SHIP DEMOLITION

The Hua Wen, ex-Probo Koala is going to be demolished in the coming weeks in China. From August 2006 on, the scattering in Abidjan of desulphurization waste containing mercaptan and hydrogen sulphide has provoked a panic and the paralysis of Ivory Coast business capital. 16 fatalities were officially reported; the victims had been exposed to the toxic emanations. The toxic and stinky waste which had been unloaded from the Probo Koala slop tanks had illegally left Amsterdam and Tallinn, two North European ports (1).

Lyubov Orlova, Press release # 1

Canada often sends its used commercial vessels to be broken up a long way away, in particular in Turkey.

In September 2011, the Canadian Miner, bound for Aliaga (Turkey) under tow, broke her towline, drifted and ran aground on Scatarie Island, in Nova Scotia. The cost of cutting and dismantling was evaluated at 24 million $. The wreck is dislocating and is a threat to the environment and the local fisheries. The Canadian Miner is still stranded on the island. The removal operations have been cancelled.

Lyubov Orlova. IMO 7391434. Passenger ship. Length 100 m, 2,695 t. Cook Islands flag since 2009. Classification society Russian Maritime Register of Shipping. Built in 1976 in Kraljevica (Croatia) by Titovo. Detained in 2002 in Saint Petersburg (Russia). Former Soviet passenger ship owned by Far Eastern Shipping Company (Fesco) from Vladivostok ; acquired in 1986 by the Lubov Orlova Shipping Company, Malta based with Russian capital. This vessel with a capacity of 122 passengers was finally chartered by Cruise North Expeditions, an Inuit company which assigned her on their summer cruises in the Northern Canada. (Hudson and Baffin Bay …). As a result of salaries not paid to her 51 crew members and debts to her bunker suppliers she was seized on September 25th, 2010 in St John (Newfoundland, Canada). She was replaced by her sister-ship the Bahamian Clipper Adventurer (ex-Anna Tarasova) managed by International Shipping Partners, Miami. On August 27th, 2010, the Clipper Adventurer ran aground on a reef in the region of Nunavut, threatening the Canadian Arctic Ocean (Cf. “A new contaminated site in the Arctic”). The Lyubov Orlova was sold as is for an unknown destination of demolition. US $ 275 per ton.

– The final 2012 sprint, p 6

– 2012, a record year, p 7

293 ships in 2006

1328 in 2012

– already broken up, but heading for demolition ! p 1

– ships without place of refuge, p 4

– a regular visitor to the Belgian Congo to be scrapped in Lithuania, p 67

“Shipbreaking” # 30, 69 pages – 4,7 Mo

The 29^th publication of Ship-breaking.com is available (64 pages – 5,2 Mo)

This quarterly publication is an information bulletin and analysis on the demolition of vessels, Ship-breaking.com is read by thousands of specialists across the globe. The letters to the editor section point to the fact that the international public of Ship-breaking.com increases year after year.

The first edition of Ship-breaking.com was published in February 2006 in order for Robin des Bois to better understand the lifecycle of commercial ships and military vessels following the Clemenceau aircraft carrier affair. On this subject Ship-breaking.com has shown that exporting military vessels to Asia for demolition seems to be fixed in stone. Ship-breaking.com n°29 underlines this with the examples of the Russian cruiser Murmansk and the British frigate HMS Plymouth.

Marseille has inherited two out of age cruiseships that should go to a museum or more logically to scrapping. They no longer meet the requirements of international conventions on the protection of passengers and crews, and on the protection of the environment (SOLAS and MARPOL Conventions of the International Maritime Organization). In 2011, the average age of passenger ships to be withdrawn from operation was 36 years.

The Athena was built in 1948, she is 64 years old now. She was the subject of a Robin des Bois’s press release on July 25, 2012 (See Alert in the Arctic). Robin des Bois repeats that the journey of this ship to the Arctic presents considerable risks. Her immobilization in Marseille due to unpaid bills if proof that the Portuguese shipowner does not have the means to properly maintain his ships, or even to pay his crews. Athena, under the name Stockholm, collided with the Italian cruise ship, Andrea Doria, off New York in July 1956 (see photos and records in the press release “Alert in the Arctic”).

Everything on ship-breaking from  April16th to July 15th

56 pages of texts and illustrations; “Shipbreaking” # 28 (pdf – 3,70 Mo)

– A scandal in Portugal.

– A fast ship leaves for breaking.

– Europe, number one exporter in the world … of out of use ships

– A sheep cruise liner runs aground in Chittagong

Only in French.

“Shipbreaking” # 27, Robin des Bois’ periodical bulletin on ship demolition is available.

This edition contains inventories on the rush towards Asia of ships to be broken up, the prices of metal by country, portraits of the ex-Exxon Valdez and of the Pacific Princess gone for demolition in India and Turkey and the presentation of a ship-breaking facility project in Senegal.

74 pages of information and photos to discover the world of sea and shipping. (pdf – 3,9 Mo)

Pacific Princess, the Love Boat is not enternaining anymore © ABC

A sea lion loses a place of refuge on the Akademik Vavilov © Marinetraffic

Ship-breaking.com # 27

1020 ships for scrap in 2011, a new record

For the third consecutive year, cleaning continues in the shipping world as over one thousand ships are disposed of. With 1020 units going for scrap, 2011 beats the 2009 record (1,006 ships). The demolition market grew by 7% compared to the previous year in terms of the number of ships and by 27% by volume of recycled metal. The size of the scrapped vessels is significantly greater with 268 ships over 200m against 168 in 2010. 24 vessels over 300m in length were sent for scrap among which two thirds of tankers and particularly double hulled VLCCs (Very Large Crude Carriers) some as young as 13 to 16 years of age.