Wired News: Coalition Tackles Ghost Ships

Ghost ships are old, unwanted commercial and military vessels sold for scrap metal. They almost always contain toxic PCBs, asbestos, mercury, lead, waste diesel and fuel oils, and other dangerous substances. Hundreds of these ships are run aground on the beaches of Bangladesh and India, where swarms of laborers known as shipbreakers cut them into pieces to recover the steel.

The United States has a significant inventory of retired ships, including at least 125 obsolete military vessels in its 'ghost fleet.'

"It's hard, dangerous work where one worker is killed every day," said Mike Townsley, a spokesperson for Greenpeace International.

The toxic materials are not disposed of properly, creating an enormous environmental problem that affects the health of the people living near the shipbreaking areas said Townsley.

Shipyards in North America and Europe won't touch most of these old ships, he said. The United States has a significant inventory of retired ships, including at least 125 obsolete military vessels in its "ghost fleet."

"The U.S. government fought this decision all the way," said Townsley. The U.S. has not ratified the Basel Convention that went in effect in 1992 and is not obligated to follow its rules.

"Defining these ships as waste is a groundbreaking decision," said Richard Gutierrez of the Basel Action Network, or BAN, an international environmental organization based in Seattle.

Under the new rules, shipbreaking must be performed in an environmentally sound manner and minimize the transboundary movement of hazardous wastes. That places the onus on ship owners to clean out the toxins before sending ships away for breaking, Gutierrez said.

Enforcement will be difficult, he acknowledges. The common practice of "re-flagging," changing a ship's country of registry, and convoluted ship ownership records make it hard to determine ship ownership.

Representatives of the Basel Convention are meeting with the International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency to prevent pollution of the oceans, to work out these issues.

What is clear is that shipbreaking countries like India and Turkey don't want contaminated ships because they don't have any way to safely dispose of the toxins, Gutierrez said. Under the new rules, toxin-laden ships can be sent back at the owner's expense.

They also need financial assistance to build dry docks with containment barriers, said Townsley.

There is some urgency to "green" shipbreaking with 2,200 single-hull oil tankers due to be scrapped over the next few years.

"It's immoral for the U.S. or any other country to turn developing countries into toxic waste dumping zones," he said.