Green Ships:Green Ship Countries
Contents
India
Specific Harms
India is the world leader in shipwrecking by volume, particularly in the State of Gujarat along the beaches of Alang.[1] With these operations, however, comes the risk of increased environmental toxins and decreased occupational safety.
Alang is a popular ship-beaching location for several reasons. Located on the Indian Ocean close to major trade routes, it offers minimum transport distances. Other draws include insufficient or unenforced legislative frameworks, a ready-made market for old ship components (pumps, generators, compressors, motors), refurbished and applied in emerging industrialized economies, conveniently large intertidal zones in which high tides allow vessels to beach under their own power, and low labor costs. [1]
Due to the need for cheap labor and the lack of legislative guidelines, ship-breaking workers in Alang face extreme occupational dangers. They find themselves exposed to substances such as asbestos, polychlorinated biphenyls, and residual oil, as well as to explosions and falling steel. [2] There is no systematic training for the workforce, and injuries and fatalities are common. In many cases, accidents kill several workers; it is unfortunately common for up to 15 men to die at once.[1] Not only do ship toxins endanger workers on the job, but they also cause problems upon reuse. Most shipwrecking workers in southwest Asia live in shanties made of recycled ship steel, the housing and sanitary conditions worsened by transient nature.[1]
With respect to environmental dangers, reports from the beaches of Alang indicate that shipwrecking facilities are heavily contaminated with heavy metals, asbestos, and TBT.[1]
Regulatory Status
Bangladesh
Recycling Overview
Like India, Bangladesh performs a large percentage of the world’s ship recycling. Since 1974, Bangladesh has had approximately 50 shipbreaking yards; altogether, these operations have dismantled about 52% of the end-of-life vessels in the world – more than 200 dead weight tons.[3] These yards supply 25–30 per cent of Bangladesh’s total yearly demand for steel.[3] As of 2012, Bangladesh demolished one and a half million tons of steel, more than the country currently has the ability to buy on the international market.[3]
Environmental
Bangladeshi legislation does little to protect the environment from the harms of ship breaking.[3] It is unclear whether Bangladesh has chosen to endorse any of the protocol listed in the Basel Convention, the Hong Kong Convention, or many other smaller conventions. It has not ratified Annexes I, II, IV and V of the MARPOL (Marine Pollution) Convention, which require the establishment of appropriate waste-reception facilities for the reception of ship-generated waste.[3]
In order to remedy the environmental problems caused by ship-breaking, ship-recycling facilities must develop more environmentally-sound policies. Simultaneously, ship exporters must establish guidelines that encourage the safe processing of ships. EU Waste Shipment Regulation: Since the EU is a major exporter of end-of-life ships to substandard “dismantling and recycling” facilities in South Asia, the European legislation concerning this topic is of crucial importance.[3]
Occupational
Work in ship-wrecking is difficult and dangerous. In 2004, the International Labour Organization (ILO) put out guidelines for Asian countries and Turkey that labeled common ship-breaking work hazards as likely to cause injuries, death, ill health, diseases and incidents among workers.[3]
Due to the poor economy in parts of Bangladesh, many, if not all of the members of a given family may work in ship-recycling. Men and boys tend to work on ship-breaking, while women, girls, and young children tend to sort out the ship components that will be distributed for re-sale. Women may also filter asbestos into powder in workshops outside the shipbreaking yards.(FIDH, 2005)?[4]
Many children discontinue their formal education to participate in the ship-breaking process – jeopardizing both their present health and their future ability to find less dangerous employment. In the ship-breaking area of Chittagong, 10.94% of laborers are children (Photo: Reichmann, 2005).[4] 46.42% of workers in ship-breaking yards cannot read or write, and 43.02% received education only up to the primary level. With limited education and inadequate training for the jobs they do have, ship-wrecking workers experience little job mobility. Furthermore, they generally do not have adequate information about their rights in the workplace. (YPSA, 2005)?.[4]
According to watchdog groups, national and international regulations do not sufficiently protect Bangladeshi ship-wrecking workers from dangerous and unfair work conditions. The International Maritime Organization (IMO), a United Nations agency that comprises 171 states including Bangladesh, regulates all facets of the shipping industry. According to Greenpeace, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Guidelines do not contain effective mechanisms to monitor or ensure compliance, nor do they provide adequate guidance for companies, courts and governments on how to deal with the export of ships for scrapping in a manner that is fully consistent with other existing international commitments.[3]
Regulatory Status
China
Specific Harms
Regulatory Status
Of the four dominant ship-recycling countries, China is the only one currently acting within the guidelines of a ratified convention. Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (ClassNK), a Tokyo-based ship classification society, released a Statement of Compliance (SOC) to a ship-recycling facility in Jianmeng, China.[5] The SOC certifies that the ship-recycling facility and its processes comply with the 2009 Hong Kong Convention.[5] This marks the first time a ship-recycling facility has received this kind of certification.[5]
Next page: Alternative Solutions
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Dodds, D. (2007). Breaking Up is Hard to Do: Environmental Effects of Shipwrecking and Possible Solutions Under India’s Environmental Regime. 20 Pac. McGeorge Global Bus. and Dev. L.J., 207, 208-236.
- ↑ Puthucherril, T.G. (2008). Rest in Peace: From Shipbreaking to Sustainable Ship Recycling. (Thesis). Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Alam, S., & A. Faruque. (2014). Legal regulation of the shipbreaking industry in Bangladesh: The international regulatory framework and domestic implementation challenges. Marine Policy, 47, 46-56.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Hossain, Md.M., & M.M. Islam. (2006). Ship Breaking Activities and its Impact on the Coastal Zone of Chittagong, Bangladesh: Towards Sustainable Management. Young Power in Social Action (YPSA), Chittagong, Bangladesh. pp ix +54.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Anonymous. (2013). China Ship Recycling Facility Becomes First to Receive SOC. Sea Technology, 54(1), 68.