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these colosal ships once carried goods
and marchandise around the
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world but after their time is up 80% of
them end up as hazardous waste sites on
South Asian Shores like gadani in
Pakistan alang in India and chagang in
Bangladesh contaminating coasts and
endangering workers to today we explore
Bangladesh's chagang shipbreaking yard
to assess the human and environmental
toll of the shipbreaking
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industry
sh Das a 33-year-old fisherman spent
half of his life catching fish along the
shittaka coastline of Bangladesh but
recently D noticed a traveling change in
the Marine
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ecosystem earli there was much more fish
bigger ones the boat would be full with
two Nets now even 20 to 30 Nets less
fish than
NS fishermen quitting their
jobs many even left the area after
selling their properties to repay
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debts a shallow water fishermen thus
blames the broken up ships along the
shore for polluting water and depleting
fish
populations the nearby beached vessels
were spilling oil and other waste into
to the
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surf research shows that up to 10% of a
giant shapes weight is made up of
asbestos heavy metals oil and other
toxic
substances due to poor Management in
these yards the toxic material ends up
in the
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environment shagang is the second
largest city in Bangladesh the the
Northwestern part of this port city
currently is home to 40 shipbreaking
yards spanning approximately 20 km along
the
coast in the year 2022 alone 2.9 Million
tons of scrap from shapes were
dismantled in these
yards Marine biodiversity researcher
proval bua has collected sediment and
water samples from around on the
shipbreaking area and noticed
significant changes in Marine
biodiversity
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here in the last 20 years alone the
fisherman along Chang's shunda Coastline
lost 25 species of
fish one of the most important elements
of marine biodiversity macrobenthos like
snails and oysters are almost extinct on
this coastline
in shakun town near the shipyard two
season ship Breakers want to share their
experiences
anonymously the workers are hesitant to
report issues to International
authorities because they fear losing
their jobs if ship owner authorities
were to become aware of their
actions
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on paper they say they will provide
protective gear such as boots helmets
and gloves
regularly the promised Replacements are
never
fulfilled so the workers resort to using
towels as makeshift masks for self-
protection
shipbreaking on these coasts is a very
dangerous job and workers often suffer
accidents in 2022 alone ngos reported at
least 10 deaths and 33 injuries
long-term health issues are a chronic
problem for many
workers throughout my time in the
shipyards I've been plagued by a
persistent
headache I also suffer from occasional
nostril blockage that Hind ERS my
breathing however my primary concern
Remains The Chronic
headache environmental officials in
Chittagong are starting to look at the
pollution and environmental harm from
shipbreaking
yards deputy director feros Anar says he
has finded some shipyards he said more
long-term research was needed to
determine the extent of environmental
effects stand gradually
improve some Research indicates
heightened heavy metal concentrations in
soils and nearby sediments in others we
see these have seeped into the aquatic
ecosystem but further investigation is
required to determine the extent of
heavy metal
deposits research suggests that the
levels exceed the World Health
Organization safe
standards should you address this
promptly comprehensive studies from
relevant departments are essential for a
better
assessment sanan and Environmental
Lawyer and activist feels that the
government is not responding properly to
the hazards of shipbreaking for human
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health what the shipbreaking industry
offers to people experiencing poverty is
not employment but afflictions like
asbestosis and cancer the process lacks
proper monitoring everything seems good
only on
paper to address the health and
environmental risks of shipbreaking the
European Union created the shipbreaking
recycling regulation or e usrr in 2013
according to this policy no European
flagships can be broken out outside
certified Green yards there are no
shipyards in South Asia on that least as
there are no health and environmental
safeguards in
place but the international NGO
shipbreaking platform has reported
instances of European flag ships
continuing to arrive in Bangladesh and
other South Asian shipbreaking yards
flouting this
regulation niola mulis from the NGO says
he knows of European origin ships being
broken up in
Bangladesh if you want uh I mean it
might be very strong expression but I
mean for the last four decades we really
have been witnessing a tragic
exploitation perpetrated by a wealthy
Elite uh mostly based uh in in the more
developed part of the world and if you
want this is a sort of uh a new form of
colonialism a toxic
one these vessels evade EU regulations
by being sold through third parties or
cash buyers before being shipped to
countries like Bangladesh India and
Pakistan the ships changed their Flags
to avoid compliance de Val obtained
documents indicating several vessels
build locations and dates many lacked
complete ownership information before
the flag
change MV hoody an example from a
December 2021 clearance application was
listed as being flagged from comos
during the application however it was
previously named HZ owned by a Polish
shipping company and flew the flag of
Malta and other European country as a
matter of fact a lot of shipping
companies based in the global North in
Europe for instance when they have to
illegally export a a ship for breaking
to South Asia they often misrepresent
facts and lie to authorities about the
final destination of the vessel as a way
to avoid being C
so is there a way to to to fix all this
well yes legal loopholes need to be
fixed and legislation needs to be
enforced
properly on request only the EU
commission replied acknowledging the
need for enhanced enforcement of the EU
ship recycling regulation by member
states they confirmed that the ongoing
evolution of the regulation addresses
the issue of ref flagging before
dismantling but stated that enforcing EU
laws properly is the responsibility of
law enforcement and National courts in
member
states the shipbreaking industry makes a
significant contribution to Bangladesh's
economy supplying steel and offering
employment to poor
workers Bangladesh has recently ratified
the Hong Kong Convention on safe ship
recycling making it the second Saud
Asian Nation to do so after India
at this renovated Shipyard in shitaka
one of the owners claimed to meet the
standards
as to separate asbestos you need a
special
machine which we have imported from
Europe until the central Waste
Management Facility is built we will
process and Reserve all
waste oily water separator and here is
the oil water separator Sear
separates oil from water into this
tank and the water is discharged into
the
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sea the shipyard has a concrete beaching
surface designed to partially support
the beach
ship back in AK environmental activist
say Hassan is not happy with any
provision of beaching under the Hong
Kong Convention to her it amounts to
green
washing countries including Norway
pressured Bangladesh to sign the Hong
Kong Convention which permits beaching
however would Norway allow beaching
within its borders Bangladesh's
government should adhere to European
standards differentiation in certain
cases is not acceptable for instance
when considering air quality the lungs
of an American are no different from
those of citizens of other nations hence
differentiating standards based on
nationality is
untenable ships are essential to Global
Commerce and recycling old vessels into
valuable scrap material will remain a
source of income for years to come but
this means old vessels will continue to
end up on South Asian Shores and cause
more hardships for people leaving on
Bangladesh's Shak the
coast one thing is sure International
regulations with loopholes and poor
implementation have yet to provide a
definitive solution for improving the
environmental damage in Bangladesh
caused by this toxic
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industry