ISLAMABAD: The tragic explosion in an oil storage tanker on Tuesday which claimed 20 lives and left over 50 injured has led to fresh demands for the adoption of European Union Ship Recycling Regulations at the Gadani ship-breaking yard to avoid any such incidents in the future.

In 1988, a similar blast had led to the deaths of 14 workers in Taiwan. Ingvild Jenssen, policy director of the non-government organisation Ship­brea­king Plat­form, says that following the incident the government of Taiwan had drastically stren­gthened measures to protect workers and the environment. As a result, the industry then moved to South Asia where similar precautions were not taken.

There are 68 operational plots at the Gadani ship-breaking yard, which are run by 38 operators. They employ more than 12,000 workers who come there from all over the country. The industry pays around Rs5 billion in taxes each year.

“Back in 2013, we warned the government about such a possibility and urged it to introduce an advanced set-up for dismantling ships,” says Abid Qaiyum Suleri, the exe­cutive director of Sustainable Development Policy Institute, the Pakistani Platform member organisation.

The Islamabad-based SDPI and the Brussels-based Shipbreaking Platform, a global coalition of environmental and human rights organisations, conducted a joint research titled, Pakistan Shipbreaking Outlook: The Way Forward for a Green Ship Recycling Industry in 2013, which was revised in the following year.

No corrective measures mentioned in the study were taken, Mr Suleri says. China and Turkey now receive the most ships for recycling because of their advanced dismantling systems.

The ship-breaking industry provides raw material to the domestic steel industry. According to data compiled by the Shipbreaking Platform, Pakistan received 111 vessels for dismantling in 2014 compared to 105 vessels in 2013 and 124 in 2012. Globally, 1,026 ships were dismantled in 2014 compared to 1,213 ships in 2013.

“This accident is a painful reminder of the dangerous working conditions at ship-breaking yards in Gadani. Our thoughts go first and foremost to the victims, to their families and friends,” says Ingvild Jenssen.

The Shipbreaking Platform has called for the government to move the ship-breaking activity from the beach in Gadani to areas under strict regulatory control, using alternative and safer methods at docks or along piers.

According to details released by the Shipbreaking Platform, the floating oil production tanker ACES was sold to a Gadani ship-breaker by Jakarta-based PT Sinar Mentari Prima. It was previously used at the Jabung Batanghari terminal owned by the Indonesian government company BPMIGAS and was operated by PetroChina.

The ship’s flag and name were changed a few weeks before it arrived at the beach in Gadani. “This indicates the involvement of a cash buyer for the sale of the end-of-life vessel,” she says.

Cash buyers, such as GMS and Wirana, are middle men that specialise in selling ships to beaching yards in South Asia. They collect a greater profit this way than they would if they had to cooperate with modern ship recycling facilities.

South Asia continues to be the preferred dumping ground for most ship owners as environmental, safety and labour rights standards are poorly enforced here.

Ms Jenssen looks at Tuesday’s incident as a wake-up call for the government to develop a sustainable and healthy industry that would be approved on the upcoming EU list of ship recycling facilities.

The risk of explosions during the dismantling process, especially where oil tankers are involved, is well known. “There needs to be a proper procedure that would only allow hot work (torch cutting), once flammable gases and liquids are properly removed,” she says.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2016