India to press for stricter norms on ship-breaking

AHMEDABAD: India refuses to be a dump yard for hazardous ships. During the forthcoming inter-sessional working group meeting at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in London, India is planning to put forth this point across to world players in the sector.

IMO, the specialised agency of the UN with 167 member states concerned with maritime security, safety, environmental concerns and legal matters involving shipping, is in the process of framing guidelines for the ship-breaking industry and will debate the ‘draft international convention for the safe and environmentally sound recycling of ships’ between May 7 and 11.

With recent controversies involving French warship Clemenceau and Norwegian Blue Lady daunting the sector, India is being over cautious. India will insist that if a ship-breaking yard does not have the facility to treat a particular kind of hazardous waste contained in a ship headed for recycling, the onus of removing the hazardous waste should lie with the flag state.

India has already sent its comments to IMO seeking that responsibilities of ship-owners and administrators of the flag state whose ships proceed for recycling be fixed. There have been instances where ship-breakers at India’s biggest ship-breaking yard at Alang have fallen prey to gimmicks by global players in the industry, reveals Ajoy Chatterjee, chief surveyor and additional director general (engineering), ministry of shipping.

“At IMO, India will press for a legally acceptable demolition contract and deregistration of a ship from a ship seller. Deregistration is an important part of the recycling process that will ensure that demolition is transparent and that the ship is not dumped at sea or becomes a ghost ship or is illegally recycled. There have been several instances where gullible ship-breakers at Alang have been handed over ships by a cash buyer without proper documentation, the contents of the ship, or that it is already mortgaged,” he said.

The Gujarat Maritime Board, that manages the Alang Ship Breaking Yard, which is part of the London-delegation, will also push this demand. As for ship-breakers, president of Iron Steel Scrap and Shipbreakers’ Association of India (ISSAI) Pravin Nagarsheth will put forth their objection to the draft seeking that the ship seller, who in most cases would be a ‘third party’, will supervise the entire recycling process.

“We would not like someone hiding the credentials of the ship to blackmail us once the agreement for ship-breaking has been stamped,” he said.