Green Ships:Green Ship Countries

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India

Specific Harms

India is the world leader in shipwrecking by volume, particularly in the State of Gujarat along the beaches of Alang. (Dodds). 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. (Dodds)

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. (Puthucherril). 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. (Dodds). 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. (Dodds)

With respect to environmental dangers, reports from the beaches of Alang indicate that shipwrecking facilities are heavily contaminated with heavy metals, asbestos, and TBT. (Dodds)

Regulation Status

Bangladesh

Specific Harms

Since 1974, Bangladesh has had approximately 50 shipbreaking yards that have dismantled about 52 per cent of the end-of-life vessels above 200 dead weight tonnage in the world. (Alam). Like India, Bangladesh accounts for large amounts of ship-recycling. These yards supply 25–30 per cent of the country's total yearly demand for steel. (Alam). The ship-recycling operation is very beneficial to developing countries, specifically due to their poor economy making it difficult for them to purchase the parts if they were not recycled. 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. (Alam) Bangladesh (Environmental): Poor legislation and the legislators idleness towards the ship-recycling industry has led to substandard or absence of environmental guidelines. Despite the elusive size of the industry and its grave effects, there is no specific legal regulatory framework in Bangladesh to monitor this ongoing environmental damage. (Alam). The large governing environmental regulations are the Basel Convention and the Hong Kong Convention and many other smaller conventions, though it is unclear whether Bangladesh has chosen to endorse any of the conventions protocol. Annexes I, II, IV and V to the MARPOL (Marine Pollution) Convention require the establishment of appropriate waste-reception facilities for the reception of ship-generated waste. (Alam) However, Bangladesh has not ratified the relevant annexes of the MARPOL Convention. (Alam). It is very important for the ship-recycling facilities to personally develop environmentally sound obligations, it is also beneficial for ship exporters to simultaneously establish environmentally safe guidelines to further protect their own environment and the receiving countries environment as well. 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. (Alam)


BANGLADESH (Occupational): The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is assembled of 171 states, including Bangladesh.The IMO's focus is largely based on shipping in general, though it does include environmental concerns, it does not clearly indicate ship-recycling environmental policies or occupational consideration. The According to Greenpeace, the IMO Guidelines are not adequate to protect workers or the environment partly because they do not contain effective mechanisms to monitor or ensure compliance nor do they provide adequate guidance for companies, courts and governments on how they should deal with the export of ships for scrapping in a manner, which is fully consistent with other existing international commitments. (Alam). There are apparent risks associated with ship-recycling, and although many are not properly fitted for the appropriate safety gear, many workers continue to employ in the ship-breaking operation. The ILO (International Labor Guidelines) Guidelines for Asian Countries and Turkey, 2004, identified a list of common hazards in shipbreaking activities that are likely to cause injuries, death, ill health, diseases and incidents among the workers. (Alam). Due to the poor economy in parts of Bangladesh, many, if not all of the members of a family participate in ship-recycling, including children. In the ship breaking area of Chittagong 10.94% labour are child (Photo: Reichmann, 2005) (Hossain). Unfortunately, due to the vast amount of work correlated with ship-recycling, many children discontinue their school education to participate in the ship-breaking process. Moreover, when the children cease their school education, they are unaware of the better and more advantageous opportunities they can achieve beyond ship-breaking and Bangladesh. In the ship breaking yards a huge number of labour (46.42%) are illiterate and 43.02% labours are educated up to primary level. The huge uneducated labour force has less scope for better professional jobs within and outside the sector. The combination of lack of education through the school systems and inadequate training in the ship-recycling operations leads to a very narrow minded and restricted opportunity for the population in Bangladesh. Less accessibility to different opportunities including information for exercising rights, as they have almost no education and information (YPSA, 2005). (Hossain). Many of the males are involved in the ship-breaking process, to include young male children. The women and children are primarily involved with the filtering of the ship components that are removed and distributed for re-sale. Woman filters asbestos into powder in workshop outside the shipbreaking yards, Bangladesh (FIDH, 2005) (Hossain)

Regulation Status

China

Specific Harms

Regulation Status

The ship-recycling industry is comprised of four dominant countries, of those four, China has validated it's position as the only country to be within guidelines of a ratified convention. ClassNK Tokyo Japan, released SOC (Statement of Compliance) to ship recycling facility in Jianmeng, China. (SOC). To date, no other ship recycling facility has received an official notice or recognition of being within conformity. The SOC Certifies the ship recycling facility and it’s processes are compliant with Hong Kong Convention 2009. (SOC) This marks the first time a ship recycling facility has received certification in line with Convention(SOC)

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