in Oman which had been provided to the Norwegian authorities as a way to escape checks for the illegal export of the vessel was false. The Norwegian Environment Ministry therefore rejected the complaint of Julia Shipping Inc, represented by law firm Wikborg Rein, for the arrest order. The post-box company Julia Shipping Inc refuses to reveal its ownership structure. To further point to the lack of accountability, the Norwegian newspaper, Bergens Tidende, revealed in a longer article, published in August, that when the Norwegian authorities had contacted the Comoros registry regarding the TIDE CARRIER, the Comoros registry answered that they did not have any information about the ship being registered under their flag. Only days later the vessel changed name again to HARRIER and swapped flags again to that of another Paris MoU black-listed flag: Palau. Both Comoros and Palau are popular end-of-life flags. In 2016, out of 668 ships that were beached, 42 had the flag of Palau and 47 were beached under the flag of Comoros. The now-called HARRIER is not allowed to leave Norway unless it is to sail to a ship recycling destination in line with international and European hazardous waste laws.

 

In the meantime the owners of the HARRIER owe the private port of Gismarvik and GMC Maritime several million NOK as port fees. The vessel left Gismarvik in June and is now anchored off the coast of Farsund where two crew members remain confined onboard the ship and the continuous use of the ship’s engine is creating unneglectable nuisance to local inhabitants.

 

© Jon Ingemundsen

This is not the first time that cash buyers seek to circumvent environmental protection laws by providing fake sales or repair contracts. The Norwegian owned CITY OF TOKYO was allowed to leave the port of Antwerp under the pretense of repair work in Dubai – instead it sailed directly to the infamous beaching yards in Bangladesh. The FPSO NORTH SEA PRODUCER was also illegally exported from the UK to Bangladesh under the pretense of further operational use in Nigeria. Cash buyer GMS used grey- and black listed Paris MoU flags and established anonymous post box companies in both cases.

 

The TIDE CARRIER case reveals the typical business practices of ship owners and cash buyers, and adds to several other cases where authorities have been lied to and provided false information as a way to escape checks for the illegal export of end-of-life ships. At least in the TIDE CARRIER case, the Norwegian authorities have so far not been gullible to fall for the well-known tricks of the game.

 

 

NOTES

 

[1] See the Norwegian environmental authorities’ press release.

[2] See also our release on a second accident that took place earlier this year.

 

Platform News – NGOs maintain pressure on owners and scrap dealers of FPSO North Sea Producer

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16 August of last year the FPSO NORTH SEA PRODUCER was beached in Chittagong, Bangladesh. The ship was allowed to leave the UK based on the false promise that it would be further operationally used in the Tin Can port in Nigeria. One year on, the battle to hold the owners and cash buyers accountable for the illegal export of the FPSO is not over.

 

The North Sea Producer (ex Dagmar Maersk) was deployed in the McCulloch field in the North Sea, transporting and extracting oil from the UK continental shelf for 17 years, and was owned by the North Sea Production Company, a single-ship joint venture between the Danish A.P. Moeller Maersk and the Brazilian Odebrecht. Once the field closed, the NORTH SEA PRODUCER was laid up in Teesport for a year while the owners were looking for buyers. For scrapping purposes the ship was only allowed to be sold to a facility within the OECD as any export of hazardous waste outside the OECD is in breach of International and EU law. However, selling the FPSO to a recycler that could safely handle all the hazards of the ship within the OECD would have meant that the owners would not have made as big a profit as selling it to less scrupulous breakers operating on tidal beaches in South Asia. Maersk and Odebrecht thus settled to sell the ship to the largest vessels’ scrap dealer, cash buyer GMS, through a St. Kitts and Nevis post box company called Conquistador Shipping Corporation, and provided the UK authorities with a false contract stating that the NORTH SEA PRODUCER had found a new owner who would operate the ship in Nigeria.

 

Despite the vessel being under the radar of local communities in Teesside and was well-known in the shipping industry for needing to be scrapped, the UK authorities relied on the false contract to allow the FPSO to leave on tug. The NORTH SEA PRODUCER was then directly towed all the way from the UK, around the African continent, to Bangladesh. NGOs were quick to alert both the UK and Bangladesh governments of the illegal export [1]. It was only once the FPSO had left the UK – and after the case was strongly criticised in Danish and international press – that Maersk was “very, very sorry” that Conquistador Shipping Corporation apparently took the independent decision to beach the NORTH SEA PRODUCER in Chittagong for dirty and dangerous scrapping. Maersk has since claimed in its Sustainability Report 2016 that it has cut all commercial ties with the buyer of the NORTH SEA PRODUCER: an obviously meaningless statement if that implies cutting ties with a single-ship post box company. Maersk however still refuses to admit that they sold the ship to GMS, the largest waste traffickers in end-of-life ships, as doing so would clearly indicate that they knew all along that the ship would directly head to a scrap yard. It was evident that the bungalow in St Kitts and Nevis, where Conquistador Shipping Corporation was just the shell company set up by GMS to make it look like it was sold to a legitimate buyer, would not further operate the FPSO. Or was Maersk fooled by the tricks of the trade? Did they really believe that the ship would continue to operate under the ownership of the world’s largest scrap dealer? Chances are they were not fooled at all, but were in fact orchestrators of an illegal export alongside GMS.

 

Once the ship arrived at Janata Steel in Chittagong, and upon alerts issued by local NGOs, the Bangladesh Attorney General of the Department of Environment set up a special committee to determine the presence of contaminated residues, and to investigate the ship’s illegal import due to lack of necessary clearances and false claims that it was hazardous-free. Having operated in the North Sea, the vessel’s pipelines are likely to contain residues contaminated by radioactive materials and sulphur. Other toxics, such as asbestos and heavy metals, are contained within the structure and paints of the ship. Upon a request from the Platform’s member organisation Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers’ Association (BELA), the report on the ship’s condition was released in June: it’s conclusion was that radioactive residues were found upon inspection and that further surveys needed to be carried out on the whole ship. BELA subsequently succeeded in getting an injunction on the breaking of the North Sea Producer until October, which is when the Court will resume the case after the Eid recess.

The North Sea Producer beached in Chittagong – © NGO Shipbreaking Platform

In the UK, the Platform demanded the Secretary of State for Environment, Andrea Leadsom, to investigate the illegal export from Teesport [2]. DEFRA has been looking into the case for nine months now, and the Platform recently requested that they share information on their findings and on the action which they will be taking against the fraudulent and illegal export. In parallel Danish parliamentarians have been questioning the Environment Minister, Esben Lunde Larsen, on what actions Denmark can take to hold Maersk accountable.

 

One year on since the beaching of the NORTH SEA PRODUCER, the story is thus far from over. One year on and there are legal proceedings in the exporting state, the UK, and the importing state, Bangladesh, to hold Maersk, Odebrecht, GMS and the importers accountable for their illegal trade of a highly toxic and particularly risky ship to dismantle.

 

 

NOTES

 

[1] See our release.

 

[2] Read the letter.

 

Platform News – European institutions call on EU to address decommissioning of floating oil and gas structures

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A joint event between the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and three Green Members of the European Parliament highlighted the paradox between the strict rules under OSPAR for the decommissioning of fixed oil platforms from the North Sea with the rules that govern the recycling of floating platforms and structures. The latter fall under the same rules as commercial ships, and would therefore have to follow the EU Ship Recycling Regulation. The NGO Shipbreaking Platform and other stakeholders have already highlighted the weakness of the SRR which needs to be coupled with a financial incentive to curb the trend to flag out and circumvent the legislation. A financial incentive would also be an opportunity to steer the market towards proper recycling yards included under the EU list of approved facilities.

 

There are a growing number of unutilised and obsolete floating oil and gas structures which have been operating in the North Sea. These structures are effectively floating industrial plants, which need to be dismantled using the highest standards of precaution, many containing asbestos and residues of naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM). So far, assets from the North Sea have not ended up on the South Asian beaches with the infamous exception of the FPSO tanker NORTH SEA PRODUCER [1]. Yet the NGO Shipbreaking Platform has observed more structures from other oil fields being towed across the globe to be beached in South Asia for dirty and dangerous scrapping. There is a real concern that we will see more rigs and oil and gas assets ending up there, and cash buyers, such as GMS, and marine service providers, such as Aqualis, have had no shame in their efforts to attract the owners of these structures to sell them to the beaches.

 

On 22 June the EESC hosted a conference attended by the members of the CCMI committee . It was clear from the presentations by the port of Fredrikshaven and the Spanish recycler DDR that there is a real business case for Europe and the regions with a recycling capacity to be promoted through a financial incentive. There are even foreign investments that are being made in Denmark to cater for the increased need to decommission the structures from the oil and gas fields in the North Sea. Trade unions also back the movement in support of a financial incentive which would boost the decommissioning and recycling industry and protect highly qualified jobs in a heavy industry. The widespread sentiment was that public support for a responsible and proper recycling industry which is in compliance with the EU SRR, provides for an opportunity to invest in green jobs, cleaner technology and R&D, all in line with ambitions for a circular economy.

 

On 28 June the second part of the event was hosted by MEPs Margrete AUKEN, Pascal DURAND and Bart STAES. The European Parliament placed the focus on the EU Commission to broaden the interest of ship and rig recycling to other policy areas, such as growth, trade, energy, innovation and employment, to name a few. The only opponents to the idea that a clean industry should be promoted in all these aspects were the ship owners present. Most ship owners still do not see themselves as participants in finding sustainable solutions to cleaning up the recycling of their assets, which ultimately should be their responsibility. On the up side, all other participants and speakers, including the EU Commission, acknowledged the positive effects and the added value in ensuring that floating rigs and ships are recycled in EU-listed facilities.

 

“If the EU takes the Juncker plan seriously, it has to grab such a chance for Europe’s industry and provide the necessary legal instruments. Only then can ‘beaching’ come to a halt“, said MEP Margrete Auken [2].

 

NOTES

 

[1] The illegal export of the NORTH SEA PRODUCER from the UK to Bangladesh for scrapping is currently being investigated by the UK environmental authorities DEFRA. Maersk owned the FPSO tanker in joint venture with Brazilian oil and gas company Odebrecht, and sold it to a St Kitts and Nevis post box company established by cash buyer GMS. The FPSO was allowed to leave the UK under the false pretext that it would be further operationally used in Nigeria. Instead it was directly towed to the beach in Bangladesh. There, legal action has now been taken to halt the breaking of the tanker which is laden with hazardous materials, including NORM.

 

[2] See press statement from the EESC.

 

Press Release – Brazilian government asked to stop dumping toxic ships on South Asian beaches

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NGOs and trade unions criticize Petrobras’ end-of-life fleet management

 

The Brazilian CONTTMAF trade union federation and its member SINDMAR [1] have recently criticized the shipbreaking practices of Transpetro, the oil and gas transportation subsidiary of the Brazilian petroleum corporation Petrobras, majority-owned by the State. In the last five years, more than twenty vessels owned by the oil and gas giant have been dismantled on the beaches of India and Pakistan, where shipbreaking activities endanger both workers and the environment. In an official letter sent on 2 June 2017 to Transpetro, Severino Almeida, president of CONTTMAF and SINDMAR, expresses his serious concerns about the Petrobras’ poor end-of-life fleet management. Several of the ships that ended up in South Asia were built thanks to financing provided by the Merchant Marine Fund. In other words, public money has therefore been used to build ships that now put workers’ lives at risk and pollute the environment in developing countries.

 

According to maritime databases, at least six more units owned by Petrobras have already been sold for demolition but are still in Brazilian territorial waters. Four drill platforms were bought in a public auction by the cash-buyer Rota Shipping who exclusively delivers to Turkish yards and was able to offer just 180,000 USD more than Alfa Ship Trading, a cash-buyer who only sends to India. On the other hand, the product tanker LOBATO and the liquefied petroleum gas carrier GUAPORE have been sold by Petrobras to Indian breakers. The NGO Shipbreaking Platform has alerted Brazilian authorities about the imminent illegal exports under Basel Convention’s rules of these two vessels, currently located at Rio de Janeiro Anchorage. To date, no reply has been received.

 

As published recently by SINDMAR, and based on data collected by the Platform, Petrobras is not the only Brazilian company involved in dirty and dangerous scrapping practices. In the last two years, the Brazilian multinational corporation Vale, engaged in metals and mining, has also sold five ships to shipbreaking beaches in Bangladesh and Pakistan, where at least 79 workers were severely injured and 55 died in 2016. 35 year-old worker Mukhlesur was crushed to death as he and his co-workers were moving a large metal slab from the Vale’s ORE TIMBOPEBA at Mak Corporation Ship Breaking yard in Chittagong, Bangladesh.

"It is unacceptable that Petrobras and other Brazilian companies contribute to the deaths and environmental pollution in South Asia."
Nicola Mulinaris - Communication and Policy Officer - NGO Shipbreaking Platform
"In order to ensure clean and safe ship recycling off the beach, we demand stricter requirements for the public auctions of Petrobras’ end-of-life vessels and the enforcement of international legislation on hazardous waste exports. The vessels could even be recycled in Brazil."
Carlos Müller - Director - CONTTMAF and SINDMAR

A committee coordinated by the Ministry of Labour and Employment, with the presence of the Brazilian Navy and Petrobras itself, is now considering the possibility to include ship recycling in the scope of national regulation NR 34, which sets environmental and safety requirements for ship building and offshore constructions, including repair activities.

"Widening the scope of regulation NR 34 is certainly a step in the right direction. Should Brazil be serious about starting to use the dormant national ship recycling capacity, we call on all interested Brazilian yards to follow the standards set in the EU Ship Recycling Regulation and to apply to be included in the upcoming EU List of approved ship recycling facilities."
Nicola Mulinaris - Communication and Policy Officer - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

 

NOTE

 

[1] The Confederação Nacional dos Trabalhadores em Transportes Aquaviários e Aéreos, na Pesca e nos Portos (CONTTMAF) is a confederacy constituted for the purpose of coordenation, orientation, defense and legal representation of the professional categories in the maritime, riverine, lacustrine, diving, civil aviation, fishing and port activities. The Sindicato Nacional dos Oficiais da Marinha Mercante (SINDMAR), part of the confederacy, is the maritime officers’ union.

 

Platform News – SAVE THE DATE: “Black Gold’s Green Legacy” on 22 and 28 June 2017 in Brussels

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The European Economic and Social Committee's Consultative Commission on Industrial Change (CCMI) and The European Parliament (EP) are organizing, with the support of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform, a two-part event to follow-up and consolidate earlier work on shipbreaking and the recycling society.

 

The event will explore the positive benefits that could accrue to Member States from the increased necessity to recycle the decommissioned floating structures from the oil and gas sector within Europe. This event will determine the response of the key stakeholders, especially the oil and gas industry and the production facility owners, and identify what further action needs to be taken by the EU to ensure that the significant value of the legacy assets contribute to the ongoing industrial base in Europe.

 

The first part of this event will take place at the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) on 22 June in Brussels. A dedicated debate looking at the obstacles and opportunities will take place at a meeting of the Consultative Commission on Industrial Change.

 

The second part of this joint event will be a conference on 28 June in the European Parliament in Brussels. This will define and explore, in conjunction with the European Commission, the necessary legislative action and support that is necessary.

 

We will take part in these important discussions to make sure the offshore sector’s overcapacity problem is resolved through responsible recycling.

 

Visit also the photo exhibition “With Bare Hands” showing the dire conditions at the shipbreaking beaches in India and Bangladesh, which will take place at the EP on 26-30 June.

* Webstreaming in English will be provided during the hearing. The participation in the event is free.

 

Click here to view the Program.

 

Conference on 22 June, in the EESC - You may register at the following address: ccmi2@eesc.europa.eu.
Conference on 28 June, in the EP - You may register at the following address: hedvigelisabeth.sveistrup@europarl.europa.eu.
* Please note your first and last name, function, organisation and address mail. 

 

 

Press Release – Platform supports banks’ introduction of responsible ship recycling standards

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And another worker dies in May at Chittagong yard with an appalling accident record

 

Today, during the first day of NOR-Shipping in Oslo, Dutch banks ABN AMRO, ING Bank and NIBC, together with the Scandinavian DNB, announced that they are all introducing Responsible Ship Recycling Standards (RSRS) for their ship financing. The banks took the opportunity of making this announcement during the biannual industry gathering in order to raise awareness with the intention of including more banks into the initiative. The Norwegian fund, KLP, who in 2016 commissioned a report by the International Law and Policy Institute on shipbreaking, had also already taken a stance to reject beaching practices.

 

A collective move to include ship recycling conditions on loans by leading banks and financial institutions with large shipping portfolios is a positive step to imposing responsible practices on ship owners. When there is pressure for change coming from shipping financers, who understand that they have a direct tangible impact on the shipping industry, ship owners, rather than finding crafty loopholes in the law, will feel the bite if they do not choose to recycle responsibly off the beach.

"We welcome the leading role taken by the banks to ensure a departure from the unnecessarily dirty and dangerous practice of beaching, and expect that investors and clients of shipping that are increasingly pushing for higher standards for ship recycling will join the initiative."
Ingvild Jenssen - Policy Director - NGO Shipbreaking Platform