A 38-year-old liquefied natural gas ship from Spain is heading to India’s famed Alang Shipyard for ship breaking, despite the fact that it was not pre-cleaned before setting sail. Officials also say the ship has approximately 1,200 metric tonnes of asbestos and other toxic wastes aboard.
According to Daily News and Analysis India, the ship, named Laieta, should have been cleaned before it left its home port of Barcelona. “The export of hazardous waste-laden ships for demolition is prohibited under the Basel Convention, an international treaty designed to reduce the movements of hazardous waste between nations, and specifically to prevent transfer of hazardous waste from developed to less developed countries,†the article states.
“The departure of the vessel without pre-cleaning in the country of export is illegal under the international law, European law and under the Indian domestic law,” says Gopal Krishna of Ban Asbestos Network of India.
About 90 ships currently sit at the Alang shipbreaking yard, awaiting permission from the Supreme Court of India to be dismantled. Workers at the shipyard argue that the government is interfering with their ability to make a living. Advocates for those with asbestos diseases, however, argue that India’s shipyard workers have one of the worst rates of asbestosis and mesothelioma in the world, largely due to toxic ships that have entered their ports for breaking.
