SHIP DEMOLITION

In February 2009, « because of the restricted visibility due to foggy conditions » the chemical tanker Kashmir loaded with 30.000 t of oil condensates used by the petrochemical industry collided with the container-ship Sima Saman 13 km off Dubaï. The fire which broke out was only brought under control late at night. The plume of smoke darkened the industrial zone and the port of Jebel Ali, south of Dubaï all day long. Five months later the Kashmir was sold for scrapping and towed to India. Soots, residual liquids, melted materials, released asbestos and PCB, dioxins, the working conditions are particularly dangerous for labourers while breaking up damaged ships.

The shame remains but the crime scene has disappeared.

In October 1992, the Renata (then named MC Ruby) was owned by MC Shipping Company, a subsidiary of the Vlassov Group based in Monaco; her ship manager was V Ships, another subsidiary company of the group. The ship was loaded with cocoa in Ghana and was bound for Le Havre, Amsterdam and Hamburg. During the trip, nine stowaways were discovered, stripped of their money and confined in the forepeak ; they were brought up on the deck by night, then struck and thrown on the high seas between Takoradi and Le Havre. The only survivor alerted officials in Le Havre. On December 9th 1995, at the end of a four week trial, the master and the chief-mate were condemned to a life sentence and three other members of the Ukrainian crew to 20 years of detention. Neither the Vlassov group, nor their subsidiary companies (MC Shipping and V. Ships) have been sued, in spite of the degraded conditions imposed on the crew and the many additional traffics on the ship which were highlighted and known to all. The significant bond between the ship management and the crew was not retained. See« Coke en stock », La Flèche, hiver 1996 and « Le désert des Barbares » communiqué de Robin des Bois, 9 décembre 1995.

Goodbye Bangladesh, hello Philippines?

On March 18^th 2009 the Bangladeshi High Court of Justice ordered the closure within two weeks of all ship-breaking yards operating without environmental clearance. Considering the state of all the ship-breaking yards in the country this would mean completely closing down the field. The decision also prohibits the importation of vessels which have not undergone any preliminary extraction of hazardous materials (asbestos, PCBs, heavy metals, hydrocarbons …) To prepare an appeal against this decision the industries obtained a delay of three weeks. In the meantime, the vessels continue to arrive and are beached in Chittagong. We are left to see how this decision will be followed up, the decisions effects and if it will encourage the Bangladeshi government to put standards in place and follow up the environmental and social conditions of ship-breaking or if the demolition market will move elsewhere: due to the crisis the Japanese ship owners have an influx of vessels to be demolished and are pushing the Filipino government to launch into the demolition business.

Only in French.

The 14th Information bulletin on ship demolition is available. It covers the period of September 22^nd to December 31^st during which a rush of old hulls heading towards Asian ship-breaking yards is noted. 54% of these vessels belonged to European ship-owners or belonged to members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). In this trend the French ship-owner CGM-CMA sent to be demolished the I’Ursula Delmas ex-Sherbro, the Véronique Delmas and the CMA-CGM Potomac. 65% of the vessels left for demolition during the last trimester of 2008 had previously been detained in harbours worldwide for deficiencies; this confirms deterioration in the maintenance and in the general condition of vessels. They all left without pre cleaning.

Only in French.

While the chopping down of fishing boats is persisting in the French slipways except for a few of them, declarations of good faith from the owners and from the excavators continue. Cargo ships and other large size vessels keep on, except for a few exceptions, to flow towards Asian graveyards under the common convenience flag of Consensus-and-status-Quo Islands.

Robin des Bois is releasing their 13th information bulletin on ship demolition. Listed below are some bullet points from this bulletin which is available today on the associations’ internet site:

Only in French.

Only in French.

Within the framework of adapting the fishing fleet to the European policy, hundreds of boats will be demolished in France from now until the end of the year. Each owner receives a substantial compensation bonus from the European Union and the French State which could reach up to 600,000 €. The bonus is calculated taking into account the age of the vessel, its size, the type of fishing and the related catch quota and finally the engine’s power. The paying of this bonus is triggered by a proof of destruction or of the incapacity to navigate.