Bangladesh News

Two ocean liners, blacklisted as contaminated with toxic substances, are sailing towards Bangladesh with the environmentalists expressing grave concern over the move.
The ships, Apsheron and Gudermes, are on the Greenpeace watch list of ships with the environmentalist watchdog’s spotlight on them as being known to be contaminated and slated for scrapping. Greenpeace is fighting against potential threats to the world’s biodiversity and environment.

Hazardous wastes such as asbestos, PCB, toxic paint and fuel residues are usually found on old ships which are regularly sent to countries like Bangladesh, India, Turkey and China for scrapping, posing severe threat to the environment, ecology and the human health.

Ingvild Jenssan, coordinator of Global NGO Platform on Ship Breaking based in Brussels, told The Daily Star on Thursday over the telephone, “Apsheron is blacklisted by the Greenpeace and its name will be posted on the website list by today.”

The website at www.greenpeaceweb.org/shipbreak/50-ships.asp shows both the ships listed as contaminated with the possibility of being scrapped soon.

Gudermes, a sistership of Apsheron, was supposed to go to Alang in India.

“But we have learnt that Gudermes too is now heading for Bangladesh,” Ingvild said.

Although the government of Bangladesh is supposed to refuse entry of such vessels for scrapping, the Department of Shipping issued an NOC (no objection certificate) allowing Messrs Pakija Enterprise to import the Apsheron for dismantling on Bangladesh’s beach.

“The ships in question have not been decontaminated in compliance with the Basel Convention as per available information and research,” said Programme Officer Muhammed Ali Shahin of YPSA, an NGO working on ship breaking industry in regard to labour rights and environment conservation.

The Basel Convention affirmed in Geneva on 29 October 2004 that ships can be considered toxic waste under international laws and 163 signatories of the convention must control export of ships in line with it.

In 1995 the Basel Convention banned export of hazardous wastes, including materials for recycling from developed to developing countries.

“Our concern emanates mainly from the necessity to enforce the Basel Convention,” said Shahin.

Chief Chemist of the Department of Shipping Mosharraf Ashraf said, “We issued the NOC on December 26 in favour of Messrs Pakija Enterprise to import the Liberian-registered oil tanker Apsheron. But we reject right away import of those ships blacklisted by Greenpeace and those that carry passengers only, as the passenger ships are highly contaminated with asbestos. We issued the NOC because it was not blacklisted by Greenpeace then.”

Pakija Enterprise applied for the NOC on December 24 and got the certificate on 26.

The shipping department mainly relied on papers produced by the importer company regarding the ship’s decontamination status, he said.

The Apsheron already left Singapore for Bangladesh.

The shipping department usually checks the inventory list provided by an importer after a ship enters the country’s territorial waters.

“The Department of Shipping randomly inspects an imported vessel after it reaches Bangladesh’s territorial waters but we cannot inspect every ship due to a lack of adequate logistics,” said Ashraf.

Mercantile Marine Department too carries out inspections of ships to be scrapped but still the authorities cannot inspect many ships due to a lack of manpower.

A total of 186 ships were imported to Bangladesh in 2006 for scrapping.

European Navigation Inc of Greece owns both the contaminated ships heading towards the shore of Bangladesh.

Greenpeace in its comment on the ships said the Apsheron is a sistership of the Gudermes. The ship is a single hull tanker, now carrying mainly vegetable oil.

Apsheron was sold in 2006 to a broker, Wirana Shipping Corp in Singapore. Wirana has close ties to both Indian and Bangladeshi ship breakers.

The ship was expected to arrive in Bangladesh on January 9, 2007, but now it is expected to arrive at Chittagong on January 21. Sources said the Gudermes is also sailing to Bangladeshi ship breaking yard. In December 2006, the ships were at the west coast of India.

Gudermes was built in 1977 and carries the flag of Malta.

According to Greenpeace, Gudermes was sold in July 2006 for delivery in Pakistan. The vessel was refused entry. The ship was sold again in November 2006 to Wirana Shipping Corp.

Then Gudermes was supposed to be scrapped in India. But it did not arrive at Alang by January 9, 2007. It is now expected to arrive at Chittagong on January 21.

The price of per ton scrap from a ship is higher in Bangladesh than it is in India. A ton of scrap in India is US$420 while it is $480 in Bangladesh.

President of Bangladesh Ship Breakers’ Association Sufi Mizanur Rahman could not be contacted for comments, as according to his personal staff ‘he was not well’.