TRIVANDRUM, 13 October 2003 — Greenpeace India has warned against a public sector ship-breaking or ship-recycling yard that has every potential to make life hell for the local fishing community in the southern Kerala state.
They alleged that the rich nations were dumping hazardous material in developing countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The environmental activists said the yard at Azhikkal on the coastline of Kannur beach, known for its great diversity and abode of a large fishing community, is causing limitless environment problems. The unplanned ship-breaking will bring oil and other hazardous materials such as asbestos to Azhikkal, killing fish and other marine stock, they said.
Greenpeace considers ships-for-scrap or end-of-life vessels as hazardous toxic waste because of the inherent toxic materials on board, like PCB (polychlorinated biphenyls) in engine oils, TBT in hull paints, asbestos in electrical claddings, oils and other toxic materials that go into the building of a ship. During the process of breaking the ships to recover steel from ships, these toxic wastes pollute the breaking beaches, the sea and agricultural land around the yards.
Set up by the Steel Industries Limited, Kerala (Silk), the Azhikkal yard is planning a major expansion to attract scrap ships from Southeast Asia. The yard, which became operational after a long gap two months back, has already bought one ship from Singapore and sent the steel extracted from it for rerolling to one of its four steel factories nearby.
It’s expected to go full steam when the 17.50-billion rupees port expansion project takes off. The project envisages construction of cargo berths capable of handling general cargo and containers. The wharves to be built will have the capacity to cater to ships of up to 50,000 DWT and there would also be a dry dock, ship repairing yard, warehouses, oil jetty, container yard and facilities to handle cruise liners.
Located between the New Mangalore Port and Cochin Port, Azhikkal is one of Kerala’s oldest ports. The Kerala government hopes to accelerate the industrial and economic growth of the region through the new port. Ship recycling is one of the hugely profitable businesses identified by the authorities and a source of cheap steel for the nation.
According to a Greenpeace document, hundreds of people at the ship-breaking yards endure hard physical labor. In most cases workers are known to dismantle ships with bare hands and many are injured or killed by explosions. They breathe toxic fumes and are exposed to asbestos dust, which makes them vulnerable to fatal diseases. Additionally due to the lack of adequate safety equipment or training workers are in constant danger.
