EC bans old ship export to Bangladesh

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Shakhawat Hossain
The European Commission (EC) has imposed a ban on export of old ships from its member states to Bangladesh, which largely depends on scrap steel to run hundreds of re-rolling mills, official sources said.
The sources said the news on the ban was known from a recent letter sent by Faizul Latif Chowdhury, minister and head, commercial wing of the Embassy of Bangladesh in Brussels to European Metal Recycling Ltd director David Sheppard.
In his letter, Chowdhry has inquired about the nature of the problem and relevant EC regulation that warrants a ban on exportation of old ships from member states to Bangladesh.
"I shall be glad if you can inform of the nature of the problem and refer to the relevant EC Regulation that enforced ban on exportation to Bangladesh," said the letter.
Such a ban will not be an welcome news for the growing local ship-breaking industry in Chittagong as around 40 per cent of old ships are imported from the European Union (EU) member countries, said advisory council chairman of the Ship Breaking Association (SBA) Jafar Alam.
Alam, however, said his association is not aware about the ban that will affect the activities of 32 ship-breaking yards and the country's 700 re-rolling mills.
Chowdhry, who has sent the copy of the letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce (MoC), also sought advice from the European Metal Recycling Ltd on necessary efforts by the Bangladesh mission in Brussels to lift the unexpected ban.
Ship-breaking industry leaders presume that international propaganda about the safety issue of labourers in the yards may have influenced the EC to impose such ban.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) and International Maritime Organisation (IMO) have long been vocal on various controversial issues of the local ship-breaking industry that, according to its leaders, has emerged as one of the biggest in the world.
The local ship-breaking industry at Sitakunda in Chittagong is currently housing 32 private yards.
The industry that currently employs about 25,000 labourers directly and some 0.3 million indirectly started in 1970s, but it has flourished at a faster rate since 1980s.
Some 140 ships were brought into the ship-breaking yards in fiscal 2005-06. Labourers break ships manually, which is devoid of any international rules and regulation.
However, sources with the ship-breaking industry said local expertise has been developed over the years in such a manner that it takes only three months to break a giant ship having 60,000 DWT (deadweight tonne) compared to five-month time in neighbouring India.
SBA chairman Jafar Alam said India will be benefited most from such a EC move as the local steel industry will have to rely on the neighbour for the import of billet and iron ores.
He said his association has been addressing the safety issues of the labourers as per recommendations by the ILO and the IMO.
"We are awaiting a government approval for establishment of a hospital in the ship-breaking zone," he said.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Shipping (MoS) assigned the Department of Shipping last year to verify various issues before providing permission for the import of old ships.
The move is aimed at discouraging import of old ships that might pose environmental risk, said AKM Shafiullah, director general of the Department of Shipping.
The MoS is also working on introduction of a policy on ship-breaking industry focusing on safety and environmental issues, said a ministry official.
The official said an inter-ministerial meeting will be held in the MoS today (Thursday) to seek opinions from the concerned sectors on the draft policy.