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Ship Recyclers in India feel threatened

Held under the aegis of Hinode, the forum for ship recyclers of India provided an opportunity to disclose the threatening environment in which they have to operate. On one hand they contend that they were not getting the recognition they deserved from all concerned and false allegations were being propagated on the environmental side. On the other hand, the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, 2009, still to be ratified, left much to be desired.
It was pointed out that the European Union proposed implementing the Convention quickly, without waiting for its ratification and entry into force, because it is felt the process could take several years. They are hell bent at speeding up the formal entry into force of the Hong Kong Convention as well as the guidelines.
Presenting the ship recyclers’ point of view, Pravin S. Nagarsheth, Chairman of the Ship Recycling Industries Association (India) underscored the role of ship breakers and their contribution to the economy. “Ship recyclers help generate four million tons of steel involving an investment of only $ 27 million, whereas setting up a plant to produce the same amount of steel involves an investment of $ 327.3 million, besides land of some 4,000 acres, costly raw material, etc.,” He said.
He countered the false allegation by environmentalist about pollution taking place during the breaking process. He pointed out that 20 percent of breaking process is done on board the ship and the rest at the yard. During the whole process the ship remains afloat and sea water does not enter the ship and hence there is no chance of seepage of oil. In fact the authorities do not grant licence until all the bunkers are removed from the tanks.
The environmentalist claim about pollution is also not justified. Ever since the Indian courts banned recycling of oil and product tankers in 1995 tankers were diverted to Bangladesh and Pakistan for breaking. But later even Bangladesh’s Supreme Court banned tankers to be recycled hence they are now being taken to Pakistan. Besides, as a result of modernization all shifting and handling of material is being done by crane operators now. With gas tanks being deployed the use gas cylinders have been completely done away with. Hence with these changes the accident rate in ship recycling today is the lowest among all labor intensive industries.
It was emphasized by some of the ship breakers that there are sufficient laws in India some of which are more stringent than the regulations incorporated in the International Maritime Organization Convention. Hence they did not see the need for more laws. But the European Union is speeding up the formal entry into force of the Hong Kong Convention as well as the guidelines. In the process the EU is trying to incorporate more stringent regulations. One of the proposals is that the ship owner continues to retain the ownership of the vessel until its entire recycling is complete. In practice it would mean that the ship owner will continue to “boss” over the ship recycler until the completion of the work. “How would they implement this? How will the ship owner get the authorization to enter another country to undertake this supervisory role?, questioned Mr Nagarsheth.
Another major issue is that the beaching method of ship recycling that is employed is economical, safe and environment friendly, but the international community is forcing ship recyclers to observe the dry docking method which is not at all practical on a large scale and economical unviable. If the Europeans have their way it is possible that ship recycling may leave the Indian shores.
Source: Maritime Professional