Another toxic ship set to get ministry nod for scrapping

This file photo shows container cargo ship SA Helderberg, renamed Asian This file photo shows container cargo ship SA Helderberg, renamed Asian Express, blacklisted by environment watchdog Greenpeace. The ship may end up on the beach at Sitakunda in Chittagong for scrapping. Photo: Shipspotting.com

Ignoring threats to public health, the shipping ministry is likely to permit scrapping of another toxic ship-- SA Helderberg-- one of the 50 blacklisted by environmental watch group Greenpeace.
Kabir Steel of Chittangong, a shipyard in Sitakunda, imported the ship now known as Asian Express. Built in 1977, the ship is believed to be riddled with asbestos, heavy and toxic metals like lead, mercury, cadmium, copper and zinc.
The ministry is now forming an investigation committee to check toxicity of the ship, now waiting at the outer anchorage of Chittagong port. It issued letters to different organisations on Thursday inviting them to be members of the committee, sources in the ministry said.
But sources in Chittagong, who work in this sector, said the owner of Kabir Steel has already beached the ship without taking permission from the shipping ministry and Department of Environment (DoE).
Contacted, the owner of Kabir Steel however said they will import the ship in January next.
"The government has permitted another company to scrap a Greenpeace listed toxic ship. So, the law should not be different in our case," he said.
In August, the shipping ministry allowed a shipyard-- Madina Enterprise --to scrap an oil tanker it imported, MT Enterprise, blacklisted by Greenpeace for containing hazardous substances. Violating a court order, the owner of that ship started dismantling it even without taking clearance from the DoE.
Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) last month filed a writ petition with the High Court against scrapping of MT Enterprise. The court issued a stay order on scrapping the toxic ship. Despite this, the owner started dismantling it saying he did not get any such court order.
But later, he appealed to the Supreme Court, and it vacated the stay order. So, the owner did not have any bar to scrapping the ship.
The owner of Madina Enterprise and MT Enterprise and others concerned alleged that a section of importers and government officials pushed the matter into legal tangles for their gains.
Interestingly, shipping ministry's Chief Chemist Dr Md Mosharaf Ashraf had earlier cancelled the NOC (No 08070384, issued on August 13), on grounds of the ship's being on the Greenpeace black list.
Sources said 'huge underhand deals' are involved in toxic ship scrapping business.
Dismantling of toxic ships poses serious threats to the fragile coastal marine ecology. No other country but Bangladesh allows this on its land, environmentalists say.
And they are worried that importers will start bringing in more hazardous ships once they can break one such vessel.
Meanwhile, the Basel Convention subjects all import of ships containing hazardous substances and destined for recycling or disposal to have a prior notification with a full inventory of all hazardous substances onboard the ship including PCBs, asbestos, heavy metals, residual fuels and so on.
Until 1970s, a significant number of aging ships ready for retirement was processed in Europe and the US, according to the International Labour Organisation's Workers Safety in Ship-Breaking Industries, published in 2001.