space Press Releases, News Stories

by FREDERICK NORONHA, Environmental News Service

"The Cardigan Bay, the latest in a series of toxic ships-for-scrap that have sailed to Asia for scrapping, arrived in Alang in the first week of March under a changed name - Marion 2," said Greenpeace campaigner in India, Nityanand Jayaraman.

Jayaraman speculated that the vessel was "renamed and reflagged to escape identification." The group charged P&O Nedlloyd with "sneaking in" its toxic ship to India's Alang port.

This, said Jayaraman, is in violation of the Indian Supreme Court's May 1997 order banning the imports of hazardous wastes, including ships-for-scrap, into India.

P&O Nedlloyd is a global container shipping company. It operates a fleet of 112 owned and chartered vessels on a global network of 77 trade lanes connecting more than 250 main ports.

Speaking from the London headquarters of P&O Nedlloyd, Jill Samuel, general manager of corporate communications, said she could not comment on the specific allegations made by Jayaraman, but said solutions to the problem of toxic ship scrapping are being sought through the International Maritime Organisation.

"Ship owners' organizations in Europe and we as a company are working through the International Maritime Organization to achieve a structured solution to the problem. We are working to help establish scrapping yards with acceptable conditions," Samuel told ENS.

Greenpeace has recently released a detailed report on the hazardous manner in which shipbreaking is undertaken at two major points on the Indian west coast, the Indian commercial capital of Bombay and Alang further north.

"P&O has expressed its disregard for Indian law and exposed the inability of the Ministry of Environment to enforce its own regulations," a Joint Action Committee of prominent Indian trade unions and international campaigners said.

The Joint Action Committee against Hazards in Shipbreaking is backed by the Leftist All India Trade Union Congress, the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), another influential traditional leftwing trade union, the socialist Hind Mazdoor Sabha, Greenpeace International, and the Basel Action Network.

P&O Nedlloyd's ships were targeted by environmental activists to highlight the hazardous nature of shipbreaking and the "insensitivity of shipowners" who continue to export their toxic ships to Asia despite full knowledge of the horrendous labour and working conditions here.

"We certainly share the concern about conditions which exist in certain countries in the Far East. They are not the standards we believe are satisfactory, but we don't believe one company can solve the problem alone," Samuel said.

According to Jayaram, this is the fourth P&O Nedlloyd ship to reach Asia for scrapping in the last six months. Its earlier ship "Discovery Bay" was found in Alang in October 1998 by a Greenpeace team investigating the yard. Two other ships - Botany Bay and Encounter Bay - were sent to Chinese yards for scrapping in February.

Significantly, in this campaign, traditional trade unions, who have long stayed aloof of green campaigns, have supported this initiative over the hazards that this activity has both for the environment and workers involved.

"Ships-for-scrap are clearly hazardous wastes under Basel Convention. By sending its ship to India, by working around Basel, P&O Nedlloyd has demonstrated that it is another multinational that places more value on dollars than on human lives and environment," said Basel Action Network's Ravi Agarwal.

The Joint Action Committee Against Hazards in Shipbreaking has demanded that the Indian federal Ministry of Environment put an end to the import of toxic ships-for-scrap.

"We demand that Indian laws be implemented - only fully decontaminated ships should be imported; all environmental and labour regulations should be complied with," said Vivek Monteiro of CITU.

"We cannot become the dumping ground for world's waste, and as labour activists, we will fight for clean and healthy jobs, not poisonous jobs that the rich countries throw to us to get rid of their wastes," Monteiro said.

"This is a worldwide environmental and safety issue,"Samuels said on behalf of P&O Nedlloyd. "It requires a realistic international solution. Removing hazardous substances from a few ships is not the answer."

The Joint Action Committee has brought the matter of import of ships-for-scrap to the High Powered Committee on Hazardous Wastes of the Supreme Court to expose the Ministry of Environment's contempt for the Court's directions.

The Joint Action Committee has also said that it will raise the matter directly with exporting country governments if India's Ministry of Environment fails to respond.