A ship named Clemenceau is heading towards India, Alang in Gujarat to be specific. To be dismantled and sold as junk. Alang as some of you will know is Asia’s largest ship breaking yard. For two decades ships are coming here to “die”. It is a hugely profitable business but working condition as well as environmental degradation is significant. Many hundred of workers are injured and deaths go unreported. Things have improved after 1998 Green peace came out with a report titled Steel and Toxic Waste of Asia. But the situation is far from ideal.
These photos from http://www.greenpeace.org
Workers still die and environmental standards are not adhered to. They still use primitive technology and almost obsolete safety standards. Most of the workers in Alang are migrants from poor regions of UP, Bihar and Orissa. An article by Dilip Dsouza nearly an year back was an eye-opener. Visit www.greenpeace.org/international/news/ghost-ship-121205 for more on Alang.
Workers still die and environmental standards are not adhered to. They still use primitive technology and almost obsolete safety standards. Most of the workers in Alang are migrants from poor regions of UP, Bihar and Orissa. An article by Dilip Dsouza nearly an year back was an eye-opener. Visit www.greenpeace.org/international/news/ghost-ship-121205 for more on Alang.
This is what William Langewiesche wrote about Alang in the article titled The Shipbreakers:
"Alang is a wonder of the world. It may be a necessity, too. When ships grow old and expensive to run, after about twenty-five years of use, their owners do not pay to dispose of them but, rather, the opposite -- they sell them on the international scrap market, where a typical vessel like the Pioneer 
may bring a million dollars for the weight of its steel. Selling old ships for scrap is considered to be a basic financial requirement by the shipping industry -- a business that has long suffered from small profits and cutthroat competition. No one denies that what happens afterward is a dangerous and polluting process. Shipbreaking was performed with cranes and heavy equipment at salvage docks by the big shipyards of the United States and Europe until the 1970s, when labor costs and environmental regulationsdrove most of the business to the docksides of Korea and Taiwan. Eventually, however, even these entrepreneurial countries started losing interest in the business and gradually decided they had better uses for their shipyards. This meant that the world's shipbreaking business was again up for grabs. In the 1980s enterprising businessmen in India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan seized the initiative with a simple, transforming idea: to break a ship they did not need expensive docks and tools; they could just wreck the thing -- drive the ship up onto a beach as they might a fishing boat, and tear it apart by hand. The scrap metal to be had from such an operation could be profitably sold, because of the growing need in South Asia for low-grade steel, primarily in the form of ribbed reinforcing rods (re-bars) to be used in the construction of concrete walls. These rods, which are generally of a poor quality, could be locally produced from the ships' hull plating by small-scale "re-rolling mills," of which there were soon perhaps a hundred in the vicinity of Alang alone. From start to finish the chain of transactions depended on the extent of the poverty in South Asia. There was a vast and fast-growing population of people living close to starvation, who would work hard for a dollar or two a day, keep the unions out, and accept injuries and deaths without complaint. Neither they nor the government authorities would dream of making an issue of labor or environmental conditions...". (Please visit www.wesjones.com/shipbreakers.htm for full text)
may bring a million dollars for the weight of its steel. Selling old ships for scrap is considered to be a basic financial requirement by the shipping industry -- a business that has long suffered from small profits and cutthroat competition. No one denies that what happens afterward is a dangerous and polluting process. Shipbreaking was performed with cranes and heavy equipment at salvage docks by the big shipyards of the United States and Europe until the 1970s, when labor costs and environmental regulationsdrove most of the business to the docksides of Korea and Taiwan. Eventually, however, even these entrepreneurial countries started losing interest in the business and gradually decided they had better uses for their shipyards. This meant that the world's shipbreaking business was again up for grabs. In the 1980s enterprising businessmen in India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan seized the initiative with a simple, transforming idea: to break a ship they did not need expensive docks and tools; they could just wreck the thing -- drive the ship up onto a beach as they might a fishing boat, and tear it apart by hand. The scrap metal to be had from such an operation could be profitably sold, because of the growing need in South Asia for low-grade steel, primarily in the form of ribbed reinforcing rods (re-bars) to be used in the construction of concrete walls. These rods, which are generally of a poor quality, could be locally produced from the ships' hull plating by small-scale "re-rolling mills," of which there were soon perhaps a hundred in the vicinity of Alang alone. From start to finish the chain of transactions depended on the extent of the poverty in South Asia. There was a vast and fast-growing population of people living close to starvation, who would work hard for a dollar or two a day, keep the unions out, and accept injuries and deaths without complaint. Neither they nor the government authorities would dream of making an issue of labor or environmental conditions...". (Please visit www.wesjones.com/shipbreakers.htm for full text)
Evidently when it is high profit- I read they make profit worth crores of rupees, human life is cheap commodity. It needs an outside vigilance to make these people respect life and environment. Otherwise it’s open loot. This is not about India it could be anywhere. Its been reported that improving safety and environmental standards has meant that India is loosing business to other poorer societies like Bangladesh!!. That is what we call competition!!. In this demented world India and poorer part of the world have an “advantage” since the labour is cheap. Any Marketeer worth his salt will vouch for this. This “advantage” is about more profit for few. Making rich richer at the expense of human life and environment. There will also be “intellectuals” who will fill up newspaper columns by painting a rosy picture of workers grit, earning for family and other “touching” stories. The mantra of “employment generation” at any cost. And anyone protesting will automatically be a communist!!. By choice off course. Choice is the keyword here. Choice of Coca Cola or Pepsi. Thanks to some brilliant self serving policy makers and elite cronies who squat around these power centres India is slowly but surely turning into international favorite dump yard destination. No glossy ads needed!!. Clemenceau issue is nothing new in this series but thanks to some vigilant International organization particularly Greenpeace the gravity of the problem is now mainstream. We should be grateful to Greenpeace. Clemenceau incidently is a decommissioned French aircraft carrier and was turned away by some countries from its coast because of the hazard. It is reported that the decontamination of Clemenceau wasn’t properly done as was agreed although the French Government maintains the contrary. The ship therefore contains tonnes of asbestos-a carcinogen, much beyond the acceptable limits. So breaking the ship posses serious human and environmental threat. It will be a violation of National Laws and judicial verdicts as also International Agreement on toxic waste- the Basel convention.
This is a request to bloggers to spread the gravity of threat ships like Clemenceau pose. Also are we such “cheap” people that richer nations (and elite of this country) can flaunt all safety and environmental standards. We saw this in case of Coke-Pepsi. These double standards. What we need is a stricter regulation. Profit “opportunity” cannot and will not be allowed to bypass worker safety and environmental sustainability.
This is a request to bloggers to spread the gravity of threat ships like Clemenceau pose. Also are we such “cheap” people that richer nations (and elite of this country) can flaunt all safety and environmental standards. We saw this in case of Coke-Pepsi. These double standards. What we need is a stricter regulation. Profit “opportunity” cannot and will not be allowed to bypass worker safety and environmental sustainability. 
