The Hindu : Norwegian ship carrying hazardous wastes seized

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Sep 30, 2003

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Norwegian ship carrying hazardous wastes seized

By Aarti Dhar

NEW DELHI SEPT. 29. Hesperus, a Norwegian LPG tanker, has arrived off the Alang ship-breaking yard in Gujarat for dismantling. It has violated the Basel Convention, as it is reported to be carrying hazardous wastes. The ship, that reached the port on September 24, has been seized by the Customs authorities following an alert by the Greenpeace campaigners, though the responsibility of overseeing the safety measures, lay with the Gujarat Maritime Board.

Under the Convention, the signatory countries have agreed to prohibit the export of hazardous waste to member countries. Norway and India are signatories to it. Correspondence with Greenpeace and Bergesen, the Norwegian company that owned the ship, has revealed that the ship contains toxic wastes. The Supreme Court had on May 5,1997 passed a directive that "no import would be made or permitted by any authority or person of any hazardous waste that is already banned under the Basel Convention, or to be banned hereafter.''

The environmentalists now want the harbour and the Customs authorities to ascertain that there are no hazardous wastes on board, before Hesperus is beached for breaking. It was on September 11, that Greenpeace and the Basel Action Network informed the Ministry of Environment and Forests about the arrival of the ship.

The Customs Department has asked the Gujarat Maritime Board to provide them all information on materials on board the ship.

Ship-breaking or ship-recycling, as it is called, is a profitable activity in Gujarat and Mumbai for the scrap-ship buyers and a source of cheap steel for the country. However, the manner in which the old ships are dismantled, are a threat to the people involved in the exercise and the coastal environment. Old ships are a source of contamination because of the inherent toxic materials on board such as the PCB in the engine oil, TBT in hull paints, asbestos in electrical cladding, oils and other toxic materials that go into its building.

During the process of breaking the ship to recover steel, these toxic wastes pollute the beaches and agricultural land around the yards. Studies have shown that sediments in Alang are more contaminated than the most heavily industrialised port areas.

If sources are to be believed, as many as 20 persons have been killed and 50 injured in explosions that occur in the process of ship-breaking this year. Hundreds of people employed in the industry, work with bare hands thus, exposing themselves to asbestos dust which is a silent killer.

Greenpeace, Basel Action Network and several other non-governmental organisations believe that the onus of cleaning the toxic wastes on board must rest with the ship-owner and not with its buyer or the breaker.

The issue had been raised at the International Maritime Organisation meeting in July when it met to finalise the guidelines for scrapping. However, the members did not agree to this condition but said the seller must produce a "green passport" or an inventory of the hazardous materials present on board.

It also issued guidelines to the ship manufacturers to avoid using toxic wastes.

Every year about 250 ships arrive in Alang for dismantling. Of about 90 per cent of the "out-of-use'' western sea vessels that eventually end up along the shoreline of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Turkey, or along China, as much as 60 per cent is dismantled in India.

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