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End of ship for scrap Sandrien marks beginning of a worldwide solution

8 november 2004 - Today, in the port of Amsterdam, the scrapping will start of the chemical tanker the Sandrien. The Dutch ministries responsible for environment and transport together with the city of Amsterdam commissioned the scrapping of the tanker. After several court procedures the Council of State in the Netherlands ruled in June 2002 that the end-of-life vessel the Sandrien should be classified as (hazardous) waste. It was the first ever legal recognition that a ship containing asbestos must be treated as hazardous waste. Greenpeace continues campaigning to make ship owners pay for the clean breaking of their own sea vessels.

The Sandrien is a chemical tanker built in 1974. In 2001 the Dutch Environmental Inspectorate arrested the ship after they were informed that the Sandrien contained asbestos and other toxic materials and was on its way to an Indian shipbreaking yard. On Indian beaches old ships are broken by poor workers with torch cutters. They are permanently exposed to toxic substances that cause all kinds of diseases. They get injured or killed by explosions and steel plates falling from the ships. Shipbreaking activities pollute the soil, the sea and the rivers. Poor countries are saddled with the toxic legacy of western countries for decades.

In 2002 the Council of State in the Netherlands ruled that the end-of-life vessel the Sandrien should be classified as (hazardous) waste. It was the first ever legal recognition that a ship containing asbestos must be treated as hazardous waste. The Sandrien was not allowed to leave Amsterdam harbour for India to be scrapped, unless it would be properly emptied of all hazardous materials.

Two years later the Sandrien is finally meeting its end. At the same time there is a beginning of a solution for the hundreds of sea vessels that are to be scrapped every year. On 29th of October 2004, more than two years after the verdict of the Council of State in the Netherlands, the 163 countries that signed the Basel Convention took a historical decision. Ships for scrap can be considered hazardous waste under international law! Now the world joins the Dutch Council's decision that regulations on hazardous waste must be applied to ships destined for breaking.

For many years the powerful shipping industry has opposed binding regulations for shipbreaking. But the recent decision of the Basel Convention brings us closer to an international mandatory system of clean and safe dismantling of end-of-life sea vessels. Greenpeace expects such a system to be realised within two years. The ship owner then pays for the clean and safe breaking of his ships.

Scrapping the Sandrien will take about half a year. First of all the tanker will be emptied of hazardous materials. After that the ship will be broken in a dry dock. For the time being the Dutch government pays for the shipbreaking, about 1.7 million Euro. Greenpeace continues campaigning to make ship owners pay for the clean breaking of their own sea vessels.

More on the Sandrien:

Malpractice at ship for scrap Sandrien