space Press Releases, News Stories

MARITIME, METALS UNIONS BACK ASIA SHIP WASTE ACTION

Reuters

LONDON, 12 January 1999 -- Maritime and metalworkers' unions said on Tuesday they would back efforts by environmental organisation Greenpeace to stop a ship being scrapped in Asia.

They were prepared to join forces with non-governmental organisations like Greeenpeace to ensure scrapping of ships in Asia was safe for workers and the environment, the International Transport Workers Federation said in a joint statement with the International Metalworkers' Federation.

Greenpeace protested on Monday and Tuesday in Singapore against the intended scrapping of the P&O Nedlloyd container ship Encounter Bay, which departed from Singapore on Tuesday.

The environmental group says the ship is contaminated by toxic materials and is on its way to a scrapyard in China.

Ships being exported to Asia for scrapping should be free of hazardous substances such as asbestos, oily wastes and heavy metals, the trade unions said in their statement.

"The responsibility of rendering ships non-hazardous before sale for scrapping should fall on the ship owner and must not be passed on to Asian authorities," they said.

They called for a special decontamination squad to be set up with hazardous material being removed and re-exported to the original owners for disposal at their expense.

They also said they would alert unions in other shipbreaking countries in the region, such as Pakistan and India.

Greenpeace earlier said it had scheduled a meeting with the Chinese ambassador in Singapore and was hopeful China would prevent the ship being scrapped because of earlier actions to stop the import of foreign waste.

A statement by the Singapore Environment Ministry received by Reuters on Tuesday said Singapore did not consider the ship as hazardous waste and saw no legal ground to detain it or send it back.

Ships sent to shipbreakers in Asia often contain hazardous materials such as lead and asbestos, but very little protection is provided for the environment or workers at those scrapyards, Greenpeace said.

The officials said they had written to Singapore authorities asking that Encounter Bay be detained under the Basel Convention on the control of hazardous wastes.

The United Nations' Basel Convention prohibits the export of hazardous waste from the nations of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to non-OECD countries.

FAIR USE NOTICE. This document contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The Basel Action Network is making this article available in our efforts to advance understanding of ecological sustainability and environmental justice issues. We believe that this constitutes a `fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond `fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
More News