News

Greenpeace marks scrapship in Danish harbour

24 april 2003 - Eight Greenpeace activists stamped a warning sign on the stern of the scrapship Giovanna in the harbour of Århus, Denmark. A metal scrap-ship-logo was attached to the back end of the ship to mark that the ship is ready for scrap and risks ending its days on a beach in India. The 25 year old chemical tanker Giovanna has been abandoned as a ghost ship in the Århus harbour for the last year and a half.

Greenpeace wants the ship to be classified as scrap or waste by the Århus local government officials and the Danish environmental minister, Hans Christian Schmidt. Such a classification - which would be natural in regard to the current Danish waste regulations - would also mean that Giovanna, because the ship amongst other things contains asbestos, must be seen as "hazardous waste". This would make export of the ship to Asia illegal.

The Danish environmental minister has publicly expressed great concern on the lack of regulations regarding the handling of end-of-life vessels, which means that shipbrokers and shipowners get rid of these scrapships under completely unregulated circumstances.

"If Denmark joins the group of countries who take precedence in classifying scrapships as waste and therefore toxic waste, its reliability will be intact. And Denmark will then be able to work effectively through the Basel convention on closing the gaps in the current regulations, which allow scrapships to end up on beaches in India and other places", ends Jacob Hartmann. More on the Giovanna...