SHIP DISMANTLING : EUROPEAN SHIPOWNERS STILL SEND VESSELS TO ASIAN SCRAP YARDS.

The non-governmental organisation Shipbreaking Platform calculates that 365 European-owned ships containing toxic materials like asbestos were sent to the beaches of South Asia for scrapping in 2012. This record figure marks a 75% increase compared with the 210 European-owned ships sent for breaking to India, Bangladesh and Pakistan in 2011. "Despite the possibility of proper disposal in Europe or other developed countries, the vast majority of European shipping companies continue to profit by having their ships broken cheaply and dangerously on the beaches of South Asia," explained Patrizia Heidegger, executive director of Shipbreaking Platform. The first concerned are Greek shipowners, who sent 167 ships to South Asia, nearly half of all the ships beached in this part of the world by European shipowners in 2012. They are followed by shipowners from Germany (48 ships), the UK (30), Norway (23), Cyprus (13), Bulgaria (8), Denmark (6) and the Netherlands (5). Shipbreaking Platform's list shows that most of these ships flew flags of convenience (Panama, Liberia, Bahamas, etc) for their last journey.

For Heidegger, "the European Union must adopt mechanisms that will prevent European shipowners from exporting toxic ships for breaking in developing countries and instead recycle them according to the health, safety and environmental laws and standards of their own countries". The European Commission presented a draft regulation along these lines last year that is currently working its way through the legislative process -...