Penalised in EU, courted in India: Govt attacked over illegal trafficking of ships

Toxic Watch Alliance, an environmental NGO, has made scathing observations about the indifference of the Narendra Modi-led government in looking the other way as end-of-life ships from other countries, many of them carrying banned toxic and other hazardous substances, continue to be dismantled in the ship-breaking yards of Alang in Gujarat.

In a letter to Trinamool Congress MP in Rajya Sabha, Derek O’Brien, on Jan 21 , Toxic Watch highlighted that a Dutch ship owner which had been penalised in the European Union for beaching an end-of-life ship for scrapping in India remains unpunished by Indian authorities. O’Brien is the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture.

Calling out the “intertia” and “silence” of the state and central governments over the issue, Toxic Watch’s Dr Gopal Krishna said in his letter that the beached ship was sent to India in violation of the Supreme Court order in 2012 as well as the Basel Convention.

“Let me take the opportunity to submit that it is apparent that the concerned of agencies of Gujarat Government have been indifferent to the repeated notices sent by Union Ministry of Shipping with regard to environmental and occupational health issues concerning ship breaking industry for quite a long time although India is a signatory to the Convention,” said Dr Krishna.

Dr Krishna noted that the owner of the ship, Holland Maas Scheepvaart Beheer II BV, had paid almost three million Euros in penalties and fines for scrapping the ship in India

“I submit that the Dutch ship owner has been fined 7,80,000 EUR and paid a settlement of 2.2 million EUR - totaling to a price tag of almost 3 million EUR - for having beached a ship for scrapping in India,” says the letter

“It may be noted that in 2013, Holland Maas Scheepvaart Beheer II BV, a subsidiary of WEC Lines BV, sold the HMS Laurence to a cash buyer, a company specialised in the trade of end-of-life vessels to beaching yards,” it adds.

According to the Dutch public prosecutor involved in the legal process, the ship “was broken under conditions that cause serious damage to the environment and expose the health of workers and the local population to grave danger.”

Scrapping ships on tidal mudflats is not allowed in Europe, and the export of hazardous materials from the EU to developing countries is prohibited.

“Following criminal investigations on the illegal export of the vessel from Italy, the Dutch Public Prosecutor agreed to a settlement of 2.2 million EUR: the amount that Holland Maas Scheepvaart Beheer II BV had earned by selling the ship to the beaching yard,” the letter reads.

Stating that it was disappointing that Indian authorities had failed to bring to book the erring ship owners, Dr Krishna said, “It is quite disturbing that India has become an importing country of hazardous wastes like end-of-life ships. Our government has failed to promote adoption of better methods and sustainable practices.”

“It is significant to note that unlike India, The Netherlands is taking a leading position on the cracking down on illegal trafficking of toxic ships,” says the letter.

A report in 2015 noted that almost 68 per cent of the end-of-lifer ships that Europe sends every year end up in India, with 90 per cent of them dismantled in Alang’s ship-breaking yards. Environmentalists have time and again flagged this as a major cause of marine pollution in the region.

The complete text of the letter:

To

Shri Derek O Brien,

Chairman,

Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture

Parliament of India

New Delhi

21 January 2019

Subject- Dutch ship owner fined by Dutch authority for having beached a vessel in India, Indian authorities yet to take action

Sir

With reference to the fine imposed on Dutch ship owner Holland Maas Scheepvaart Beheer II BV for having beached an end-of-life ship for scrapping in India, I wish to draw your attention towards the inertia and silence of the concerned ministry of our governments although the beaching happened in violation of the order of Hon'ble Supreme Court of India and UN's Basel Convention on Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal. Let me take the opportunity to submit that it is apparent that the concerned of agencies of Gujarat Government have been indifferent to the repeated notices sent by Union Ministry of Shipping with regard to environmental and occupational health issues concerning ship breaking industry for quite a long time although India is a signatory to the Convention.

In an order dated 30th July, 2012, Chief Justice of India headed Bench of Hon'ble Supreme Court of India has directed that "....the concerned authorities shall strictly comply with the norms laid down in the Basel Convention or any other subsequent provisions that may be adopted by the Central Government in aid of a clean and pollution free maritime environment, before permitting entry of any vessel suspected to be carrying toxic and hazardous material into Indian territorial waters" in Union of India & Ors. Vs. Research Foundation for Science [I.A. Nos.61 & 62 of 2012]. I was an applicant this case. This order has been violated by the concerned agencies of central government and the Gujarat government with impunity.

I submit that the Dutch ship owner Holland Maas Scheepvaart Beheer II BV has been fined 780.000 EUR and paid a settlement of 2.2 million EUR - totaling to a price tag of almost 3 million EUR - for having beached a ship for scrapping in India. It may be noted that in 2013, Holland Maas Scheepvaart Beheer II BV, a subsidiary of WEC Lines BV, sold the HMS Laurence to a cash buyer, a company specialised in the trade of end-of-life vessels to beaching yards.

The vessel ended up in Alang, India, where it was broken under conditions that “cause serious damage to the environment and expose the health of workers and the local population to grave danger”, according to the Dutch Public Prosecutor.

Scrapping ships on tidal mudflats is not allowed in Europe, and the export of hazardous materials from the EU to developing countries is prohibited. Following criminal investigations on the illegal export of the vessel from Italy, the Dutch Public Prosecutor agreed to a settlement of 2.2 million EUR: the amount that Holland Maas Scheepvaart Beheer II BV had earned by selling the ship to the beaching yard. The Prosecutor stated that it had accepted the settlement as the company has announced that it will take measures to avoid scrapping vessels on beaches in the future.

It is noteworthy that earlier, in 2015, the captain of the HMS Laurence was sentenced by the Dutch Maritime Disciplinary Court to a six-month conditional suspension of his master’s navigation license. Beaching the vessel was in breach of the captain’s duty of care to the environment, according to the Disciplinary Court.

This first suspension of a European ship master revealed that also the crew can be held liable for dirty and dangerous shipbreaking. In March 2018, another Dutch shipping company, Seatrade, was convicted for having intended to scrap four vessels in India. Five subsidiaries of the company received fines, as did two of Seatrade’s CEOs, who were also sentenced to professional bans. It is also significant to note that EU-flagged vessels are now exempt from the EU Waste Shipment Regulation that regulates the export of hazardous wastes, as they fall under the scope of the new EU Ship Recycling Regulation. The EU Waste Shipment Regulation continues to cover non-EU flagged vessels. The information about the Dutch ship in question has been brought to our attention by Brussels based NGO Shipbreaking Platform.

I submit that it is very disappointing that ship owners are not being held accountable for the trafficking of toxic end of life ships by Indian authorities and they fail to ensure that such hazardous ships are not dumped in ecologically fragile Indian coastal beach environment territory.

It is significant to note that unlike India, The Netherlands is taking a leading position on the cracking down on illegal trafficking of toxic ships. More such investigations are underway in other European countries, such as the Harrier case in Norway and the North Sea Producer case in the UK. In a related development, last week, in Bangladesh, a shipbreaker was sentenced to a 280.000 USD fine for having scrapped a vessel on the touristic Parki Sea Beach. The court emphasized that beaching causes irreparable damage to the local ecology. These instances provide lessons for the Indian authorities.

It is quite disturbing that India has become an importing country of hazardous wastes like end-of-life ships. Our government has failed to promote adoption of better methods and sustainable practices.

I submit that the instance of a Dutch ship owner being fined by a Dutch authority for having beached a vessel in India exposes the state of affairs vis-a-vis Indian authorities who are yet to take action in this regard. Such complicity and collusion on their part has turned India into a dumping ground of foreign hazardous wastes with encouragement from Directorate General of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. They have legalised such dumping through series of amendments in the Hazardous Waste Management & Handling Rules under Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 at the behest of hazardous waste traders. This is a heavy toll on the ecosystem of Alang beach, Bhavnagar, Gujarat and the inter state migrant workers who work there under dirty, degrading and dangerous situations.

In such a backdrop, I wish to request you to ensure that the concerned ministry of our government complies with the order of Hon'ble Supreme Court of India, UN's Basel Convention on Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal and ensure that those authorities which are guilty of dereliction of duty are held accountable and accorded exemplary punishment.

warm regards

Dr Gopal Krishna, LLB, PhD

Editor, ToxicsWatch