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December 22nd, 2014

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Danish companies sending ships to notorious scrapping sites

According to ship scrapping watch dog website offthebeach.org, 11 Danish shipping companies and subsidiaries have sent 18 ships to be scrapped at the notorious scrap yards in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh over the past four years.

The ships are being scrapped by impoverished migrant workers in dangerous conditions for pay as little as 2.5 kroner an hour, at ship breaking yards such as in Alang, India, where at least 470 fatal accidents have occurred since 1983, according to the Brussels-based NGO Shipbreaking Platform.

”The shipyards down there, including those can call themselves ’environmental’, are miles from the standards seen at facilities such as in Denmark,” Patrizia Heidegger, the head of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform, told Ekstra Bladet tabloid.

“The workers’ security equipment is not in order and there are often accidents where they are crushed by bits of iron falling from the ships, killed in explosions and many become ill after being exposed to toxic substances like asbestos and mercury.”

READ MORE: Maersk accused of forgoing ethical guidelines

Registration loophole
Since 2006 it has been forbidden to sail ships under Danish flags to the ship yards in India, but the Danish companies own many ships that are not registered in Denmark.

The Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, which was drafted back in 2009 and will toughen the regulation of ship recycling, has yet to be ratified, and so far only Norway has signed on.

And it is unlikely that the new more stringent EU rules which are going into effect in a few years will have much of an effect as few European shipping companies register their ships in EU nations.

Fact Box

Here are the Danish companies and subsidiaries whose ships have been scrapped in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh since 2009:

– Blue Line International, BLI Management sent the two ships Split 1700 in 2010 and Ancona in 2011 to be scrapped in Alang, India

– Container Leasing A/S sent the two ships CS Christine in 2012 and CS Giotte in 2013 to be scrapped in Alang, India

– CS Partners A/S sent SEA Corona to be scrapped in Alang, India in 2009

– Dania Marine ApS sent Sujin to be scrapped in Alang, India in 2013 and Philip to be scrapped in Mumbai, India in 2012

– Dannebrog Rederi sent Naesborg (2011), Marienborg (2012) and SIAM Project (2011) and Aalborg (2013) to be all scrapped in Alang, India

– Nordana Line A/S sent NORD Scan Mumbai to be scrapped in 2011 in Alang, India

– Dansk Investeringsfond DIFKO dispatched Power II to Aland India and Amberjack to Gadani, Pakistan for scrapping in 2012

– Nina Shipping K/S sent Nina to be scrapped in Cittagong, Bangladesh in 2010

– Hansen og Lange I/S sent Selma to be scrapped in Alang, India in 2013

– Seaflex A/S sent Burgos to be scrapped in Alang, India in 2010

– Transland Invest ApS sent ACE IV to be scrapped in Alang, India in 2012