Royal Naval ships from Britain are being scrapped in developing countries, with no regard for the environment or the health of the people employed to dismantle them.
At the same time, the Britsh Government acted quickly to make sure ghost ships' from the US were stopped from being scrapped in UK waters. This is blatant hypocrisy - Britain should look after its own toxic ships, just as the US should deal with its own ghost fleet.
Currently around 600 ships are scrapped each year, with 90% of these being broken in India, Bangladesh, China, Pakistan and Turkey, where environmental and worker safety standards can be appalling. Royal Naval ships should not end up being broken by barefoot children with lump hammers in the Third World. Instead they should be dismantled using the state of the art technology that we have in the UK.
Aside from being unneccessary, the export of toxic ships to these countries also contravenes international law. 'The Basle Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal' bans the export of hazardous wastes from OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooporation and Development) countries to countries which aren't members of the OECD.
For example two Royal Naval vessels, sold to a German shipbreaking company in 2000, ended up being broken on the beaches of the notorious scrap yards at Alang in India (pictured). Environmental safeguards are non-existent in Alang and there is almost no safety equipment for a workforce that includes children.
Currently, HMS Intrepid, a Royal Naval vessel which was built in the 1960s and served throughout the 1980s including in the Falklands war, is berthed at Portsmouth awaiting export to an overseas breakersyard, believed to be in Turkey.
The ship contains 40 tonnes of asbestos as well as plastics, lead and heavy fuel oil. Although Turkey is an OECD shipbreaking country, the ship will break Turkish laws if it enters the country. Turkey banned the importation of all types of hazardous wastes in 1995, which means that ships for scrap containing substances like asbestos are not allowed to cross the Turkish border.
Greenpeace has written to Geoff Hoon, Secretary of State for Defence, and Margaret Beckett, Secretary of State for the Environment, asking why Royal Naval vessels are being scrapped under such appalling conditions. We would also like to be assured that in future all Royal Naval vessels will be scrapped in state of the art facilities in the UK or completely decontaminated and exported as clean scrap.
The Rainbow Warrior is currently in India uncovering the extent of shipbreaking. Read the weblog from the toxic crime scene.
Journalists and those seeking further information, see the press release and Greenpeace's position statement on the US ghost ships.
