Bangladesh court lifts ban on importing toxic ships for breaking

The Bangladesh High Court has on Monday granted temporary permission to the country's shipbreaking yard owners to resume importing toxic ships for breaking on the beaches near Chittagong. The court had ruled in March 2009 that only toxic waste-free ships would be able to lawfully enter Bangladesh. This temporary lifting of the ban for toxic ships came as the Supreme Court still needs to rule on the pre-cleaning of toxic ships and frame the rules that will apply to shipbreaking.


“It is clear that the court is under a lot of pressure from the shipbreakers and the Bangladeshi government as well,” said Rizwana Hasan, attorney for the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA), a member of the NGP Shipbreaking Platform. “Declaring shipbreaking as an industry last month, the government seems to be pressured by monied interests that are in favor of the industry reopening with no necessary changes first taking place,” Hasan said. The court ordered all workers to be trained and for all shipbreaking activities to be monitored by a team of experts.


The NGO Shipbreaking Platform believes that these conditions are “merely aesthetic” as they do not bring any real changes to the current business model that continues to pollute the coastal zones and endanger the lives of the workers. “Though the training of the workers is important, breaking ships directly on beaches can never be done in a safe and environmentally sound way,” the NGO said.
(Source:http://www.seatrade-asia.com)