Ship-breaking.com - Robin des Bois
Ship-breaking.com - Robin des Bois
Ship-breaking.com - Robin des Bois
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the closure of all the shipyards which do not guarantee environmental standards and baned the<br />
importation of vessels which have not undergone prior extraction of pollutants. After some hesitations,<br />
business resumed.<br />
Asbestos aboard old and new ships<br />
On the downside: shipyards in Turkey still use asbestos in new ships. This is what a ship-owner from<br />
The Netherlands discovered in 2009 when his chemical tanker was delivered. According to Lloyd’s List,<br />
this is not an isolated case; even though an amendment to the Safety Of Life At Sea convention<br />
(SOLAS) bans asbestos since 2002, many shipbuilding and repair yards in Asia and across the globe<br />
are still using asbestos.<br />
The car ferry scandal<br />
Ferries and passenger ships have an average age of 44 years. The fate of these veterans riddled with<br />
asbestos and dangerous for maritime safety varies.The Finnish Onyx which merits a red card after its<br />
fraudulent departure from Europe and ultimate slight of hand by those in Dubai, where it was renamed<br />
“Kaptain Boris”, before its beaching for demolition in Pakistan (see the bulletin ship<strong>breaking</strong>.<strong>com</strong> #19 2<br />
and the group of stories “Hunting down the Onyx” on <strong>Robin</strong> <strong>des</strong> <strong>Bois</strong>’s website 3 ). Prayati <strong>Ship</strong>ping, the<br />
owner of the Onyx, have since confirmed their status as a locator of old hulls and as the owners of end<br />
of ships last trips with the sales in this quarter of the ferry Sara I, Ro-Ro Bodrum, general cargo ship Bulk<br />
Express (each renamed respectively Winner 10, Winner II, and Winner 7), and of the chemical tanker<br />
Antisana. This cunning ship-owner takes the precaution to register it’s vessels for their last trip to<br />
countries which have not signed the Basel Convention or it’s Ban Amendment. Three ferries from the<br />
Isle of Wight Caedmon, Cenred and Cenwulf retired from service in 2008; the various attempts to resell<br />
in order for them to continue services have failed, notably to South America or to Sierra Leone where<br />
vessels provide a shuttling service between the Lungi-International Airport and Freetown. They have<br />
finally been towed all the way to Harlingen (The Netherlands) then to the Smedegaarden demolition<br />
yards in Esbjerg (Denmark). The Pentalina B, which was judged unfit for navigation in European waters,<br />
she left Scotland then France without much hassle, in spite of <strong>Robin</strong> <strong>des</strong> <strong>Bois</strong> and Mor-glaz’s warnings<br />
(a Brittany based association). She will be used for transport at the risk of passengers and freight in the<br />
Cape Verde archipelago. It is to be noted and it is most regrettable that following the French<br />
intergovernmental environmental round table “Grenelle de la Mer“, implementation of a working group on<br />
the renewal of southern countries fleets is not yet operational.<br />
As for the old American troop transporters they continue to be cleaned, and then towed to the demolition<br />
yards in Texas.<br />
Caedmon, March 5, 2010, towed out of Southampton for the Danish demolition yards<br />
2<br />
http://www.robin<strong>des</strong>bois.org/english/ship<strong>breaking</strong>19.pdf<br />
3<br />
http://www.robin<strong>des</strong>bois.org/english/english.html<br />
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<strong>Ship</strong>-<strong>breaking</strong>.<strong>com</strong> #20 - <strong>Robin</strong> <strong>des</strong> <strong>Bois</strong> / July 2010 - 4/44<br />
© Andrex S Cooke
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