The End of the last French three-masted ship
After being laid up for several years in Trinidad in the Caribbeans, the ex Oiseau des Iles built by the French shipyard Dubigeon in Nantes in 1935 was sent to be demolished.
The valuable and moving history of this gem of naval construction ranges from the Loire Estuary to the West Indies passing by the South Ocean to French Polynesia and the west coast of Mexico.
“Shipbreaking” n°17
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.
Around the Ship dismantling world in 18 pages.
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:
