A burning cocktail of chemicals amidst ships in Alang
Coalition of Labor and Environmental groups Call on India to Comply at Once
The owners of the ferry ship Kong Frederik IX may have thought
they'd made good their escape from Danish authorities; they had
been ordered to remain in Denmark till they had decontaminated the
ship but they slipped out of a Danish port, hastily changed the
ship's flag, changed its name to 'Frederik', and set sail for the
ship-breaking yards of Alang. But they hadn't reckoned on the
persistence of the Danish environment minister. In a swift
response, Minister Connie Hedegaard shot off a fax communiqué to her Indian counterpart Mr.
A. Raja, calling on India to send the ship right back to Denmark so
that it may be stripped of hazardous substances. (2) As the fax
letter points out, the Frederik is considered illegal traffic under
the Basel Convention and must be returned to Denmark at once.
In her letter, Ms. Hedegaard stated: "I believe our interests
are joint --and I call on you to cooperate in this case by denying
the ship to be dismantled in India - and refer the ship to be
returned to Denmark in order to be stripped of the hazardous waste.
By this we can send a strong signal that neither India nor Denmark
will accept export of environmental problems that could be solved
locally, and that we -- as governments will not accept this kind of
foul play which results in lasting damage to the environment.
"Under the Basel Convention on Transboundary Movement of
Hazardous Wastes and the Basel Ban Amendment decision, both fully
implemented by the European Union, OECD countries like Denmark are
prohibited from exporting hazardous wastes (4) to non-OECD nations.
Interestingly, Ms. Hedegaard's letter also reminds Indian
authorities of the Indian Supreme Court order prohibiting the
import of hazardous wastes, and requiring India to participate in
international negotiations with a clear mandate for the
decontamination of ships of all hazardous substances prior to
export.
"In the case of ships-for-scrap, this order has only been
observed in the breach," said Ramapati Kumar, Toxics Campaigner
Greenpeace India, speaking for a large coalition of environmental
and trade union groups, "Instead of enforcing full decontamination,
the Indian Government has shown remarkable leniency towards
ship-breakers who violate the law by importing ships containing
hundreds of tons of toxic substances including asbestos and
chemicals such as polychlorinated biphenyls.The Basel Convention
rules are clear - they demand that India respect Denmark's request
to declare the ship illegal traffic and refuse to allow it to be
dumped in India." (3)
"The international shipping industry has to take onus of this
kind of trade. They have continuously scuttled initiatives geared
to have them take ownership of the problem, which results in
dumping on countries like India and impacts the lives of poor
workers and the environment. The lack of action by the Indian
Government abets this injustice, and the shipbreakers and the
shipowners who make substantial economic gains jointly sacrifice
the interest of the most affected," says Gopal Krishna of Ban
Asbestos Network, India.
The impending arrival of the Frederik brings back memories of
the Clemenceau - a French naval ship that was also headed to India
without adequate decontamination. Surprisingly, the Indian
Government and a Supreme Court-appointed committee indicated that
they may allow the import of the Clemenceau, despite the knowledge
that it carried undisclosed quantities of asbestos and
polychlorinated biphenyls. Although the Indian Government
demonstrated its willingness to accept this toxic waste, the ship
is currently held up in France due to an ongoing lawsuit filed by
French environmental activists. "France should be ashamed of its
attempts to dump its toxic wastes on India, and should learn from
Denmark about its environmental responsibilities," said Annie
Thebaud-Mony of Basel Action Network, France.
Activists around the world intend to work to ensure that the
Basel Convention is honoured and exports of ships for scrap take
place to developing countries only after full prior
decontamination.
For more information:
Jacob Hartmann in Denmark 
.ph-
+ 4528109020
Madhumita Dutta, Corporate Accountability Desk - 
Nityanand Jayaraman, Corporate Accountability Desk - 
Marietta Harjono International Coordinator, Ship-breaking
Campaign, Greenpeace: + 31615007411.
Annie Thebaud-Mony of Basel Action Network, France 
Jim Pucket from Basel Action Network 
Gopal Krishana, BANI (Ban Asbestos Network of India)- +91
9818089660
Ramapati Kumar, Toxics Campaigner, Greenpeace India:
+919845535414 
Namrata Chowdhary, Media Officer, Greenpeace India:
+919810850092
Footnotes:
(1) For a PDF copy of the letter from the Danish
Government to the Indian government, please click here.
(2) The 51 year old Great Belt ferry Kong Frederik IX
(now Frederik), left Denmark after a heated debate about its
destiny. The seller had stated his intentions to the scrap it and
several bids had been given by Danish scrapping companies. Despite
this, the ferry was sold to postbox company in St Vincent
whereafter Jupiter Ship Management promptly took over the ship.
Just last year, Jupiter Ship Management illegally exported a Danish
ship -formerly owned by the Lauritzen Company - to Alang for
breaking. The cover story was to use the former gas tanker as a
water carrier. It took only one month for the ship to reach Alang.
Despite an overwhelming amount of scrap-indications, the poorly
resourced municipality of Korsør did not prevent the "Frederik"
from leaving Danish harbour on the 16 march 2005. Despite
assurances of continued use and refurbishing at a Greek shipyard,
Kong Frederik IX reached Suez on the 10 April and continued on a
southbound direction. On 16 april 2005, Minister Connie Hedegaard
formally requested the Indian Minister for the Environment Mr. A.
Raja to refer the ship back to Denmark to be stripped for hazardous
waste. The Danish minister for the Environment Connie Hedegaard has
also announced that she will file a complaint with police, should
the ship turn up on Asian scrapping yards.
(3) The Basel Convention requires the consent of the
importing, exporting and transit states to make any export of
hazardous waste legal. As Denmark did not consent to the export,
the export constitutes illegal traffic in accordance with Article 9
of the Convention. India, in accordance with Article 4, paragraph
4 must thus "take appropriate legal, administrative and other
measures to implement and enforce the provisions of this
Convention, including measures to prevent and punish conduct in
contravention of the Convention."
(4) Last October, the Basel Convention Conference of
Parties adopted a decision of 163 countries, of which Denmark and
India were part, reaffirming that ships can be waste under the
Convention and that Parties are obligated to fulfil their Basel
Convention obligations with respect to ships. VII/21 on the
Environmentally Sound Management of ship dismantling states: "The
Conference of the Parties ....Reminds the Parties to fulfil their
obligations under the Basel Convention where applicable, in
particular obligations with respect to prior informed consent,
their minimization of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes
and the principles of environmentally sound management;"