One person was killed and another seriously injured in an explosion due to gas leakage in a cargo ship docked near Alang shipbreaking yard, police said today.
The incident took place last night in ship 'Neptune' from Phillipines, docked in sea near plot 77 of Alang Shipbreaking yard, they said.
The deceased was identified as a 64-year-old Polish crew member while another crew member from Phillipines was criticlly injured in the mishap and is under treatment at a private hosptial in Bhavnagar city, police said.
Neptune came for dismantling at the Alang Shipbreaking Yard couple of days ago and was waiting for clearance to dock at plot 77, police said.
A complaint has been registered and investigations are on, they added.
20 August
http://www.samaylive.com/news/one-killed-in-explosion/648963.html
30/08/2009
10/08/2009
Environment Agency stops ship leaving the UK for scrapping
Vessel detained by Environment Agency in Southampton whilst investigations continue
The UK's Environment Agency took swift action on 7 August 2009 (Friday) to stop a tanker ship – the Margaret Hill – from leaving the UK on the suspicion it was due to head abroad for illegal dismantling. This is the first time these powers have been used to stop a ship from leaving a UK port.
Late on Wednesday 5 August, the Environment Agency was made aware of concerns regarding the proposed sailing of the Margaret Hill, a 50,700-tonne liquid natural gas tanker, currently docked in Southampton. Information suggested the ship, which is likely to contain hazardous materials such as asbestos, may be destined for dismantling at an undisclosed facility abroad.
Under international law, anyone intending to send a waste ship from England and Wales abroad for dismantling must first obtain permission from the Environment Agency and our equivalent regulators in the proposed destination country.
Waste ships containing hazardous materials can only be dismantled at properly authorised dismantling facilities in either the EU or an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) country. They cannot be sent to dismantling facilities in countries outside the EU or OECD such as India or Bangladesh.
As the Environment Agency has not received nor approved any application to export the Margaret Hill, it has used its powers to put a temporary stop on the export of the ship to prevent any potential contravention of the rules on waste exports.
Liz Parkes, Head of Waste and Resource Management at the Environment Agency, said:
“Prompt investigation carried out by Environment Agency officers using the intelligence provided by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency has ensured that this ship does not leave the UK until we are clear about what is happening to it.
“We are continuing our discussions with those involved, including the finance company who recently took possession of the ship, to establish what is happening to it and to make them aware of the procedures that must be followed if they intend the ship to be exported for recycling.
“There are rules in place to ensure waste ships do not end up in developing countries, and cause damage to people and the environment. The Environment Agency will only give permission for a waste ship to be exported if it is going to an authorised recycling site in a country that wants to accept it and has necessary agreements in place.”
NOTES:
Stop notices have been issued to four parties who have control over the movement of the ship – the harbourmaster at Associated British Port of Southampton, Fortress Investment Group (UK) Ltd, V Ships UK Ltd and the master of the vessel Margaret Hill.
A list of the OECD countries can be found at www.oecd.org/countrieslist/0,3351,en_33873108_33844430_1_1_1_1_1,00.html.
For more information about the rules on exporting waste see www.environment-agency.gov.uk/business/sectors/32447.aspx.
The UK's Environment Agency took swift action on 7 August 2009 (Friday) to stop a tanker ship – the Margaret Hill – from leaving the UK on the suspicion it was due to head abroad for illegal dismantling. This is the first time these powers have been used to stop a ship from leaving a UK port.
Late on Wednesday 5 August, the Environment Agency was made aware of concerns regarding the proposed sailing of the Margaret Hill, a 50,700-tonne liquid natural gas tanker, currently docked in Southampton. Information suggested the ship, which is likely to contain hazardous materials such as asbestos, may be destined for dismantling at an undisclosed facility abroad.
Under international law, anyone intending to send a waste ship from England and Wales abroad for dismantling must first obtain permission from the Environment Agency and our equivalent regulators in the proposed destination country.
Waste ships containing hazardous materials can only be dismantled at properly authorised dismantling facilities in either the EU or an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) country. They cannot be sent to dismantling facilities in countries outside the EU or OECD such as India or Bangladesh.
As the Environment Agency has not received nor approved any application to export the Margaret Hill, it has used its powers to put a temporary stop on the export of the ship to prevent any potential contravention of the rules on waste exports.
Liz Parkes, Head of Waste and Resource Management at the Environment Agency, said:
“Prompt investigation carried out by Environment Agency officers using the intelligence provided by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency has ensured that this ship does not leave the UK until we are clear about what is happening to it.
“We are continuing our discussions with those involved, including the finance company who recently took possession of the ship, to establish what is happening to it and to make them aware of the procedures that must be followed if they intend the ship to be exported for recycling.
“There are rules in place to ensure waste ships do not end up in developing countries, and cause damage to people and the environment. The Environment Agency will only give permission for a waste ship to be exported if it is going to an authorised recycling site in a country that wants to accept it and has necessary agreements in place.”
NOTES:
Stop notices have been issued to four parties who have control over the movement of the ship – the harbourmaster at Associated British Port of Southampton, Fortress Investment Group (UK) Ltd, V Ships UK Ltd and the master of the vessel Margaret Hill.
A list of the OECD countries can be found at www.oecd.org/countrieslist/0,3351,en_33873108_33844430_1_1_1_1_1,00.html.
For more information about the rules on exporting waste see www.environment-agency.gov.uk/business/sectors/32447.aspx.
07/08/2009
Industrial Activity on Alang beach amidst radioactive radiation dangers
An application in the matter of recent deaths on Alang beach and radioactive radiation dangers to workers has been filed in the Supreme Court of India.
The application seeks the following directions from the court among other things:
(i)Direct Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Shipping, Ministry of Labour, Gujarat Maritime Board, District Collector of Bhavnagar, Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health (DISH), Government of Gujarat, Labour Commissioner to explain and file an affidavit with regard to compliance with the directions given by the Court and recurrence of death of workers at Alang since September 6, 2007 order and with regard to the working conditions of the workmen there as pointed out in this application;
(ii)An independent Commissioner may be asked to submit a report on how clearance for anchoring, beaching and breaking has been given to the ships after 6 September, 2007 order and also to apprise the Court of the actual situation at the Alang beach with regard to number of ships, their country/countries of origin with their history, number of workers in each plot, villagers, fishermen, precautions taken for radioactive materials and in transferring hazardous materials or materials containing hazardous substances to avoid spillage into the sea and impact on the coastal environment
The application seeks the following directions from the court among other things:
(i)Direct Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Shipping, Ministry of Labour, Gujarat Maritime Board, District Collector of Bhavnagar, Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health (DISH), Government of Gujarat, Labour Commissioner to explain and file an affidavit with regard to compliance with the directions given by the Court and recurrence of death of workers at Alang since September 6, 2007 order and with regard to the working conditions of the workmen there as pointed out in this application;
(ii)An independent Commissioner may be asked to submit a report on how clearance for anchoring, beaching and breaking has been given to the ships after 6 September, 2007 order and also to apprise the Court of the actual situation at the Alang beach with regard to number of ships, their country/countries of origin with their history, number of workers in each plot, villagers, fishermen, precautions taken for radioactive materials and in transferring hazardous materials or materials containing hazardous substances to avoid spillage into the sea and impact on the coastal environment
04/08/2009
Ministry of Shipping on IMO treaty on ship recycling
Note: Environmental groups have demanded that the industrial activity of ship dismantling must be taken off the beach to protect the coastal environment and the workers.
Internatioal convention on ship recycling
The proposal of signing and ratification of the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Re-cycling of Ships is under consideration.
Ship breaking industry had some apprehensions on the effect of Convention on ship recycling industry in India. India had taken up the relevant issues during the various meetings of Marine Environmental Protection Committee (MEPC) of International Maritime Organization (IMO) and at two National IMO workshops held at Mumbai and Alang. The ship recycling industry was consulted in a meeting held on 23rd April 2009 and the stand of the Government was decided based on consensus arrived at during that meeting.
The fundamental apprehensions raised by the industry were deliberated, resolved and adhered to in the Marine Environmental Protection Committee (MEPC). The significant areas which were debated during the Conference and decision taken included the Ship Recycling Plan, receiving tankers for re-cycling with certification as safe-for-entry and safe-for-hot work, ‘Beaching method’ of ship recycling being followed in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan etc. India had proposed for inclusion of warships within the scope of the Convention. However, same was not agreed upon, on the pretext that, none of the IMO Conventions have the provision for warships and same can be included in the national legislation as deemed necessary.
At present in India the ship breaking activity is regulated by the directives of the Honorable Supreme Court of India in their ruling in W.P. (Civil) No. 657 of 1995 vide Order dated 6th September, 2007. A draft Ship Recycling Code is being formulated by the Ministry of Steel, which takes into account the following:-
(i) the directions contained in the Honorable Supreme Court Order of 2007,
(ii) the recommendations of Technical Experts Committee (set up by the Honourable Supreme Court), and ;
(iii) the requirements of various stakeholders, which include the concerned Ministries/ Departments, Port authorities, Pollution Control Boards and Recycling Industry.
This information was given by the Union Minister of Shipping, G. K. Vasan in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha ON July 27, 2009.
Internatioal convention on ship recycling
The proposal of signing and ratification of the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Re-cycling of Ships is under consideration.
Ship breaking industry had some apprehensions on the effect of Convention on ship recycling industry in India. India had taken up the relevant issues during the various meetings of Marine Environmental Protection Committee (MEPC) of International Maritime Organization (IMO) and at two National IMO workshops held at Mumbai and Alang. The ship recycling industry was consulted in a meeting held on 23rd April 2009 and the stand of the Government was decided based on consensus arrived at during that meeting.
The fundamental apprehensions raised by the industry were deliberated, resolved and adhered to in the Marine Environmental Protection Committee (MEPC). The significant areas which were debated during the Conference and decision taken included the Ship Recycling Plan, receiving tankers for re-cycling with certification as safe-for-entry and safe-for-hot work, ‘Beaching method’ of ship recycling being followed in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan etc. India had proposed for inclusion of warships within the scope of the Convention. However, same was not agreed upon, on the pretext that, none of the IMO Conventions have the provision for warships and same can be included in the national legislation as deemed necessary.
At present in India the ship breaking activity is regulated by the directives of the Honorable Supreme Court of India in their ruling in W.P. (Civil) No. 657 of 1995 vide Order dated 6th September, 2007. A draft Ship Recycling Code is being formulated by the Ministry of Steel, which takes into account the following:-
(i) the directions contained in the Honorable Supreme Court Order of 2007,
(ii) the recommendations of Technical Experts Committee (set up by the Honourable Supreme Court), and ;
(iii) the requirements of various stakeholders, which include the concerned Ministries/ Departments, Port authorities, Pollution Control Boards and Recycling Industry.
This information was given by the Union Minister of Shipping, G. K. Vasan in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha ON July 27, 2009.
Six Workers Burnt Alive at Alang Beach
Six labourers were burnt alive in an engine room at Alang ship breaking yard today morning.(Alang Police Station in picture) An incident of fire happened on plot no. 24 in the morning at Alang. Earlier, International Maritime Organisation led delegation has certified Alang beach as a safe place for hazardous industrial activity like ship dismantling.
After fire brigade rushed to the place and did its job, six bodies of laborers were found inside the engine room. The body of one worker could not be identified, the other five were identified as Dinesh, Dipak, Sanjay, Munna and Tulsi.
It is being said that the incident took place when some workers of Alang Auto & General Engineering Co. (P) Ltd were cutting down the engine portion of ship ‘M S Jesica’ in the world’s largest ship scrapping yard. The fire officials took almost three hours to douse the blaze. The exact cause of fire is yet to be ascertained.
The company is owned by Udai Agarwal and Abhinav Kumar
Agarwal's mobile no is: + 91. 9825205604 and Kumar's mobile is: + 91. 9825205204. The company's number in Alang is: + 91-2842-235774
Such things happen in a routine manner. Environment Secretary headed Supreme Court-appointed committee in its report has revealed that the fatal accident rate in Alang is in the range of 2 per 1000 as opposed to 0.34 per 1000 in the mining industry (which is considered worst in the industrial sector).
Two fatal accidents have been reported from the world’s largest ship-breaking yard in May and June 2009. The earlier accident that occurred on the 1st June, 2009 on Plot 15 of the ship-breaking yard involved a labourer identified as Ayodhyasingh Rajput. Such fatal accident occurred at Plot 24 D in May, 2009 as well. Similar accidents were reported in earlier months and years as well.
The industrial activity must be taken off the Alang beach to protect these dying workers and the coastal environment. The currently practiced “beaching method” whereby obsolete ships are run aground on ocean beaches for cutting and breaking apart in the intertidal zone can never be accomplished in a manner which is environmentally sound or protective of human health. Careful analysis of the intrinsic characteristics of beaching operations are conclusive that no amount of prescriptive improvements or protections can remedy the four fatal characteristics of intertidal beaching operations:
1. First there is the impossibility of containing pollutants on a tidal beach where hulls of ships are often breached accidentally or by cutting, or toxic paints erode or are abraded sending persistent organic pollutants, heavy metals and oils onto the beach and into the seawater;
2. Second, due to a shifting and soft wet tidal sand surface, there is the impossibility of rapidly bringing emergency response equipment, including fire-fighting equipment and vehicles, ambulances and cranes along side the ship, to assist or remove persons hurt inside the hull;
3. Third, the impossibility of allowing cranes to work alongside to lift heavy cut sections of a ship and thereby preventing heavy cut sections from being subject to gravity, shifting or falling directly into workers or into the marine environment; and
4. Finally, there is the absolute incompatibility of conducting hazardous waste management operations (which is what they are as long as ships contain hazardous wastes, in the ecologically delicate and vital coastal zone.
These fatal flaws of the beaching method inevitably will result in causing avoidable death and pollution. Please take immediate note of the grave situation in Alang and save the workers and the beach.
08/07/2009
Split Faces of Alang Beach
Alang is a census town in Bhavnagar district in the Indian state of Gujarat, India. It is the leading centre of the worldwide ship breaking and recycling industry. The facility, located 50 km from Bhavnagar, employs nearly 20,000 people in more than 163 ship-breaking plots. It is known as the graveyard of ships, a place where aging vessels are torn apart. The shipyards at Alang recycle approximately half of all ships salvaged around the world.
The first vessel – MV KOTA TENJONG was beached at Alang on 13th Feb. 1983. Since then, the yard has witnessed spectacular growth and has emerged as a leading ship Breaking Yard in the world. Tens of thousands of jobs are supported by this activity and millions of tons of steel are recovered.
Current ship-breaking is centered primarily in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and China. One of the attractions to the ship owners of having their vessels dismantled here is that the ship breakers in this part of the world receive little of the regulatory oversight that takes place in Europe or the US.
Large supertankers, car ferries, container ships, and a dwindling number of ocean liners are beached during high tide, and as the tide recedes, about 150-200 workers can break down a 10,000-tonne ship in three months, salvaging nearly every part. About 80 percent of a ship’s steel is reusable steel, cheaper than primary steel and used mostly in construction.
The salvage yards at Alang have generated controversy about working conditions, workers' living conditions, and the impact on the environment. One major problem is that despite many serious work-related injuries, the nearest full service hospital is 50 kilometres away in Bhavnagar. Alang itself is served by a small Red Cross hospital that offers only limited services.
Safer ship recycling
By Richard Meade, Wednesday 16 January 2008
VISITORS to ship breaking yards are rarely left unaffected by the experience. “Like walking through the gates of hell,” was one of the more memorable descriptions offered by a regular industry visitor to one of South Asia’s scrapping beaches.
It is no surprise then that upon returning from last week’s visit to a Bangladesh breaking yard, one of the Euro MEP visitors launched a predictably scathing report exposing the “dreadful conditions” he had witnessed.
He was right of course. Ship recycling, as we must now refer it, is carried out at an unacceptably high cost to human health. Workers are routinely exposed to all manner of toxic death traps and fatal accidents are still a depressingly regular occurrence.
So it was interesting to read that upon returning from a similar trip to Alang as part of an IMO-led delegation, delegates were “impressed” and “pleasantly surprised” by what they saw.
It is heartening to note that improvements have been made, but as the eye witness noted what he saw was not necessarily typical.
We are all well aware of the financial, political and moral arguments that have dogged shipping’s dirty little secret for years.
When the IMO delegates sit down in Nantes next week to finalise their draft ship recycling convention, they not only need to hammer out a difficult agreement between themselves. They need to produce a workable piece of legislation that will convince the rest of the world that this is enough and can make a difference to this seemingly interminable problem.
http://lloydslist.com/ll/blogs/safer-ship-recycling/20001004381.htm;jsessionid=57A4C66DE333DCE9BFB2F2B9F0EE3D87.065acf6a61c52eed94766d1ba7da5d95d4ecd58a
The first vessel – MV KOTA TENJONG was beached at Alang on 13th Feb. 1983. Since then, the yard has witnessed spectacular growth and has emerged as a leading ship Breaking Yard in the world. Tens of thousands of jobs are supported by this activity and millions of tons of steel are recovered.
Current ship-breaking is centered primarily in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and China. One of the attractions to the ship owners of having their vessels dismantled here is that the ship breakers in this part of the world receive little of the regulatory oversight that takes place in Europe or the US.
Large supertankers, car ferries, container ships, and a dwindling number of ocean liners are beached during high tide, and as the tide recedes, about 150-200 workers can break down a 10,000-tonne ship in three months, salvaging nearly every part. About 80 percent of a ship’s steel is reusable steel, cheaper than primary steel and used mostly in construction.
The salvage yards at Alang have generated controversy about working conditions, workers' living conditions, and the impact on the environment. One major problem is that despite many serious work-related injuries, the nearest full service hospital is 50 kilometres away in Bhavnagar. Alang itself is served by a small Red Cross hospital that offers only limited services.
Safer ship recycling
By Richard Meade, Wednesday 16 January 2008
VISITORS to ship breaking yards are rarely left unaffected by the experience. “Like walking through the gates of hell,” was one of the more memorable descriptions offered by a regular industry visitor to one of South Asia’s scrapping beaches.
It is no surprise then that upon returning from last week’s visit to a Bangladesh breaking yard, one of the Euro MEP visitors launched a predictably scathing report exposing the “dreadful conditions” he had witnessed.
He was right of course. Ship recycling, as we must now refer it, is carried out at an unacceptably high cost to human health. Workers are routinely exposed to all manner of toxic death traps and fatal accidents are still a depressingly regular occurrence.
So it was interesting to read that upon returning from a similar trip to Alang as part of an IMO-led delegation, delegates were “impressed” and “pleasantly surprised” by what they saw.
It is heartening to note that improvements have been made, but as the eye witness noted what he saw was not necessarily typical.
We are all well aware of the financial, political and moral arguments that have dogged shipping’s dirty little secret for years.
When the IMO delegates sit down in Nantes next week to finalise their draft ship recycling convention, they not only need to hammer out a difficult agreement between themselves. They need to produce a workable piece of legislation that will convince the rest of the world that this is enough and can make a difference to this seemingly interminable problem.
http://lloydslist.com/ll/blogs/safer-ship-recycling/20001004381.htm;jsessionid=57A4C66DE333DCE9BFB2F2B9F0EE3D87.065acf6a61c52eed94766d1ba7da5d95d4ecd58a
Many Faces of Alang Beach
Preliminary Findings of Independent Visit to Alang Beach post Supreme Court Order of September 2007 & Adoption of IMO Treaty May 2009
July 2009
New Delhi
Fact Finding Team
1. Villagers & fishermen from Alang and surrounding areas
2. Federico Demaria, Ecological economics researcher
3. Gopal Krishna, Environment health researcher
4. A Zoologist
5. A Microbiologist
6. A Safety Officer
7. A Trade Union leader
Summary: Findings of the first visit by independent observers after the September 2007 Supreme Court's order, the adoption of a new treaty on ship breaking by International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in May 2009 and the retirement of Hon'ble Justice Arijit Pasayat are quite revealing of how our environmental borders have been compromised despite the existence of national and international laws.
The findings capture many faces of Alang beach. It includes hitherto un-accessed academic research findings about the Alang beach and a large number of rare pictures of Alang.
The observations are in contrary to what was noted by at least two visits in January 2008 and January 2009 by an international delegation led by officials of International Maritime Organisation, UNEP, EU and Indian officials from the Ministry of Shipping among others.
Introduction
Alang beach faces indiscriminate disposal of waste material viz, oil, cotton, dead cargo of inorganic material like hydrated/solidified elements, thermocol pieces, glass wool, rubber, broken tiles, etc. The use of the beach for a hazardous industrial activity started in 1982 in the pre-Environment Protection Act, 1986 era. Even after the enactment of Act nothing has been done so far to remediate beach for posterity. The toxic materials emerge from the obsolete ships that come from the developed countries for disposal. “Decontamination of ships before they are exported to India for breaking" is mandatory as per Indian Supreme Court’s order on Hazardous Wastes dated 14th October, 2003. This progressive order upheld the UN’s Basel Convention on Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes & Their Disposal. But it has been followed only in violation. The case has been going on in the court since 1995 where Union Ministry of Environment & Forests is the Respondent. While fighting this case on behalf of the petitioner, Sanjay Parikh, a well known public interest lawyer has revealed the limitations of environmental jurisprudence and the contrast it presents in comparison to European and US standards.
At least three Supreme Court committees have looked into the plight of the Alang beach and the industrial operations but nothing has changed at all.
On September 6, 2007, the Supreme Court bench held that “It is desirable that the Government of India shall formulate a comprehensive Code incorporating the recommendations and the same has to be operative until the concerned Statutes are amended to be in line with the recommendations. Until the Code comes into play, the recommendations shall be operative by virtue of this order.” Although almost 2 years have passed, the code is not ready as yet. Admittedly, there is no capacity to test generation of persistent organic pollutants, and complete containment of all gaseous, liquid and solid residues. Asbestos wastes, and its total quantities of such waste remains unknown.
Now a new UN treaty has been adopted in May 2009 (which is unlikely to come into effect and even if does it would not be before 2016) is an attempt to undo the work done by the global environmental movement of the past to legislate and regulate through the UN’s Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, which has been endorsed by the Supreme Court of India. The treaty does nothing to prevent hazardous wastes such as asbestos, PCBs, old fuels, from being exported to the poorest communities and most desperate workers in developing countries and ignores Polluter Pays/Producer Responsibility Principle, Environmental Justice/Transfer no Harm Principles, Waste Prevention/Substitution Principles and Principle of Environmentally Sound Management.
The treaty promotes externalization of cost of pollution that was so infamously championed by the Lawrence Summers, the Chief Economist, World Bank (currently the Chief Economic Advisor, US President) so that real costs and liabilities of ships at end-of-life gets transferred to developing countries like India.
Local regulations such as in India requiring that imported products meet local standards on such matters as recycling, toxic substances, labelling and inspection has been easily overruled so far. This treaty makes such violations legitimate. Consequently, environmental and worker groups reject this act of legislation by IMO, a UN body on a subject which is beyond its competence and jurisdiction.
The adoption of the treaty is akin to writing the obituary of the UN's Basel Convention on Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal through the existing text of the IMO treaty on ship breaking /ship recycling. Basel Convention is a UN treaty controlling such hazardous wastes with 170 member countries and prohibiting the export of all hazardous wastes to developing countries, and they have adopted shipbreaking guidelines calling for a phase-out of the use of beaches for breaking ships.
A European Parliament resolution has also condemned the breaking of ships on beaches this year but Europeans countries chose to adopt the treaty with such condemnable practice. Ships are dismantled primarily for secondary steel but ships are laden with hazardous waste and substances such as asbestos, oily wastes, PCBs and toxic paints. Notably, the issue of radioactive secondary steel and hazards from it remained unaddressed.
Trade Unions and NGOs working in the fields of workers rights, human rights, environment, and health, express total lack of faith in the proposed UN treaty on Ship Breaking/ Ship Recycling through IMO because its the provisions in the treaty are regressive in nature.
It ends up giving incentives to those companies who exploit workers and pollute coastal environment. It is sad that now international legal provisions regulating trade in dead and obsolete ships would be in a suspension of sort.
Ship breaking/ Ship Recycling is industrial activity for the production of secondary steel. In any case IMO has no competence to deal with such an industrial process which is competent only in maritime matters.
The text of the IMO Convention on the Safe Recycling of Ships is a text that has been prepared at the behest of the by the global shipping industry in general and European ship owning countries and ship owners in particular.
Current legal regime legitimizes the ongoing exploitation of workers, villagers and the marine environment at the end of the life of a ship. As long the ship breaking operations has continued and continues on the once pristine Alang beach there has not been and there will never bee safety either for migrant workers or for the coastal environment.
Fact Finding Survey
Between May, 2009 and July 2009, the Fact Finding Team visited Alang and the villages in its vicinity several times besides visiting Central Salt & Marine Chemicals Research Institute, Bhavnagar and at least four departments of Bhavnagar University accessing their studies.
Survey Observations
1. Illegal Appropriation of Beach Land
2. Illegal Dumping of Waste on Beaches
3. Illegal Dumping of hazardous materials like asbestos in the agricultural fields
4. Illegal Dumping of Waste & chemicals in the sea
5. Radioactive Materials ignored
6. Disappearance of certain species of fishes
7. Ill Treatment of Migrant Workers from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and, Orissa, their living condition and their worst occupational health situation
8. Illegal sand mining on the beach
Recommendations
Based on the interactions and discussion with the villagers, fishermen, workers, officials along with the perusal of the academic research available in Central Salt & Marine Chemicals Research Institute, a CSIR unit Bhavnagar and at least four departments of Bhavnagar University and our observations on the beach and in Alang surroundings we make the following recommendations:
1. Stop ongoing contamination of once pristine beach of Alang
2. Take industrial activity off the beach to protect vulnerable migrant workers and coastal environment
3. Disassociate with the new IMO treaty on ship breaking that fails to stop the fatally flawed technique of breaking ships through “beaching method”, where ships are cut open in the sea and tidal flats of the beach in a method in which it is impossible to contain oils and toxic contaminants from entering the marine environment, bring lifting cranes along side ships to lift heavy cut pieces or to rescue workers and bring emergency equipment (ambulances, fire trucks) to the workers or the ships Protect the fragile inter-tidal coastal zone from the hazardous wastes on ships.
4. Removal of ship breaking/ ship recycling operations from the beach.
5. Protection of marine environment from pollution
6. Ensure that ship owners and ship owning countries escape accountability for their contaminated ships
7. Make public the names and health records of some 40, 000 workers employed in the ship-breaking activity
8. Researchers and journalists should have open access to Alang beach because hiding the wounds inflicted on ecosystem does not mean it would disappear. It might be already too late for remedial measures
9. Take note of the fact that tidal beach whose soft sands cannot support crucial safety measures such as heavy lifting or emergency response equipment and which allow pollution to seep directly into the delicate coastal zone environment. No country in the developed world allows ships to be broken on their beaches
10. Ship breaking is possible with proper technologies and infrastructure but only away from the ecologically sensitive beaches and enforced regulations however most ship-owners choose to sell their ships through dubious cash buyers in tax havens by under reporting the price thus indulging in a black economy
For Details: Gopal Krishna, E-mail: krishnagreen@gmail.com
Federico Demaria, E-mail:federicodemaria@hotmail.com
July 2009
New Delhi
Fact Finding Team
1. Villagers & fishermen from Alang and surrounding areas
2. Federico Demaria, Ecological economics researcher
3. Gopal Krishna, Environment health researcher
4. A Zoologist
5. A Microbiologist
6. A Safety Officer
7. A Trade Union leader
Summary: Findings of the first visit by independent observers after the September 2007 Supreme Court's order, the adoption of a new treaty on ship breaking by International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in May 2009 and the retirement of Hon'ble Justice Arijit Pasayat are quite revealing of how our environmental borders have been compromised despite the existence of national and international laws.
The findings capture many faces of Alang beach. It includes hitherto un-accessed academic research findings about the Alang beach and a large number of rare pictures of Alang.
The observations are in contrary to what was noted by at least two visits in January 2008 and January 2009 by an international delegation led by officials of International Maritime Organisation, UNEP, EU and Indian officials from the Ministry of Shipping among others.
Introduction
Alang beach faces indiscriminate disposal of waste material viz, oil, cotton, dead cargo of inorganic material like hydrated/solidified elements, thermocol pieces, glass wool, rubber, broken tiles, etc. The use of the beach for a hazardous industrial activity started in 1982 in the pre-Environment Protection Act, 1986 era. Even after the enactment of Act nothing has been done so far to remediate beach for posterity. The toxic materials emerge from the obsolete ships that come from the developed countries for disposal. “Decontamination of ships before they are exported to India for breaking" is mandatory as per Indian Supreme Court’s order on Hazardous Wastes dated 14th October, 2003. This progressive order upheld the UN’s Basel Convention on Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes & Their Disposal. But it has been followed only in violation. The case has been going on in the court since 1995 where Union Ministry of Environment & Forests is the Respondent. While fighting this case on behalf of the petitioner, Sanjay Parikh, a well known public interest lawyer has revealed the limitations of environmental jurisprudence and the contrast it presents in comparison to European and US standards.
At least three Supreme Court committees have looked into the plight of the Alang beach and the industrial operations but nothing has changed at all.
On September 6, 2007, the Supreme Court bench held that “It is desirable that the Government of India shall formulate a comprehensive Code incorporating the recommendations and the same has to be operative until the concerned Statutes are amended to be in line with the recommendations. Until the Code comes into play, the recommendations shall be operative by virtue of this order.” Although almost 2 years have passed, the code is not ready as yet. Admittedly, there is no capacity to test generation of persistent organic pollutants, and complete containment of all gaseous, liquid and solid residues. Asbestos wastes, and its total quantities of such waste remains unknown.
Now a new UN treaty has been adopted in May 2009 (which is unlikely to come into effect and even if does it would not be before 2016) is an attempt to undo the work done by the global environmental movement of the past to legislate and regulate through the UN’s Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, which has been endorsed by the Supreme Court of India. The treaty does nothing to prevent hazardous wastes such as asbestos, PCBs, old fuels, from being exported to the poorest communities and most desperate workers in developing countries and ignores Polluter Pays/Producer Responsibility Principle, Environmental Justice/Transfer no Harm Principles, Waste Prevention/Substitution Principles and Principle of Environmentally Sound Management.
The treaty promotes externalization of cost of pollution that was so infamously championed by the Lawrence Summers, the Chief Economist, World Bank (currently the Chief Economic Advisor, US President) so that real costs and liabilities of ships at end-of-life gets transferred to developing countries like India.
Local regulations such as in India requiring that imported products meet local standards on such matters as recycling, toxic substances, labelling and inspection has been easily overruled so far. This treaty makes such violations legitimate. Consequently, environmental and worker groups reject this act of legislation by IMO, a UN body on a subject which is beyond its competence and jurisdiction.
The adoption of the treaty is akin to writing the obituary of the UN's Basel Convention on Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal through the existing text of the IMO treaty on ship breaking /ship recycling. Basel Convention is a UN treaty controlling such hazardous wastes with 170 member countries and prohibiting the export of all hazardous wastes to developing countries, and they have adopted shipbreaking guidelines calling for a phase-out of the use of beaches for breaking ships.
A European Parliament resolution has also condemned the breaking of ships on beaches this year but Europeans countries chose to adopt the treaty with such condemnable practice. Ships are dismantled primarily for secondary steel but ships are laden with hazardous waste and substances such as asbestos, oily wastes, PCBs and toxic paints. Notably, the issue of radioactive secondary steel and hazards from it remained unaddressed.
Trade Unions and NGOs working in the fields of workers rights, human rights, environment, and health, express total lack of faith in the proposed UN treaty on Ship Breaking/ Ship Recycling through IMO because its the provisions in the treaty are regressive in nature.
It ends up giving incentives to those companies who exploit workers and pollute coastal environment. It is sad that now international legal provisions regulating trade in dead and obsolete ships would be in a suspension of sort.
Ship breaking/ Ship Recycling is industrial activity for the production of secondary steel. In any case IMO has no competence to deal with such an industrial process which is competent only in maritime matters.
The text of the IMO Convention on the Safe Recycling of Ships is a text that has been prepared at the behest of the by the global shipping industry in general and European ship owning countries and ship owners in particular.
Current legal regime legitimizes the ongoing exploitation of workers, villagers and the marine environment at the end of the life of a ship. As long the ship breaking operations has continued and continues on the once pristine Alang beach there has not been and there will never bee safety either for migrant workers or for the coastal environment.
Fact Finding Survey
Between May, 2009 and July 2009, the Fact Finding Team visited Alang and the villages in its vicinity several times besides visiting Central Salt & Marine Chemicals Research Institute, Bhavnagar and at least four departments of Bhavnagar University accessing their studies.
Survey Observations
1. Illegal Appropriation of Beach Land
2. Illegal Dumping of Waste on Beaches
3. Illegal Dumping of hazardous materials like asbestos in the agricultural fields
4. Illegal Dumping of Waste & chemicals in the sea
5. Radioactive Materials ignored
6. Disappearance of certain species of fishes
7. Ill Treatment of Migrant Workers from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and, Orissa, their living condition and their worst occupational health situation
8. Illegal sand mining on the beach
Recommendations
Based on the interactions and discussion with the villagers, fishermen, workers, officials along with the perusal of the academic research available in Central Salt & Marine Chemicals Research Institute, a CSIR unit Bhavnagar and at least four departments of Bhavnagar University and our observations on the beach and in Alang surroundings we make the following recommendations:
1. Stop ongoing contamination of once pristine beach of Alang
2. Take industrial activity off the beach to protect vulnerable migrant workers and coastal environment
3. Disassociate with the new IMO treaty on ship breaking that fails to stop the fatally flawed technique of breaking ships through “beaching method”, where ships are cut open in the sea and tidal flats of the beach in a method in which it is impossible to contain oils and toxic contaminants from entering the marine environment, bring lifting cranes along side ships to lift heavy cut pieces or to rescue workers and bring emergency equipment (ambulances, fire trucks) to the workers or the ships Protect the fragile inter-tidal coastal zone from the hazardous wastes on ships.
4. Removal of ship breaking/ ship recycling operations from the beach.
5. Protection of marine environment from pollution
6. Ensure that ship owners and ship owning countries escape accountability for their contaminated ships
7. Make public the names and health records of some 40, 000 workers employed in the ship-breaking activity
8. Researchers and journalists should have open access to Alang beach because hiding the wounds inflicted on ecosystem does not mean it would disappear. It might be already too late for remedial measures
9. Take note of the fact that tidal beach whose soft sands cannot support crucial safety measures such as heavy lifting or emergency response equipment and which allow pollution to seep directly into the delicate coastal zone environment. No country in the developed world allows ships to be broken on their beaches
10. Ship breaking is possible with proper technologies and infrastructure but only away from the ecologically sensitive beaches and enforced regulations however most ship-owners choose to sell their ships through dubious cash buyers in tax havens by under reporting the price thus indulging in a black economy
For Details: Gopal Krishna, E-mail: krishnagreen@gmail.com
Federico Demaria, E-mail:federicodemaria@hotmail.com
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