"The European Union pushed for the phase-out but 'forgot' to
providemeasures for ensuring safe and clean breaking of these
ships," saidMarietta Harjono of Greenpeace. "There's a need for
immediatecommitment from EU transport ministers and the European
Commission thatthe toxic burden of Europe's single-hull oil tankers
will not end up onAsian beaches."
Greenpeace research (2) shows that the burden of 'toxic ships'
dumpedon Asian beaches will increase in the coming years. The phase
outentered into force on 5 April, with more than 2,000 oil tankers
nowslated to be decommissioned over the next five years (3). Within
EuropeMalta is the leading country with over 80 single hull oil
tankerseither owned or flagged there.
Activists of the international environmental organisation today
calledon the Maltese Government to guarantee the clean
decommissioning ofsingle hulled oil tankers and to bring the issue
onto the agenda of 21April meeting of the European Union Transport
Council. The activistshung a banner on top of the gate of the
Maltese Ministry forCompetitiveness and Communications today
demanding 'Clean ShipbreakingNOW!'.
Greenpeace demands that the Maltese government and other EU
memberstates act to solve this problem and end the
"out-of-sight,out-of-mind" approach to European shipbreaking. In a
meeting last weekwith Greenpeace, the Minister for Trade and
Industry of Gibraltarpromised to immediately investigate
implementing stricter control onsingle hulls oil tankers and
promised to cooperate to prevent theillegal export of these tankers
to Asia for breaking.
"The ministers of the European Union now have the opportunity to
bringthe scandal of shipbreaking under control and put a stop to
dangerousexports of toxic tankers to Asia - for once and for all"
finishedHarjono.
Other contacts: Marietta Harjono, international shipbreaking campaign coordinator, Greenpeace +31 615 007 411 (in Amsterdam)Erdem Vardar, Campaigner Med +31 6 52062975 (in Malta)Ramapati Kumar, campaigner, Greenpeace India +91 98 45535414 (in India)Judit L. Kalovits, Greenpeace International communications +31 621 296 914
VVPR info: John Novis Greenpeace International picture desk +31 653 819 121Maarten Van Rouverooy Greenpeace International video desk +31 646 197 322
Notes: (1) Tankers in Transition, 2004, Clarkson Research Studies, September 2004."As we will demonstrate in this report, the Category I fleet is not clearly defined, and neither IMO nor Intertanko know which vessels comply with the 5th April deadline." (Summary, page 1)"Althogh this (regulations) seems straightforward there has been much debate as to exactly how much tonnage will have to go by end-2005. Recent figures quoted form differenr sources have out the figure at anywhere between 18 m and 29m." (Amd Page 33)(2) The Greenpeace-analysis 'Destination Unknown: European single hull oil tankers... No place to go' reveals the staggering collective oil cargo onboard the ships to be banned by the end of 2005. This cargo - 130 million litres - equals to more than two 'Prestige' disasters. The ships also contain asbestos, heavy metals, PCBs and the toxic organic tin compound tributyl tin (TBT) for which regulations in industrialised countries require mandatory eye, skin and lung protection for any contact work. No such regulations are enforced in developing world shipbreaking yards.Report can be downloaded from http://greenpeaceweb.org/shipbreak/(3) The 2000 oil tankers that need to get out of the water the coming 5 years will not only increase the pressure on existing shipbreakig yards leading to more deaths and environmental pollution but also threaten to turn clean beaches into toxic graveyards. A current example of this is Kakinada beach, Andhra Pradesh, India. For more information please see http://greenpeaceweb.org/shipbreak/
Exp. contact date: 2005-05-19 00:00:00