For the first time in Europe, Public Prosecutors are bringing criminal charges against a ship owner – Seatrade – for having sold vessels to scrap yards in countries applying unsafe and polluting shipbreaking methods.
The case is being heard in a Rotterdam Court this week, and the Dutch Public Prosecutor calls for a hefty fine (2.25 million euros) and confiscation of the profits Seatrade made on the sale of four ships, as well as a six month prison sentence for three of Seatrade’s top executives. Seatrade is based in Groningen, the Netherlands, and is the largest reefer operator in the world.
Violation of EU Waste Shipment Regulation
In 2013, the NGO Shipbreaking Platform revealed Seatrade’s sale of the Spring Bear and Spring Bob to Indian and Bangladeshi breakers respectively. The charges pressed by the Dutch Prosecutor additionally involve the scrapping of the Spring Panda and Spring Deli in Turkey, and are based on international laws governing the export of hazardous waste and the EU Waste Shipment Regulation.
The Regulation prohibits EU Member States from exporting hazardous waste to countries outside the OECD, as well as requiring a prior informed consent for such exports. All four vessels departed on their last voyage to the breaking yards from the ports of Rotterdam and Hamburg in the spring of 2012.
Cash Buyer
Seatrade sold the ships, via the company Baltic Union Shipbrokers, to cash-buyer GMS. According to the Prosecutor, Seatrade opted for using a cash buyer, rather than recycling the ships in a safe and clean manner, for purely financial reasons.
GMS is known for bringing ships to the beaches of South Asia, where the price of end-of-life vessels is higher due to the exploitation of migrant labourers and to weak, or no, enforcement of safety and environmental standards.
Similar Cases
Similar cases are currently being investigated in Norway, Belgium, and the UK, involving shipping companies such as Maersk and CMB, as well as cash-buyers GMS and Wirana.
Picture: Shipbreaking yards of Chittagong, Bangladesh (by NGO Shipbreaking Platform 2014).
