SHIP DEMOLITION

Après l’affaire du porte-avions Clemenceau, Robin des Bois a voulu y voir clair dans le monde de la démolition et du recyclage des vieux navires de commerce et militaires en fin de vie. A cet effet, un bulletin trimestriel d’information et d’analyses a été mis en chantier et lancé en 2006. Chaque numéro de « A la casse », « Shipbreaking » en version anglaise, est un tour du monde des meilleures techniques disponibles et beaucoup plus nombreuses des pires techniques disponibles. Un gros succès éditorial épluché par les spécialistes du monde entier.

(Français) La bataille du Rio Tagus n’est pas perdue

9 Apr 2018

Only in French.

Lire la suite

Sète in West Africa

5 Apr 2018

Sète in West Africa

Robin des Bois (Robin Hood) suggests that the port of Sète along the Mediterranean Sea be by special derogation incorporated into the Abuja MoU (Memorandum of Understanding), a West African maritime agreement reputed to be non-existent in the quality control of ships calling in the ports of Abidjan, Lomé, Lagos among others.

Indeed the port of Sète and his maritime safety centre are getting ready in the coming days to let the Paris, a Spanish tug, leave Sète towing the Rio Tagus spoiled by rust and water ingress. She is berthed at Sète for 8 years.

Lire la suite

Shipbreaking #50, from October 1 to December 31, 2017

15 Feb 2018

Shipbreaking #50, from October 1 to December 31, 2017

“Shipbreaking” #50, bulletin on end-of-life ships
From October 1 to December 31, 2017 – 99 pages

pdf – 17,6 Mo

– Since Issue # 1 (January 2006), “Shipbreaking” has accompanied 10,026 end-of-life ships, which is to say a 1715 km-long convoy, a tonnage of 87 million tons of scrap metal, about 2 million tons of waste and a US$ 33 billion market. Europe has demolished 219 of them.

– Alert on hazardous towing operations. Will the Puma (ex-Marechiaro, ex-Mira A, ex-Comenda, ex-Salvigour, ex-Yorkshireman) become the new Lyubov Orlova ?

Lire la suite

(Français) City of Antwerp

20 Dec 2017

(Français) City of Antwerp

Only in French.

Lire la suite

At 62-year old, the ex-Chambord is going to be scrapped.

29 Nov 2017

At 62-year old, the ex-Chambord is going to be scrapped.

The Chambord, oil tanker for Société Maritime des Pétroles BP was built in Dunkirk by Ateliers et Chantiers de France. On January 11, 1955, her launch ceremony under the French flag was presided over by Jacques Chaban-Delmas, Minister of Public Works, Transport, and Merchant Navy, in front of a crowd of notable spectators who arrived in two special trains and a fleet of coaches and cars. With her length of 203.39 m, width of 26.25 m, and 33,000 t of deadweight, she was a giant and the flagship of the French oil tanker fleet. Complete with individual, air-conditioned cabins for all, private bathrooms with showers for the officers, cool water dispensers in all of the corridors, refrigerators at all stations, and a saltwater pool, she was a symbol of rebirth and universal progress. Three sisterships left the shipyard in Dunkirk between 1955 and 1958, the Chenonceaux, Cheverny and Chaumont. The Chambord had made her maiden voyage between Marseille and Al Ahmadi (Kuwait) in May 1955. For 17 years, she supplied the French BP refineries.

Lire la suite

Robin des Bois shipyard is launching the Shipbreaking #49

26 Oct 2017

– Alert on knowingly wreckless towings of offshore platforms and discarded ships from Northern Europe to Turkey. The case of the two Maersk supply ships sunk off Brittany is dissected. Letter on this subject to the authorities concerned, including the two Maritime Prefects of the French Atlantic coast.

– The end of Shen Neng 1. In 2010, she polluted and degraded the Great Barrier Reef off Queensland, Australia, to gain 2 miles on a 4500-mile return voyage to China.

– The Rio Tagus has been stuck since 2010 or how the French government and the port of Sète are trying to get rid of a bulky wreck.

Lire la suite

Maersk trapped by radioactivity

24 Oct 2017

Maersk trapped by radioactivity

In accordance with a press release by Robin des Bois dated June 16, 2017 and with numerous prior reports in the NGO’s quarterly publication “Shipbreaking”, the Bangladesh Supreme Court has just banned the dismantling of the North Sea Producer, a former FPSO (Floating Production Storage Offloading), i. e. a floating plant used to refine and store crude oil extracted through offshore platforms.

Lire la suite

Alang Bay under the radioactive threat of 3 European ships

11 Oct 2017

In close succession, Alang Bay, Gujarat State, India, and the workers have welcomed three discarded ships belonging to European ship owners and liable to present “hot spots” of radioactivity.

1- The BBC Shanghai, a general cargo ship. She has been carrying nuclear waste, notably between France and Australia (Cf. “BBC Shanghai, a radioactive risk for Asia”, september 12, 2017)

2- The Atlantic Cartier, built in 1985 in Dunkirk, France. She flies the Swedish flag. She is a Ro Ro container ship able in her initial profile to ship 2100 boxes and 600 cars. She was jumboized in 1987. She suffered a major fire in Hamburg, Germany, during the night of May 1st, 2013.

Lire la suite

The Rio Tagus Stuck in Sète

25 Sep 2017

French authorities are delaying a final decision concerning the Rio Tagus. At this time, they are contemplating exporting the old freighter under the regulations on transboundary movements of waste, but they do not respond to two essential questions.

Can the Rio Tagus be exempt from the application of European regulations on ship dismantling? Can the Rio Tagus be towed away in compliance with requirements on maritime safety and environmental protection?

For Robin des Bois, the answer to both questions is no.

Lire la suite

BBC Shanghai, a radioactive risk for Asia

12 Sep 2017

BBC Shanghai, a radioactive risk for Asia

October 2015. The BBC Shanghai, owned by Germany-based Briese Schiffahrts GmbH & Co KG, is making the headlines of the world’s maritime shipping news. She has been selected by the French nuclear operator AREVA to ship to Australia radioactive waste reprocessed in Normandy at the La Hague plant. However, the ship had a bad record regarding technical deficiencies as attested by the maritime authorities of all continents; she had been detained three times in Bilbao (Spain), Gladstone (Australia) and in March 2015 in Honolulu (Hawaii, United States). The international mobilization to demand the chartering of a safe ship will do nothing about it, the BBC Shanghai loads 25 tons of radioactive waste and leaves Cherbourg (France) on October 15 for Port Kembla near Sydney. Indonesia has denied her access to its waters. She arrived at Port Kembla on December 5 after a 25,000 km trip.

Lire la suite