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Ingvild Jenssen News

06 Jul 2023

NGO Shipbreaking Platform Pushes for Safe Recycling of FSO Safer

The NGO Shipbreaking Platform has called for the safe and environmentally friendly recycling of the FSO Safer, currently being salvaged off the coast of Yemen.The UNDP is looking for a destination for the FSO’s recycling, and the Platform is calling on the Dutch government, one of the biggest donors to the Stop Red Sea Oil Pollution operation, to assist UNDP in identifying a suitable recycling facility. The Netherlands has shown leadership in preventing the environmental disaster an oil spill from the FSO Safer would have caused, says the Platform, along with Dutch company Boskalis, via its subsidiary SMIT Salvage, which has been tasked with the removal of the oil from the FSO.Referring to Dutch involvement in the Stop Red Sea Oil Pollution operation…

27 Apr 2022

BW Offshore Says Fatal Incident in Indian Yard Not Related to Its FPSOs

BW Cidade de São Vicente ŠBW Offshore

Oslo-listed FPSO leasing company BW Offshore said Wednesday a fatal incident had occurred in the Priya Blue shipyard in India, but that it was not related to ongoing recycling of former BW Offshore FPSOs at the yard.BW Offshore said in February it had signed an agreement with Priya Blue Industries yard in India to recycle the Cidade de São Vicente FPSO in compliance with Hong Kong Convention. The convention, adopted in 2009, is aimed at ensuring that ships when being recycled after reaching the end of their operational lives…

15 May 2019

Bangladesh Shipbreaking Yard Explosion Kills Two

Two yard workers have died and five others were severely injured yesterday (May 15) in a major explosion on board beached vessel at a shipbreaking yard in Chittagong, Bangladesh, said the NGO Shipbreaking Platform.At around 8:30 AM, a fire broke out on board the vessel BUNGA KELANA 4, beached at Mahinur Ship Breaking yard, also known as Premium Trade Corporation. The flames spread from abandoned waste oil located close to the engine room where workers were torch-cutting steel parts. Mohammod Rubel, 25 years old cutter man, lost his life in the accident. He died on his way to the hospital. Hamidul Islam’s dead body was found on the ship several hours after the explosion.

18 Feb 2019

Two Bangladeshi Workers Killed in Shipbreaking Yard

Two Bangladeshi workers were killed Monday in a fire that started in the engine room of an end-of-life tanker being dismantled at a shipbreaking yard in Chittagong, Bangladesh, the NGO Shipbreaking PlatformMd Jamil, 23 years old cutter man, and Bipul lost their lives while scrapping the ship GREEK WARRIOR (IMO 9191412) at Shagorika Ship Breaking Yard. According to local media, Jamil was burned and rushed to Chittagong Medical College Hospital. He died before reaching the hospital. The body of Bipul was discovered on board only few hours later.Shagorika yard and RA Shipbreaking yard, which has been recently under the spotlight for the purchase of Nordic America Tankers’ NORDIC SPRITE…

31 Jan 2019

744 Ships Scrapped in 2018

744 large ocean-going commercial vessels were sold to the scrap yards in 2018, out of which 518 were broken down on South Asia beaches, accounting for a record-breaking 90.4% of the gross tonnage dismantled globally.According to new data released by the NGO Shipbreaking Platform,  at least 34 workers lost their lives when breaking apart the global fleet. The Platform documented at least 14 workers that died in Alang, making 2018 one of one of the worse years for Indian yards in terms of accident records in the last decade.Another 20 workers died and 12 workers were severely injured in the Bangladeshi yards. In Pakistan, local sources confirmed 1 death and 27 injuries. Seven injuries were linked to yet another fire that broke out on-board a beached tanker."The figures of 2018 are shocking.

21 Oct 2018

NGO Shipbreaking Platform Slams Gadani Yards

A tanker caught fire at the Gadani shipbreaking beach that holds a deplorable record of life threatening accidents on 11 October.Fortunately, no casualties were recorded. Only a few days later, on 14 October, yet another oil tanker named KRITI (IMO 9270737) caught fire, this time injuring seven workers, three of which are in a critical condition.The Platform has reported a series of accidents following the catastrophic explosion that killed at least 29 workers and injured 58 on the 1st of November 2016. Since then, there have been at least five more fires caused by unsafe cutting operations. Difficult access for firefighters, a severe lack of ambulances and no hospital in the close vicinity of the yards aggravate the conditions…

24 Sep 2018

Europe Prefers Polluting Yards Abroad, Though It can Handle Ship Recycling

Ship recycling yards approved by the EU will have enough capacity to handle demand from EU-flagged ships that need to be scrapped, a statement from NGO Shipbreaking Platform said qoting a new data analysis.The shipping industry wants low-cost ship ‘breaking’ yards outside the EU – with dangerous working conditions and poor environmental standards – to be added to the EU list of approved facilities in order to meet demand from vessels bound by the bloc’s ship recycling law, which enters force on 1 January 2019.But the current EU list can accommodate the numbers and sizes of EU-flagged ships that are scrapped every year, the new report…

29 Aug 2018

Aqualis Offshore, Skuld Maritime Agency Under Investigation in Scrapping Case

Aqualis Offshore and Norwegian Insurer Skuld Maritime Agency are under investigation for their involvement in the attempt to illegally export the Harrier to Pakistan for scrapping.NGO Shipbreaking Platform, quoting DN said that Aqualis Offshore issued two certificates for the ship – one for a break-up voyage to Pakistan, another for a voyage to Oman – and it is suspected that the latter was issued to dupe Norwegian authorities in order to circumvent the European waste export ban.Skuld Maritime Agency was involved in issuing the last-voyage insurance for the vessel and is therefore being investigated for having aided the illegal export.The former and current owners of the ship…

20 Jun 2018

Shippers Push to Undermine EU Ship Recycling Regulation

The EU member states’ experts on ship recycling met in Brussels to discuss the latest developments, six months ahead of the application of the 2013 Ship Recycling Regulation. With the recent decision by the Chinese government to stop the import of end-of-life ships for scrapping, the shipping industry is quick to lament that there will not be enough recycling capacity and that there will be too few options for them under the EU List of approved recycling facilities. The industry claims that the standard set by the EU must be lowered so that beaching yards can be approved. As much as it is a pity that the Chinese yards who have already made efforts to be included on the List may now no longer be receiving EU-flagged ships for recycling…

15 May 2018

Financiers Turning the Tide on Shipbreaking Practices

Š knovakov / Adobe Stock

The shipping industry has long been criticised by campaigners for allowing vessels to be broken up on beaches, endangering workers and polluting the sea and sand. Now, it is being called to account from a quarter that may have a bit more clout - its financial backers. Norway's $1 trillion Oil Fund, a leader in ethical investing, in February sold its stake in four firms because they scrap on the beach. Three of the firms excluded by Norway's fund - Taiwan's Evergreen Marine, Precious Shipping and Thoresen Thai Agencies (TTA) of Thailand - say they have been unfairly singled out.

07 Mar 2018

Germany and Greece: Worst Vessel Dumpers

As in 2016, Germany and Greece top the list of country dumpers in 2017, according to new data released today by the NGO Shipbreaking Platform. German owners, including banks and ship funds, beached 50 vessels out of a total of 53 sold for demolition. Greek owners were responsible for the highest absolute number of ships sold to South Asian shipbreaking yards in 2017: 51 ships in total. Since the Platform’s first compilation of data in 2009, Greek shipping companies have unceasingly topped the list of owners that opt for dirty and dangerous shipbreaking. Despite increased pressure for safe and clean ship recycling from Norwegian investors and authorities, in 2017, the number of Norwegian-owned ships scrapped on the beach was on the rise: 18 ended up in Alang, Gadani and Chittagong.

13 Feb 2018

Shipbreaking Case Against Seatrade in Dutch Court

For the first time in Europe, Public Prosecutors are bringing criminal charges against a ship owner – Seatrade – for having sold vessels to scrap yards in countries “where current ship dismantling methods endanger the lives and health of workers and pollute the environment”. The case is being heard in a Rotterdam Court this week, and the Dutch Public Prosecutor calls for a hefty fine (2.35 mill EUR) and confiscation of the profits Seatrade made on the illegal sale of four ships, as well as a six month prison sentence for three of Seatrade’s top executives. Seatrade is based in Groningen, the Netherlands, and is the largest reefer operator in the world.

16 Jan 2018

Norway SWF Dumps 3 Shipping Firms

The Norwegian Central Bank  has decided to exclude ship owners Evergreen Marine Corporation, Precious Shipping, Korea Line Corporation and Thorensen Thai Agencies from the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG). The exclusion is based on the companies’ poor management of their end-of-life ships and the sale of these for dirty and dangerous shipbreaking on the beaches of Gadani, Pakistan and Chittagong, Bangladesh. The Norwegian Council on Ethics directs the Norwegian Central Bank, which manages the Government Pension Fund Global, on which companies should be excluded from investments in the fund, based on human rights and humanitarian violations, corruption and environmental degradation records.

07 Dec 2017

NGOs, Unions Denounce Certification Issued to PHP Yard by RINA

In October, the PHP Family (Peace Happiness and Prosperity) shipbreaking yard received a Statement of Compliance with the Hong Kong Convention by the Italian classification society RINA. Trade unions in Bangladesh, as well as the Platform’s member Bangladesh Institute for Labour Studies (BILS), are concerned that such a labelling sets a dangerous precedent for the further green-washing of the Chittagong beaching yards. Workers and the environment are not protected as long as ships are broken on the beach, and as long as fundamental labour rights and proper infrastructure are not secured. PHP is run by a renowned business family in Chittagong, who also runs activities in the steel re-rolling and construction industries, and owns TV channels.

09 Nov 2017

Pakistani Shipbreaking Plot Sealed Off

Shipbreaking plot no. 54 in Gadani, Pakistan, was sealed off after a massive fire broke out on-board the ship ACES (IMO 8021830), said NGO Shipbreaking Platform. This is the same floating oil production tanker that blew up on 1 November last year – an explosion that caused the death of 31 workers and seriously injured at least another 58 workers. Fortunately, reports seem to indicate that no workers got caught in the flames of yesterday’s fire on the ACES. After having been left untouched and unbroken in the same yard since last year’s catastrophic explosion, the Pakistan Department of Environment gave permission last week for the continued breaking of the ACES.

11 Aug 2017

EC Financial Instrument to Facilitate Ship Recycling

The European Commission released its report on the viability of a financial incentive for sustainable ship recycling under the EU Ship Recycling Regulation this week. Whilst it acknowledges the benefits for clean and safe ship recycling such an incentive would bring, the European Commission has decided to wait with its introduction. NGOs urge the EU to take action now as it is well documented that ship owners will with ease be able to circumvent the EU Ship Recycling Regulation by simply swapping the flag of their vessel to that of a non-EU State. The report of the European Commission is based on the study which was conducted by Ecorys, DNV-GL and the University of Rotterdam/Erasmus, and published at the end of 2016.

31 May 2017

Banks Backs Responsible Ship Recycling Standards

Dutch banks ABN AMRO, ING Bank and NIBC, together with the Scandinavian DNB, announced that they are all introducing Responsible Ship Recycling Standards (RSRS) for their ship financing. The banks took the opportunity of making this announcement during the biannual industry gathering in order to raise awareness with the intention of including more banks into the initiative. The Norwegian fund, KLP, who in 2016 commissioned a report by the International Law and Policy Institute on shipbreaking, had also already taken a stance to reject beaching practices. A collective move to include ship recycling conditions on loans by leading banks and financial institutions with large shipping portfolios is a positive step to imposing responsible practices on ship owners.

06 Apr 2017

Tide Carrier Under Arrest in Norway

After having been informed by the NGO Shipbreaking Platform and its member organisation Bellona that the Tide Carrier (now named HARRIER, aka EIDE CARRIER) had been sold for illegal, dirty and dangerous scrapping to a South Asian beaching facility, the Norwegian environmental authorities arrested the ship on Tuesday 5 April. The vessel is not allowed to leave Norway unless it is to sail to a ship recycling destination in line with international and European hazardous waste laws. According to the Norwegian Environment Agency, it is the first arrest of a vessel in Norway for the illegal export of hazardous waste. The Platform had been informed already during the summer of 2015 that the ship was sold for scrap.

28 Feb 2017

NGOs Call Upon EU to Effectively Regulate Shipping Pollution

From dangerous emissions in ports to hazardous scrapping on South Asian beaches, European shipping companies pollute and put people’s health and lives at serious risk. In light of the ongoing European Shipping Week and the failure of the International Maritime Organisation to find solutions, environmental experts are ringing the alarm bell and calling upon European policy makers to urgently adopt policies that effectively target the environmental performance of shipping. “Every year approximately 50,000 people in the EU die prematurely because of air pollution from ships. While all land-based sources have been gradually regulated in recent years we still face a lack of effective emissions control measures for ships,” says Daniel Rieger from NABU.

12 Apr 2016

EU Sets Standards for Sustainable Ship Recycling

Photo: NGO Shipbreaking Platform

Today, the European Commission (EC) publishes technical guidance for ship recycling facilities that want to be approved under the EU Ship Recycling Regulation. The European Union (EU) mirrors with this step the call by environmental and human rights NGOs for a relocation of ship recycling to platforms that can ensure sustainable practices. Facilities that intend to be listed as EU-approved will need to ensure safe working conditions, pollution control including proper downstream waste management and enforcement of international labor rights.

21 Oct 2016

Industy Supports EU's Call for Financial Incentive to Enhance Sustainable Recycling

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) adopted an own initiative opinion that calls on the European Commission to introduce an incentive that will “eliminate the abuses of irresponsible ship dismantling through a system which creates added value in an end-of-life ship”. SEA Europe, IndustriAll Europe and the NGO Shipbreaking Platform join the EESC in supporting an incentive that will make sure ships are recycled in a safe and environmentally sound manner. “European ship recycling companies are competitive with regards to sustainability and should be encouraged by an enabling public policy that will push ship owners towards the use of these facilities as well as enhance R&D towards more cost effective solutions in Europe,” says Christophe Tytgat, Secretary General of SEA Europe.

17 Nov 2015

Italian Ship Owners Accused of Poor Shipbreaking Practices

Italian shipping companies Grimaldi Group, Ignazio Messina and Vittorio Bogazzi & Figli are facing strong criticism from the NGO Shipbreaking Platform for reported poor shipbreaking practices. The NGO Shipbreaking Platform, a global coalition of 19 environmental, human rights and labor rights organizations working to end polluting and dangerous shipbreaking, denounced the companies, calling upon them to take action to ensure the sustainable recycling of their end-of-life fleet. According to the group, Grimaldi Group, Ignazio Messina and Vittorio Bogazzi & Figli sell vessels to shipbreaking yards that do not respect basic human rights and environmental protection standards.