Brussels – Out of 166
vessels sold for breaking during the third quarter 2015, 78 ended their
operational life on the beaches of South Asia, according to the data collected
and analysed by the NGO Shipbreaking Platform (38 ships in India; 26 ships in
Bangladesh; and 14 ships in Pakistan). The data clearly shows a downturn within
the ship breaking sector if compared to previous quarters’ statistics.
16 of the ships broken
in South Asia were owned by European ship owners, including one from Norway.
Greek owners topped the list selling alone 9 ships for beaching this quarter.
Ranking second, German owners sold 3 ships to South Asian breakers, which means
that so far 11 German ships have been beached this year. Italian owners rank
third, with 2 vessels sold to India.
Most European shipping
companies continue choosing profit above the environment and workers’ rights.
The Italian company Grimaldi Group S.p.A. (1 ship to India) again features on
the NGO`s list of worst dumpers. German ship owners Ost-West-Handel und
Schiffahrt GmbH and F.H. Bertling Reederei GmbH also sold vessels to Bangladesh
and India this quarter.
Polish state-owned
Polsteam has been under the spotlight for having sent several ships to South
Asia in the last years. The NGO Shipbreaking Platform and the European
Environmental Bureau, and the more than 160 environmental, human and labour
rights organisations they represent, together with two Polish NGOs, recently
sent a letter to Polsteam asking the company, and the government, to change its
bad practices. Polsteam has already sold three end-of-life vessels to South
Asian beaching yards in 2015; the bulk carrier Solidarnosc was sold to Pakistan
breakers during this quarter.
Despite the new EU Ship
Recycling Regulation, which will out-rule the use of substandard beaching yards
to dismantle EU-flagged vessels and which will soon become applicable, ships
registered under the flags of Malta (3), Italy (1), and Sweden (1) were sold in
this quarter to substandard yards operating on beaches.
Chinese ship owners sold
29 ships to Chinese yards, but another 4 ships owned by Chinese companies were
sold to South Asian yards. Moreover, one Turkish company sent one of its ships
to Alang yards instead of having it broken domestically at Aliaga.
Source:
recycling portal. 19 October 2015
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