'Consider it illegal traffic'; Alert faxed to Minister

• Carrying carcinogenic asbestos
• Expected to reach Indian coast on Wednesday
• Gives the slip from Danish port
• Sailing under new flag, name

The Danish Environment Minister, Connie Hedegaard, has sent a fax to the Environment and Forests Minister, A. Raja, saying that the ship owners escaped the Danish authorities who had ordered Kong Frederik IX to remain in Denmark until it had been decontaminated. "Instead, the ship slipped out of a Danish port and quickly changed its flag and name (to Frederik) and headed straight to the ship-breaking yards of Alang in Gujarat for dismantling."

Foul play

Ms. Hedegaard asked India to consider the ship illegal traffic under the Basel Convention and have it returned to Denmark so it could be stripped of hazardous substances. "I believe our interests are joint and I call on you to cooperate in this case by denying the ship to be dismantled in India and refer the ship to be returned to Denmark in order to be stripped of the hazardous waste.

By this we can send a strong signal that neither India nor Denmark will accept export of environmental problems that could be solved locally, and that we, as governments, will not accept this kind of foul play which results in lasting damage to the environment."

The letter from the Danish authorities also reminds Indian authorities of the Supreme Court order prohibiting the import of hazardous wastes and requiring India to participate in international negotiations with a clear mandate for the decontamination of ships of all hazardous substances prior to export.

'India lenient'

Speaking for a large coalition of environmental and trade union groups, Ramapati Kumar, toxics campaigner, Greenpeace India, said: "Instead of enforcing full decontamination, the Indian Government has shown remarkable leniency towards ship-breakers who violate the law by importing ships containing hundreds of tons of toxic substances including asbestos and chemicals such as polychlorinated biphenyls. The Basel Convention rules are clear: they demand that India respect Denmark's request to declare the ship illegal traffic and refuse to allow it to be dumped in India." The 51-year-old Great Belt ferry, Kong Frederik IX (now Frederik), left Denmark after a heated debate about its destiny. The seller had stated his intentions to scrap it. Several bids were given by the Danish scrapping companies.

Despite this, the ferry was sold to postbox company in St. Vincent where the Jupiter Ship Management promptly took over the ship. Despite an overwhelming amount of scrap-indications, the poorly resourced municipality of Korsor did not prevent the Frederik from leaving the Danish harbour on March 16, 2005.

Despite assurances of continued use and refurbishing at a Greek shipyard, Kong Frederik IX reached Suez on April 10 and continued on a southbound direction.