To

Shri Derek O Brien,
Chairman,
Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture
Parliament of India
New Delhi

21 January 2019

Subject- Dutch ship owner fined by Dutch authority for having beached a
vessel in India, Indian authorities yet to take action

Sir

With reference to the fine imposed on Dutch ship owner Holland Maas
Scheepvaart Beheer II BV for having beached an end-of-life ship for
scrapping in India, I wish to draw your attention towards the inertia and
silence of the concerned ministry of our governments although the beaching
happened in violation of the order of Hon'ble Supreme Court of India and
UN's Basel Convention on Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and
Their Disposal. Let me take the opportunity to submit that it is apparent
that the concerned of agencies of Gujarat Government have been indifferent
to the repeated notices sent by Union Ministry of Shipping with regard to
environmental and occupational health issues concerning ship breaking
industry for quite a long time although India is a signatory to the
Convention.

In an order dated 30th July, 2012, Chief Justice of India headed Bench of
Hon'ble Supreme Court of India has directed that "....the concerned
authorities shall strictly comply with the norms laid down in the Basel
Convention or any other subsequent provisions that may be adopted by the
Central Government in aid of a clean and pollution free maritime
environment, before permitting entry of any vessel suspected to be carrying
toxic and hazardous material into Indian territorial waters" in Union of
India & Ors. Vs. Research Foundation for Science [I.A. Nos.61 & 62 of
2012]. I was an applicant this case. This order has been violated by the
concerned agencies of central government and the Gujarat government with
impunity.

I submit that the Dutch ship owner Holland Maas Scheepvaart Beheer II BV
has been fined 780.000 EUR and paid a settlement of 2.2 million EUR -
totaling to a price tag of almost 3 million EUR - for having beached a ship
for scrapping in India. It may be noted that in 2013, Holland Maas
Scheepvaart Beheer II BV, a subsidiary of WEC Lines BV, sold the HMS
Laurence to a cash buyer, a company specialised in the trade of end-of-life
vessels to beaching yards. The vessel ended up in Alang, India, where it
was broken under conditions that “cause serious damage to the environment
and expose the health of workers and the local population to grave danger”,
according to the Dutch Public Prosecutor. Scrapping ships on tidal mudflats
is not allowed in Europe, and the export of hazardous materials from the EU
to developing countries is prohibited. Following criminal investigations on
the illegal export of the vessel from Italy, the Dutch Public Prosecutor
agreed to a settlement of 2.2 million EUR: the amount that Holland Maas
Scheepvaart Beheer II BV had earned by selling the ship to the beaching
yard. The Prosecutor stated that it had accepted the settlement as the
company has announced that it will take measures to avoid scrapping vessels
on beaches in the future. It is noteworthy that earlier, in 2015, the
captain of the HMS Laurence was sentenced by the Dutch Maritime
Disciplinary Court to a six-month conditional suspension of his master’s
navigation license. Beaching the vessel was in breach of the captain’s duty
of care to the environment, according to the Disciplinary Court. This first
suspension of a European ship master revealed that also the crew can be
held liable for dirty and dangerous shipbreaking. In March 2018, another
Dutch shipping company, Seatrade, was convicted for having intended to
scrap four vessels in India. Five subsidiaries of the company received
fines, as did two of Seatrade’s CEOs, who were also sentenced to
professional bans. It is also significant to note that EU-flagged vessels
are now exempt from the EU Waste Shipment Regulation that regulates the
export of hazardous wastes, as they fall under the scope of the new EU Ship
Recycling Regulation. The EU Waste Shipment Regulation continues to cover
non-EU flagged vessels. The information about the Dutch ship in question
has been brought to our attention by Brussels based NGO Shipbreaking
Platform.

I submit that it is very disappointing that ship owners are not being held
accountable for the trafficking of toxic end of life ships by Indian
authorities and they fail to ensure that such hazardous ships are not
dumped in ecologically fragile Indian coastal beach environment territory.

It is significant to note that unlike India, The Netherlands is taking a
leading position on the cracking down on illegal trafficking of toxic
ships. More such investigations are underway in other European countries,
such as the Harrier case in Norway and the North Sea Producer case in the
UK. In a related development, last week, in Bangladesh, a shipbreaker was
sentenced to a 280.000 USD fine for having scrapped a vessel on the
touristic Parki Sea Beach. The court emphasized that beaching causes
irreparable damage to the local ecology. These instances provide lessons
for the Indian authorities.

It is quite disturbing that India has become an importing country of
hazardous wastes like end-of-life ships. Our government has failed to
promote adoption of better methods and sustainable practices.

I submit that the instance of a Dutch ship owner being fined by a Dutch
authority for having beached a vessel in India exposes the state of affairs
vis-a-vis Indian authorities who are yet to take action in this regard.
Such complicity and collusion on their part has turned India into a dumping
ground of foreign hazardous wastes with encouragement from Directorate
General of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Environment,
Forests and Climate Change. They have legalised such dumping through series
of amendments in the Hazardous Waste Management & Handling Rules under
Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 at the behest of hazardous waste
traders. This is a heavy toll on the ecosystem of Alang beach, Bhavnagar,
Gujarat and the inter state migrant workers who work there under dirty,
degrading and dangerous situations.

In such a backdrop, I wish to request you to ensure that the concerned
ministry of our government complies with the order of Hon'ble Supreme Court
of India,  UN's Basel Convention on Transboundary Movement of Hazardous
Wastes and Their Disposal and ensure that those authorities which are
guilty of dereliction of duty are held accountable and accorded exemplary
punishment.

warm regards
> Dr Gopal Krishna, LLB, PhD
> Editor, ToxicsWatch
> Mb: 9818089660
> E-mail: 1715kris...@gmail.com
> Web: www.toxicswatch.org, www.asbestosfreeindia.org
>
> Cc
>
   Union Minister, Ministry of Shipping
   Union Minister, Ministry of External Affairs

> Chairman, Ship Breaking Scrap Committee
> Member Secretary, Ship Breaking Scrap Committee
> Member, Ship Breaking Scrap Committee
> Secretary, Ministry of Steel
> Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change
> Chairman, Central Pollution Control Board
> Focal Point, Basel Convention, Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate
> Change
> Shri S.D. Kaushik, Consultant, Ministry of Shipping
>

>

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