“Shipbreaking” #54, special issue
Bulletin of information and analysis on end-of-life ships (pdf – 7.7 Mo)
October-November-December 2018 Review
+ Overall assessment for 2018
October-November-December 2018 :
– 90% of the ships were scrapped in Asia and 38% belonged to European shipowners.
– The number of deflaggings for the last trip is increasing. It represents 44% of the ships to be scrapped. Palau is at the top of the hearse flags. The archipelago is the only one to deal with companies based in the British Virgin Islands.
– China is withdrawing from the market. Only 2 to 3 demolition yards remain open. Before suspending access in early 2019, China hosted to be demolished the Steve Irwin from the NGO Sea Shepherd, Netherlands flag, and the Swan, Curacao flag, a heavy lift carrier.
Trash cows
All the studies agree. Cows grazing grass, eating hay and corn silage swallow metal and plastic waste. These ingestions cause tumors, infections, fatal diseases.
In France, Interbev (Interprofessional Livestock and Meat) estimates that 60,000 large bovines suffer from tumours and infections caused by the accumulation of waste in their rumens. These 60,000 victims have been partially or totally seized from slaughterhouses and in the later case, the meat was not at all marketed. It is likely that the number of cows affected by this “waste disease” is higher than the official figure, and that deaths before arrival at the slaughterhouse are not quantified. The symptoms of “waste disease” are not specific and can be misattributed by farmers and veterinarians to other maladies.
Trash cows
All the studies agree. Cows grazing grass, eating hay and corn silage swallow metal and plastic waste. These ingestions cause tumors, infections, fatal diseases.
In France, Interbev (Interprofessional Livestock and Meat) estimates that 60,000 large bovines suffer from tumours and infections caused by the accumulation of waste in their rumens. These 60,000 victims have been partially or totally seized from slaughterhouses and in the later case, the meat was not at all marketed. It is likely that the number of cows affected by this “waste disease” is higher than the official figure, and that deaths before arrival at the slaughterhouse are not quantified. The symptoms of “waste disease” are not specific and can be misattributed by farmers and veterinarians to other maladies.
2008-2018, maritime and waterway passenger transport: more than 12,000 dead
– 272 collisions, shipwrecks and fatal fires
- Asia : 6610 fatalities
- Africa : 5014
- Oceania : 355
- America : 314
- Europe : 188
Minimal toll. In most cases, the passenger manifest has disappeared or does not match the reality.
From Franco to Trump: the Thermonuclear Saga
On January 17th, 1966 at 9:22 in the morning, a B52-Bomber from the US Air Force collided mid-air with an Air Tanker-KC135 during a supply drop at an altitude of 9450 meters. The cabins from the planes crashed into Palomares, a village 80 km from Carthagena in the province of Almería, Spain. Debris fell into the Mediterranean and blanketed the streets, hills, fields, and beaches. Amongst the debris, there were four thermonuclear bombs.
