German shipowners use South Asia as dumping grounds for their old vessels. But those working in such...

[TheWorldNewsOrg]

German shipowners use South Asia as dumping grounds for their old vessels. But those working in such ship graveyards pay a high price. http://pic.twitter.com/6EXmhD5lSf

— DW - Business (@dw_business) April 3, 2017

via TheWorldNewsOrg

World News

[John Lindsay Barltrop]

I THINK?? that most of the world shipping companies and Naval forces use these ship breaking yards.............why just pick on the German shipowners..........do you have something against Germany..............by the way I am not German, I am Australian.

There have been several "docos" on these ship breaking yards, in particular, India and Bangladesh and the appalling, or probably a better word is atrocious, conditions that the workers face.........in most cases "SAFETY" is not in their vocabulary...........unfortunately, the people in those areas cannot find employment elsewhere.

[Arauna]

I think it has to do with human rights.  Germany is often targeted because it pretends to care for people when in actual fact its actions decry this.... the conditions these people are working under is appalling with no danger pay...

 

[John Lindsay Barltrop]

"............with no danger pay"

You do jest..........their entire pay is just a mere pittance 

Just a little more info on this:

• Since the early 2000’s, a number of international organisations have offered guidelines on protecting workers’ health and safety, and preventing environmental damage, yet the most basic health and safety standards are not implemented and hazardous waste continue to pollute the water and soil.

• International regulation aiming at a safer and more sustainable ship recycling has been adopted, but is not yet in force. The Hong Kong Convention on the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships was adopted in 2009, but is so far only ratified by 4 countries. The convention does not ban the beaching method, but does set out a list of requirements enter alia in relation to the management of hazardous waste. Early implementation efforts are made by the IMO who has issued guidelines to assist ship owners as well as ship recycling yards. Since September 2015, a handful of ship recycling yards in India has received a “Statement of Compliance” with the convention issued by a classification society. This has caused a debate as leading NGOs maintain that the requirements set forth in the convention are not met, and call for transparency of the certification process.

• The EU Ship Recycling Regulation was adopted in 2013 and will become gradually applicable from 2018, after which EU-flagged ships must go to EU-approved ship recycling facilities. The regulation sets out a list of requirements that have to be met for approval of ship recycling facilities, and may in practice exclude the shipbreaking yards in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan from such approval. The European Community Shipowners’ Association is lobbying the European Commission to apply “the spirit of the regulation”, to the protests of local NGOs

The IMO (International Maritime Organization) have also tried to improve safety in these facilities, but, in the main it falls on deaf ears...........as the saying goes "You can lead a horse to water, but, you cannot make it drink"..........I have been involved in the maritime industry, as a marine engineer, for more years than I care to remember (60+ years, I retired 15 months ago at 75 1/2) and this subject has cropped up many times over the years........the response always seems to be the same.......NOTHING changes, or if it does not by very much.

This was just a small excerpt from: "Shipbreaking Practices in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan" An Investor Perspective on the Human Rights and Environmental Impacts of Beaching written by International Law and Policy Institute (ILPI) (an independent institute focusing on good governance, peace and conflict, and international law.)

PS As I pointed out CLEARLY this is not just a problem for Germany, but, ALL shipping companies WORLD WIDE.

[Arauna]

Point taken.  Of course there are countries where people do not earn even one dollar a day and in most of these a life is not worth five cents.  I was merely referring to the life threatening tipe of work and no compensation for that.  Germany have all these laws but do not apply these in other countries and do not compensate as they know they should.  Save a buck on the back of human lives in poor countries.

There is no justice in this world - and the shipping industry seems to be under regulated in all facets of its operations. I recall disasters in recent years where passengers on boats died because they received bad instructions from the crew during evacuation phase.  There were no drills ever practiced for this eventuality - or so it seemed at the time. My thoughts at the time were that less lives would have been lost by good evacuation procedures and dry practicing by the crew before passengers come on board.  But I never heard that this is an instituted maritime law.

[John Lindsay Barltrop]

"...........Germany have all these laws but do not apply these in other countries and do not compensate as they know they should."

My dear Arauna,..........it is not only Germany, it is ALL countries, or shipping nations, more correctly, that take advantage of these shipbreaking yards and most Western countries have the same or similar laws to Germany.

Here is another quote:

Ship recycling plays a vital role in the lifecycle of a ship, and is fundamental to the industry.
For the last twenty years the ship-recycling yards in Bangladesh, China, India, Pakistan and Turkey have been recycling 97% to 98% of all the tonnage that is recycled in the world. The economies of these five countries are characterised by a great appetite for scrap steel for their steel making needs.
Of these, the three South Asian countries are less developed and poorer, and this ensures that the local ship recyclers have the market to sell virtually every part of the ship: steel, machinery, fittings, equipment and even furniture. Consequently, the three South Asian countries are the most competitive in terms of the prices they pay for buying end-of-life ships and in the last ten years have dominated the international market by recycling more than two thirds of the world’s recycled tonnage.

On the other hand, underdevelopment and poverty are usually linked to lower safety, social welfare and environmental standards, giving rise over the years to pressures for the development of an international convention to regulate safety, health, environmental protection. This led to the adoption of the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships (HKC) by IMO in 2009.

Not all yards have yet achieved desirable safety and environmental standards, and unfortunately there are many yards that still use poor practices during the ship recycling process. GMS has long been a supporter of the entry into force of the HKC so that compliance with its rigorous safety and environmental standards becomes mandatory. This would introduce a level playing field for all yards to work from. Until this is achieved, owners have the power to drive change by choosing yards that exercise good standards for safety and environmental protection (known as responsible recyclers, or “green yards”). This sends a strong market message that unsafe practices are no longer socially or environmentally acceptable, or economically prudent, and that the market will hold them accountable for such practices.

This was quoted from an article in the "Hellenic Shipping News- Worldwide" 

The ones making the "Big bucks" are the owners of the yards.