event Archives - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

2nd Ship Recycling Lab

Posted on May 13, 2024 by Nicola Mulinaris

After the successful organisation of the first edition of the Ship Recycling Lab: Transformation Through Innovation back in 2022, the NGO Shipbreaking Platform, still recognising the need for visionary solutions for ship recycling, is ready to host its second edition of the Lab on 9 -10 October 2024 in Lisbon, Portugal.

The event will bring together forward-thinking stakeholders from the maritime, recycling and steel sectors, financial institutions and policy makers to showcase and exchange ideas for best practices and strategies for ship demolition, design, waste management and material recovery in line with ethical circular policy goals.

Providing visibility to companies that have developed solutions, including innovative cutting techniques, new state-of-the-art waste handling procedures, cradle to cradle concept design, and clean steel breakthrough technologies aimed at achieving a zero-carbon steel making process, the Lab intends to set the bar for tomorrow’s ship recycling.

Come join us and 100+ progressive stakeholders for networking opportunities, inspiring keynote speaker sessions, thought-provoking presentations and interactive panel discussions.

Tickets are now on sale! Get them fast before they run out!

SAVE THE DATE – 2nd Ship Recycling Lab

Posted on March 4, 2024 by Nicola Mulinaris

Come join us and 100+ progressive stakeholders for networking opportunities, inspiring keynote speaker sessions, thought-provoking presentations and interactive panel discussions.

Early bird tickets are now on sale! Get them fast before they run out!

Press Release – Turning point: new tech and developments for a new future of ship recycling presented at the Lab

Posted on October 4, 2022October 5, 2022 by Nicola Mulinaris

"We aimed at boosting engagement for a new standard at the Ship Recycling Lab. Companies that can safely dismantle large assets ‘off the beach’ and use technologies ranging from automation and robotics to the age-old, tried and true use of dry docks came in numbers. Coupled with the growing market for sustainably produced scrap steel, it has become clear that the business case for truly responsible ship recycling is rising."

Ingvild Jenssen - Executive Director & Founder - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

The current industrial and political shift to a circular and low-carbon economy has brought ship recycling to a turning point. Participants at the Lab showcased how they are seizing new opportunities for innovation created by the momentum for green and regenerative design, production and end-of-life management.

Circular Maritime Technologies International BV (CMT) chose the Lab to share its new cutting technology, which is transferable to any facility and reduces the vessel's size in several automated steps.

Founders of Leviathan GmbH, Simeon Hiertz and Karsten Schumacher, announced at the Lab their cooperation with German Naval Yards on facilitating clean and safe ship recycling in Kiel. The technology developed by Leviathan, which includes the use of robots and cold water cutting techniques, will be available to owners of large vessels in a dry dock of 426x88m.

Head of Climate Change and Governmental Affairs at ArcelorMittal Europe, Stephane Tondo, also speaking at the Lab, stated that the green transition will require the decarbonisation of steel production. According to EuRIC, using one tonne of sustainably produced scrap saves at least 1.67 tonnes of CO2. Increasing the share of scrap in steel production and ensuring proximity to raw materials are key strategies to ensure decarbonisation, said ArcelorMittal. The latter revealed its cooperation with CMT for the possible development of a new ship recycling facility in Gent, Belgium, close to its steel plant. Noting that the European Union (EU) will soon become a net importer of scrap, ArcelorMittal is now looking for additional partnerships with recyclers close to its other steel plants in the EU in order to ensure access to good quality scrap steel from vessels.

"Green investors will find lots of inspiring projects in Breaking Out. We also encourage ship owners that unfortunately did not make it to the Lab in great numbers to read the magazine. It is a solutions-oriented publication providing insights on what responsible recycling means via in-depth articles, interviews and spotlight profiles. It showcases very concrete new destinations for their end-of-life assets."

Ingvild Jenssen - Executive Director & Founder - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

Platform News – REMINDER: Ship Recycling Lab on 20-21 September in Rotterdam

Posted on September 8, 2022September 8, 2022 by Nicola Mulinaris

It’s almost time! We hope your calendars are marked because the Ship Recycling Lab is about to take place in the shipping hub of Rotterdam.

On the 20th and 21st of September, forward-thinking stakeholders from the maritime, recycling and steel sectors, financial institutions, and policymakers will gather at the iconic Kunsthal Museum, where they will showcase and exchange ideas for best practices and strategies for ship demolition, design, waste management and material recovery in line with ethical circular policy goals.

The event will provide visibility to companies that have developed solutions, including innovative cutting techniques, new state-of-the-art waste handling procedures, cradle-to-cradle concept design, and clean steel breakthrough technologies aimed at achieving a zero-carbon steel-making process. Curious and want to learn more? Check out the list of speakers and the online agenda here.

What are the impacts of unregulated shipbreaking practices on workers and the environment? What does it mean to sustainably recycle vessels in line with ethical circularity? What impacts will the increased demand for scrap steel have on the ship recycling market? How can new innovative technologies and economic and policy instruments drive an ethical circular economy?

We try to answer these questions in conversation with leading advocates for environmental justice, ship owners, steel producers, policy makers, researchers, shipbuilders, ship recycling experts, and many more.

Don’t waste any time. Register and buy your tickets now at www.shiprecyclinglab.org. Come join us!

Platform News – SAVE THE DATE: Ship Recycling Lab on 20-21 September in Rotterdam

Posted on April 26, 2022April 26, 2022 by Nicola Mulinaris

Recognising the need for visionary solutions for ship recycling, we are hosting our first Ship Recycling Lab: Transformation through Innovation on 20-21 September 2022 in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Come join us and 200+ progressive stakeholders for networking opportunities, inspiring keynote speaker sessions, thought-provoking presentations, interactive panel discussions, a photo exhibition from Bangladesh and a live performance at the iconic Kunsthal museum in the shipping hub of Rotterdam in September!

Register and buy your tickets now at www.shiprecyclinglab.org to get a €200 Early Bird Discount.

Platform News – NGO Shipbreaking Platform awarded grant by Royal Academy of Engineering and Lloyd’s Register Foundation

Posted on July 3, 2020January 14, 2022 by admin_ec

We are pleased to announce that we have been awarded a grant by the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Lloyd's Register Foundation under the international collaboration Engineering X - Safer End of Engineered Life Mission. The grant will support a project, in partnership with our member organisation Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers’ Association (BELA), that aims at increasing public awareness of the current shipbreaking practices on the beaches of South Asia, including workers’ rights in Bangladesh, as well as at pushing for an industry shift towards truly sustainable practices.

Engineering X has awarded nearly £1 million in grants to six projects in the UK and overseas aimed at tackling the complex social, environmental and engineering challenges of decommissioning ships and offshore structures. The Platform features as partner also in another project led by the University of Southampton.

With a broad base of supporters both in orientation and geographically, including membership in ship owning as well as shipbreaking countries, the Platform plays an important role in promoting solutions that encompass the respect of human rights, corporate responsibility and environmental justice. If you share our vision, contact us to find out how we can work together.

Platform News – Platform’s member BELA awarded the 2020 Tang Prize

Posted on June 22, 2020June 22, 2020 by admin_ec

We are pleased to announce that the NGO Shipbreaking Platform’s member organisation Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) has been awarded the prestigious 2020 Tang Prize in Rule of Law for its exemplary perseverance in promoting greater environmental justice, in milieus where the foundations of the rule of law are under severe challenge.

Established in 1992 by Dr. Mohiuddin Farooque, BELA promotes environmental justice and has secured sound environmental jurisprudence in Bangladesh through public interest litigation, advocacy, research and publications, as well as capacity-building for actors in the public sector and civil society.

Ever since the first case, Dr. Mohiuddin Farooque v. Bangladesh & Others in 1994, BELA has initiated more than 250 public interest litigations and advocated for legislative reform for environmental justice. Issues drawn within its ambit have ranged as widely as river pollution, industrial pollution, vehicular pollution, illegal construction, labour welfare, illegal mining, prevention of soil erosion, reduction of plastic use, wetland protection and prevention of pollution from shipbreaking. The latter was the focus of a recent ground-breaking judgement given by the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh in a public interest litigation filed by BELA.

By persuading the courts to recognise its standing to instigate a case on behalf of people affected by environmental degradation, BELA successfully opened the path for public interest litigation. BELA also moved the courts to extend the fundamental right to life to cover the right to a decent environment under the Constitution.

The Tang Prize is a set of biennial international awards bestowed by the Taiwanese Tang Prize Foundation in four fields: Sustainable Development, Biopharmaceutical Science, Sinology, and Rule of Law. The 2020 Tang Prize in Rule of Law, was also awarded to Colombian Dejusticia: The Center for Law, Justice and Society and Lebanese The Legal Agenda.

Platform News – SAVE THE DATE: “With Bare Hands” on 3 October 2019 in Brussels

Posted on September 11, 2019January 14, 2022 by admin_ec

Want to learn more about where our toxic waste ends up? What efforts are being made to stop it from causing harm to communities and the environment in the Global South?

MO* Magazine, the NGO Shipbreaking Platform and its member organisation FIDH are organising a debate at the iconic Beursschouwburg in Brussels on 3 October.

Come listen to, amongst others, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Toxics, Baskut Tuncak; Goldman Prize winner and Bangladesh Supreme Court lawyer, Syeda Rizwana Hasan; Belgian Federal Police; and Members of the European Parliament talk about ways to prevent toxic trade.

The debate will be followed by the performance With Bare Hands (Live): Life in Bangladesh's Shipbreaking Yards, written by Isacco Chiaf, Sharanya Deepak, Serenella Martufi and Caroline Massie.

Due to the limited number of seats available, the registration is mandatory. Participants can register here.

Background

After a slew of toxic trade disasters in the 1970’s and 1980’s, the international community rallied together to reject the free trade of hazardous materials, prompting the adoption of international treaties that aim at regulating transboundary waste flows. The laws are however easy to circumvent and the developed world’s waste still finds its way to developing counties for cheap and unsafe disposal. The impact of toxic waste dumping in these counties is devastating and severely harms both human health and the environment.

Electronic waste (e-waste) and end-of-life ships are amongst the most devastating toxic waste streams globally. The debate, which is part of the festival Quinzaine de la Solidarité Internationale - Veertiendaagse Internationale Solidariteit 2019, will address the global impact caused by the dumping of hazardous waste, focusing particularly on these two waste flows.

Practical info

Event Timing: 3 October 2019, 17:30 - 20:30

Event Address: Beursschouwburg - Goudenzaal, Rue Auguste Orts 20-28, 1000 Brussels

Platform News – Performance With Bare Hands (Live) in Brussels

Posted on June 17, 2019June 17, 2019 by admin_ec

The NGO Shipbreaking Platform invites you to attend the artistic performance With Bare Hands (Live) on Friday 21 June in Brussels (Belgium).

With Bare Hands (Live) is a show in which live music, video, and the testimonies of the people directly affected by the most dangerous industry in the world are combined to create a unique narrative experience. The audience will visit the shipbreaking beaches of South Asia, one of the deadliest and most polluted places on earth.

The vast majority of world's end-of-life ships are broken down on the shores of South Asia. On the one hand, workers, often exploited migrants, lose their lives and suffer injuries and occupational diseases due to unsafe working conditions and exposure to toxic substances. On the other hand, coastal ecosystems and the local communities depending on them are devastated by toxic spills and other types of pollution.

With Bare Hands (Live) will give the web-documentary With Bare Hands, created by photojournalist Tomaso Clavarino and video maker Isacco Chiaf in 2016, a new dimension.

The event is organised in collaboration with LaVallée, a project developed by Smart Belgique.

Press Release – The hypocrisy of better beaches: winners of the “Public Eye Investigation Award” shed light on shipbreaking in Alang and Swiss companies’ involvement

Posted on January 22, 2019January 14, 2022 by admin_ec

Belgian journalist Gie Goris, Editor in Chief of MO* Magazine, and Nicola Mulinaris, Communication and Policy Officer of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform, received Public Eye’s first ever “Investigation Award” for their research on the shipbreaking business.

Gie Goris looked for signs of Swiss shipping companies in the Indian town of Alang, where ships go to die. There, he saw many middle-aged wrecks, and met angry trade unionists and workers deprived of their rights and risking their health on a daily basis for a meagre wage. Swiss ship owners, including container giant MSC, use the Alang beach to dispose of their floating toxic waste while boosting their profits. The “recycling” methods of the Geneva-based company MSC, which recently attracted critical headlines for the damage its containers caused in the North Sea, show the vast rift between sustainability promises and the reality of the Swiss shipping industry’s business practices.

Nicola Mulinaris supported Goris in shedding light on the political context behind the illegal trade of toxic waste and showing the important, but ignominious, role played by landlocked Switzerland in dealing with end-of-life ships.

Set up to celebrate Public Eye’s 50th anniversary in 2018, the “Investigation Award” honoured and funded journalistic research into human rights violations, environmental offences or other irresponsible practices of Swiss companies in developing or emerging countries. A jury comprised of renowned media professionals and Public Eye staff selected two projects [1] from a shortlist of 55.

Yesterday, the two investigations were presented to the public in Zurich, during an event held at Kosmos. A panel debate on the relationship between media and NGOs followed the authors’ presentations.

NOTE

[1] “The Blazing Success of Swiss Cigarettes in Africa” is the other project that won the "Public Eye Investigation Award". Lausanne-based reporter Marie Maurisse examined the secret recipes that Swiss tobacco companies use for cigarettes earmarked for export to Africa, in particular to Morocco. In 2017 alone, 2,900 tonnes – or 3,625 cigarettes – were exported to the country. Tests undertaken exclusively for her research revealed a scandalous double standard: cigarettes produced by Philip Morris and Japan Tobacco International (JTI) in Switzerland and sold in Morocco contained markedly higher levels of particles, nicotine and carbon monoxide than those produced for the domestic market. In contrast to the laws in the EU, Swiss legislation allows tobacco companies registered in the country – clearly not by coincidence – to produce and export products that are significantly more harmful and addictive than those sold in Switzerland. According to the WHO, the number of smoking-related deaths in Africa will double by 2030 (with help from Switzerland).

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