"We're transforming this building, which itself was recently
cleaned of asbestos, to call for mandatory regulations to oblige
ship owners to clean their ships before sending them to be scrapped
in Asia," said Greenpeace campaigner, Martin Besieux. "While Europe
cleans buildings like this of asbestos to protect its own citizens,
it allows European ship owners to send the same toxic substance in
their ships to Asia. When the ships are scrapped, the asbestos
pollutes the environment and is a health risk to unprotected
workers who remove it from the vessels with their bare hands. Can
Europe continue to uphold such double standards?" he asked.
Today's action is the culmination of a three week tour of Europe
by Greenpeace and a delegation of people involved in shipbreaking
in Asia, to call for an urgent solution to the environmental and
health problems associated with the industry. The shipping sector
is still reluctant to assume the full liability for the
decontamination of their ships before they are exported. This means
shipbreaking countries are being polluted with known hazardous
substances such as dioxins, asbestos and PCBs. There have been
eight accidents involving contaminated ships at the Alang yard in
India alone over the past two and a half months, in which 20 people
have died.
"The shipowners and shipping federations we've met during our
European visit have refused to take any responsibility or
individual efforts to clean their ships. So we've now come to
Brussels, the heart of European politics, to call for this much
needed initiative to help stop us being polluted by European
hazardous waste. If nothing changes we will continue to be exposed
to deadly toxics for many years to come," said Mr. Salim, a
shipbreaker from Bangladesh.
Attempts to strengthen legislation in individual shipbreaking
countries - India, Bangladesh and China - have been undermined by
shipowners because they simply send their toxic vessels to another
country that does not have such regulations.
"Current regulations are simply not enough to protect the
environment and workers in Asia. The shipping industry can still
avoid liability for the hazardous materials on board their vessels
by sending their ships to the country with the weakest legislation.
Asian countries need international rules on exporting toxic ships
for scrap to ensure there's a level playing field across the entire
maritime sector. As a significant exporter of toxic ships, we're
looking to Europe to lead the way," said Rampati Kumar from
Greenpeace in India.
The need for mandatory regulations against toxic ships is all
the more urgent because the recent adaptation of European
legislation on the rapid phase out of single hull oil tankers means
that significantly more ships will need to be scrapped over the
next decade. If these are not decontaminated, Asian shipbreakers
will be exposed to an increased quantity of hazardous
materials.
Greenpeace is urging Europe to take the leadership for clean
shipbreaking during the next session of the International Maritime
Organisation (IMO) that will be held in London on July 14-18.
Notes: Notes to Editors: Media is invited to attend a meeting of Greenpeace, the delegation of people involved with shipbreaking in Asia and Margot Wällstrom, EU Commissioner for the Environment. Wällstrom will be presented with a bell, taken from a toxic ship recently scrapped at Alang, India, at 11.45 today at the Jan Breydel (VIP Lounge)