USEPA alleges Global Marketing Systems Inc Illegal export of toxic ship for shipbreaking

Ship headed for Alang yard

HAGERSTOWN, Md. -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the Maryland-based owner of an old ocean liner with components containing toxic PCBs illegally sent the ship overseas for recycling.

Cumberland-based Global Shipping LLC and an affiliated trading company, Global Marketing Systems Inc., denied the allegations. The companies, cited by the EPA as one entity, could face hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines for failing to properly dispose of the chemicals in violation of the Toxic Substances Control Act.

"I don't think as far as we're concerned that any laws have been broken," said Anil Sharma, president of Global Marketing Systems and a shareholder in Global Shipping, which owns the vessel. Global Marketing's primary business is ship recycling, Sharma said.

The case highlights the practice of sending aged ships to "ship breaking" yards in South Asia, where critics say unprotected workers are endangered by exposure to PCBs, asbestos, toxic paint and residual fuels.

Sharma produced copies of U.S. Department of Homeland Security documents showing that the 58-year-old ship, the Oceanic, left the Port of San Francisco for Singapore Feb. 7, accompanied by a tug boat. The documents describe the Oceanic as "scrap" but Sharma said in a telephone interview that no decision has been made about whether it will be dismantled or put to some other use.

He said Global plans to meet next week with EPA officials to discuss the matter. Global has until April 17 to answer the complaint to avoid fines without a hearing, according to the EPA.

The agency's Pacific Southwest region, based in San Francisco, announced the action in a statement March 18.

"Federal law prohibits companies from exporting PCBs, including those in ships, that are sent overseas to be scrapped," said Rich Vaille, the region's associate director for waste program enforcement.

Dean Higuchi, a regional EPA spokesman in Hawaii, said Global failed an obligation to inform the agency of its plan to export the ship for disposal. The agency issues permits for such activities but "our preference would be for them or anyone to clear their ships prior to export," he said.

The EPA said Global bought the ship, formerly called the Independence, from Norwegian Cruise Lines but didn't inform the U.S. Maritime Administration of the sale until after the Oceanic had sailed. Sharma denied that Global withheld the information.

The EPA said ships built in the early 1950s were commonly constructed with PCB-containing cables, electrical equipment, watertight seals and painted surfaces. The United States banned production of those chemicals in 1978 because they can cause cancer in laboratory animals and various health problems in humans.

Sharma said he was unaware of any proof that the ship contains PCBs.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the Independence, as the ship was known for most of its life, had a long career as an ocean liner in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean and spent many years sailing out of Honolulu on Hawaiian cruises. The ship was laid up in 2001 and spent seven years at various docks around San Francisco Bay, the newspaper reported.

Sharma, an Indian national and former business professor at nearby Frostburg State University, said he established Global Marketing Systems in 1992 to buy old U.S. Navy ships and sell them to customers in India.

The Basel Action Network, a Seattle-based environmental group, said it tipped off the EPA to the ship's departure in conjunction with the Save the Classic Liners Campaign, which seeks to restore aged ocean liners.

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On the Net:

EPA: http://www.epa.gov

Global Marketing Systems: http://www.gmsinc.net/gms/

Basel Action Network: http://www.ban.org

Source: By DAVID DISHNEAU, ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

Another 'Blue Lady' heading for India?

NEW YORK: Is another "toxic time bomb" headed for a ship-breaking yard in India? The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has served notice on its owner for not obtaining the mandatory clearances. Rights groups say this is not enough.

Pulled by a tug, the SS Oceanic (formerly SS Independence), an aged 682-foot ocean liner, sailed from San Francisco Feb 8, passed Hawaii and Guam and is now believed to be near Saipan, capital of the North Mariana Islands in the Western Pacific.

According to the Basel Action Network (BAN) and Save the Classic Liners Campaign that tipped off the EPA, the ship's owner, Global Marketing Services (GMS), "routinely buys ships from all over the world and sends them to the notorious breaking beaches of Bangladesh, Pakistan and India".

BAN estimates the ship is loaded with 210 tonnes of toxic polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contaminated material and 250 tonnes of asbestos.

More than 1.5 billion pounds of PCBs were manufactured in the US before the EPA banned the production of this chemical class in 1978.

PCBs were commonly used in paints, industrial equipment, plastics and rubber products. EPA banned this class of chemicals after tests showed that PCBs cause cancer in animals and affect nervous, immune, and endocrine systems in humans.

The last owner of the classic 1950 liner Oceanic was Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) that "already has a reputation for negligence and evasion of international and national environmental and safety laws", a BAN statement said.

Another NCL liner, the former SS Norway - also known as the "Blue Lady" - is anchored off the Alang ship-breaking yard in Gujarat. It was the focus of a bitter legal battle last year with the Indian Supreme Court finally permitting its dismantling but laying down stringent guidelines on environmental safety.

The Blue Lady carries 10 tonnes of asbestos.

It was not immediately clear whether GMS has agreed to comply with the new guidelines.

On their part, the two activist groups have expressed shock that the EPA is only seeking to levy a fine and is not taking urgent action to stop the violation and bring the toxic ship back to the US.

"The government is letting the ship owners get away with what could be tantamount to murder," said Jim Puckett of the Seattle-based BAN.

"It is merely slapping these perpetrators on the wrist and allowing the offence to continue. Lives are at stake here so why on earth is the government not demanding that the ship be turned back to US territory at once?" he wondered.

"EPA filed suit because the export of PCBs is illegal under the Toxics Substances Control Act (TSCA). But the government has not filed an injunction against the ongoing export but is merely seeking fines. Furthermore, by the time the lawsuit is decided, the damage will have been done," BAN maintained.




The EPA issued a federal complaint against GMS on March 18 for "distribution in commerce and export of PCB-containing materials on the MV Oceanic, formerly the SS Independence, a ship being sent to be scrapped overseas".

Fines against the company may be assessed up to $32,500 per violation per day, the EPA said.

GMS has 30 days to file an answer to the complaint to avoid a penalty assessment without a hearing.

According to BAN and the Save the Classic Liners Campaign, the US Maritime Administration (MARAD) was warned of the latest export well before the vessel left San Francisco "and that it was likely illegal and yet they did nothing to stop it".

24 Mar, 2008, IANS

USEPA complaint targets city-based business

CUMBERLAND ­ An attorney for Global Shipping and Global Marketing Systems said Friday the company intends to “cooperate fully” in regard to a federal complaint filed this week by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA).

Robert Basseches said he has advised GMS owner Anil Sharma and all employees of the Cumberland-based companies from commenting on the complaint, which alleges a violation of the Toxic Substances Control Act.

Specifically, the EPA said that a ship owned by GMS, the MV Oceanic, has PCB-containing materials on board. PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, were used in coolants, insulating fluids and as stabilizing additives in flexible PVC coatings of electrical wiring and electrical components. The U.S. banned the use of PCBs in 1978.

“Federal law prohibits companies from exporting PCBs, including those in ships, that are sent overseas to be scrapped,” Rich Vaille, associate director for waste program enforcement in the EPA’s Pacific Southwest region, said in a news release. “When companies illegally export PCB waste, they are circumventing U.S. requirements for proper disposal. PCB waste must be properly disposed to protect public health and the environment.”

GMS has 30 days to file an answer to the complaint to avoid a penalty assessment without a hearing. Fines can extend up to $32,500 per violation per day.
“Global has been in contact with the EPA,” Basseches said. “We have indicated we want to cooperate with them. We intend to cooperate fully to meet their concerns.”

“The EPA was not informed by Global of their intention to export the ship for disposal,” the EPA news release said.

The ship’s previous owners, Norwegian Cruise Lines, bought the ship with the intent to put it into service in the U.S. The paperwork showing Norwegian Cruise Lines had sold the ship was not submitted to the U.S. Maritime Administration before the ship set sail Feb. 8 out of the San Francisco Bay.

“Vessels such as the MV Oceanic ... were commonly constructed with PCB-containing materials including cables, electrical equipment such as capacitors and transformers, watertight seal material and painted surfaces,” the EPA said.

The MV Oceanic, formerly the Independence, was built in the early 1950s and is 682 feet long. The Christian Science Monitor reported Wednesday that many privately-owned ships may have been scrapped overseas “with scant attention paid by federal authorities to the tons of PCBs they likely carry with them and in conflict with a U.S. law banning PCB waste exports.”

The process known as reflagging or reregistering a ship ready for the scrapyard under a new foreign owner “is a long-standing regulatory process.”

But the Monitor claimed that the Maritime Administration, the EPA and the U.S. Coast Guard do not “routinely monitor whether ship owners are complying with warnings on the reflagging application that they must obey U.S. environmental laws.”

The Monitor further reported that the recycling business yields up to $700 a ton in Bangladesh, or about $20 million for a typical retired tanker.

Established in 1998, GMS is an international trade consulting business dealing primarily in the buying and selling of ships that are no longer seaworthy. The company buys and sells ships from all over the world, mostly to shipbreakers in India, for recycling.

GMS’ world headquarters is located on the fourth floor of the Lila building, formerly the American Trust Building, at the corner of Baltimore and Centre streets.

Kevin Spradlin
Cumberland Times-News

Contact Kevin Spradlin at kspradlin@times-news.com .

Aged ships a toxic export

A looming spike in retired vessels could send tons of PCBs and asbestos to South Asia's 'ship breakers' before new international regulations take hold.

By Mark Clayton

Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, an empty passenger liner is being towed on her last voyage – bound possibly for one of the infamous "ship-breaking" beach­­es of Asia to be cut up and sold as scrap.

While the 682-foot SS Oceanic might still survive as a floating hotel or casino, her voyage is controversial. That's because the ship left San Francisco last month laden with an estimated 460 tons of asbestos and toxic PCBs embedded in its electrical and engine-room systems.

Just how dangerous that 58-year-old vessel would be if it is scrapped on a beach in the developing world, and how it managed to leave US waters despite laws prohibiting PCB waste exports are questions the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is investigating.

But the Oceanic case also highlights a serious regulatory failure, observers say. While overseas scrapping of US-government-owned vessels is prohibited, scores of privately owned commercial ships flying the US flag have in recent years been granted permission to be reregistered and sold for scrap overseas with scant attention paid by federal authorities to the tons of PCBs they likely carry with them and in conflict with a US law banning PCB waste exports, the Monitor has learned.

In the US, such reregistering or "reflagging" of a ship under a new foreign owner for the explicit purpose of scrapping it overseas is a longstanding regulatory pro­cess overseen by the US Maritime Admin­istration (MARAD). Yet neither MARAD, the EPA, or the US Coast Guard routinely monitor whether ship owners are complying with warnings on the reflagging application that they must obey US environmental laws.

The result: A commercial US ship owner can easily reflag a vessel to get the top price for its steel hull from overseas scrap yards – while skirting US environmental laws that might otherwise restrict a US-flag vessel from being disposed of there, experts say. With steel scrap prices at record levels, some ships today may bring $700 a ton in Bangladesh. That's around $20 million for a typical retired tanker.

"This is something people have been exploiting for years, and MARAD has codified this practice into a regulation that makes it legal," says John Graykowski, a former acting administrator of MARAD under President Clinton who now works with US-based ship-recycling companies. "It's high time the agency took a hard look at this issue in light of the global reforms going on in the ship-scrapping industry."

Thousands of tons of toxins

The Oceanic is not thought to have been reflagged to be scrapped just yet, environmentalists say. But the fact that it soon could be underscores an emerging global threat in the next few years: A tidal wave of hundreds of old ships carrying PCBs and asbestos expected to be cut up and their contents spilled onto beaches in developing nations.

Polychlorinated biphenyls are a mixture of chlorinated compounds, often an oily liquid or solid. Because they don't burn easily and are good insulators, PCBs are often used in electrical equipment in wiring and transformers.

But while PCBs and asbestos were phased out of US shipbuilding in the 1980s, many ships like the Oceanic that are more than 25 years old often contain hundreds of tons of asbestos and PCBs. Now these ships are coming up for scrapping, experts say.

With prospects cooling for the global economy, legions of older commercial ships now plying the world's oceans are expected to be scrapped when shipping volumes fall from current high levels and they become uneconomical to operate.

The London-based International Mari­time Organization is developing tougher global ship-recycling standards to protect workers and the environment. But these won't take effect until 2013 at the earliest – too late to offer meaningful protection from the coming surge of old ships.

Before they take effect, hundreds of ships weighing a total of 55 million tons – more than double the volume of the past five years – may be scrapped, a European Commission study on the global ship-scrapping industry estimated last year. A peak of 18 million tons of ships is expected in 2010.

"We all know about this looming problem," says Frank Stuer-Lauridsen, a Copenhagen-based maritime expert who co-wrote the study. "But nobody seems to have the energy to address this interim period, and the signs are not good."

While "green" ship recycling using sustainable environmental and safe labor practices is maturing in the US and elsewhere, the lure of higher prices paid by unsafe, polluting ship-scrapping operations overseas is strong, experts say. As a result, "the vast majority" of European Union-flagged vessels "along with the rest of the world's obsolete vessels" still make their last voyages to beaches and ship yards in India, Bangladesh, or Pakistan where safety practices are far less stringent, the EC report found.

In Alang, India, for instance, ships are often driven onto the beach, where workers with minimal personal protection cut them up with torches, spilling toxins into sea and air, maritime experts say. With fewer environmental and labor requirements, ship recycling in places like Alang can be highly profitable, but highly dangerous for workers, the EC report on ship recycling found.

The official tally of people killed at Alang from scrap-yard accidents in 2003-04 was 26; the unofficial total was 103, the EC report said. (There have apparently been improvements among some of India's ship-­breaking companies, including moves toward safety certification, the EC report acknowledges.)

"The impact these ships will have on the environment and workers is horrible to contemplate," says Jim Puckett, coordinator of the Basel Action Network, an environmental group that spotlighted the SS Oceanic for possibly carrying PCBs.

By contrast, ship-recycling practices in the US have improved and are now among the best in the world, the EU study found. After the Baltimore Sun won a Pulitzer Prize for its 1997 reporting that the US was sending its old warships to India for scrapping under horrendous working conditions, Congress halted that practice and mandated US-only recycling. Now government-owned vessels overseen by MARAD are scrapped at seven certified US ship-recycling yards.

But that's not the case for privately owned commercial vessels. For them, American laws to deal with the toxic materials aboard ships bound for the scrap yard are a slender reed. The US, for instance, did not sign the Basel Convention of 1989, an international law barring toxic waste exports from one country to another without formal notification.

Limits to EPA's policing

Yet the US does have one powerful legal cudgel: the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 or TSCA. Under it, PCB waste – including entire ships if they carry high-enough concentrations of PCBs – may not be exported overseas. That law applies to all federal agencies and the private sector, with the EPA as a key enforcer, legal experts say.

If the EPA believes an owner "intends to export a ship for scrapping in violation of [TSCA], it can take appropriate enforcement action including an inspection, to determine the presence of PCBs on the vessel," an EPA enforcement expert writes in an e-mail response to Monitor questions.

The EPA has indeed taken action to keep a handful of former government ships containing PCBs from leaving the US. But it has a critical problem: It rarely knows in advance which ships may soon be bound for scrapping overseas – unless environmental groups or ship aficionados blow the whistle. That's what happened – too late – with the Oceanic. Historic ship watchers found out the ship was leaving and told environmentalists, who informed the US Coast Guard and the EPA – but by that time the ship had left port.

The reason that US-flag ships like the Oceanic exist at all is so the government can use them during wartime. In order to retain sufficient vessels for national-security reasons, MARAD has long been required to approve any sale to a foreign owner or the reregistering of a vessel to another nation.

Still, there is no interagency agreement for MARAD to routinely notify the EPA when ships are to be reflagged for scrapping abroad, the two agencies concur. As a result, MARAD does not tell the EPA of any ships that may receive a "transfer order." Nor does the EPA routinely request such information.

"These are agencies working at cross purposes that should know a ship is departing in possible violation of US environmental law – and they don't do anything," says Basel Action Network's Mr. Puckett.

Onus on ship owners

Spokesmen for the EPA and MARAD requested and answered e-mailed questions as well as by phone about PCB and reflagging issues. But requests to interview senior officials were refused.

"Ship owners are responsible for complying with the PCB export ban," Roxanne Smith, an EPA spokeswoman, wrote in a statement. Since clamping down recently on some vessels, the EPA "is continuing to work with MARAD and other federal agencies to examine ways to improve our interagency coordination so that all federal enforcement capabilities and resources can be employed to thwart violations."

But a number of ships have sailed already. Since 2000, at least 91 vessels – including old oil tankers – were approved by MARAD for reflagging under a provision for overseas scrapping.

It isn't known whether those ships were inspected for PCBs. But even though ships of that vintage typically contain hundreds of tons of PCBs, MARAD currently does not require a proof of inspection from owners that shows a ship is free of PCBs before it grants a transfer order permitting reflagging and scrapping overseas, the agency confirms. Although not now required, such certification is within MARAD's right to demand under its regulations, Mr. Graykowski says.

Shannon Russell, a MARAD spokeswoman, denies that her agency, an arm of the US Department of Transportation, has routinely overlooked environmental laws in ship reflagging.

"I would completely disagree with that," she says. "At the end of every form we have, we say: 'You must comply with rules of the US, including its environmental laws.' We are a promotional agency, not a regulatory agency. We have no authority over any of these environmental laws."

In the US, companies have been scrapping old single-hull oil tankers as required by international agreement, 28 of them since 2000, says MARAD's website. At least some of those were reflagged and sold to a foreign owner for scrapping overseas, MARAD records show and Ms. Russell confirms.

For instance, in 2006, MARAD approved a Florida company's application to sell the tanker Chelsea to Grand International Shipping Co., a Liberian corporation, according to the agency's public notice. The agency expected "transfer of said vessel to Mongolia registry and flag for scrapping in India."

It's not known if PCBs were on board the Chelsea or any of the other 90 ships – or precisely where they were ultimately scrapped. Yet few ship owners seek bids from the lower-paying US shipyards where costs associated with tight regulation are higher than in the scrapping centers of India, Bangladesh, or Pakistan, maritime experts say.

"I don't know where US flag [commercial] ships are going.... I just know we aren't seeing them here in the US," says Werner Hoyt, program manager for Allied Defense Recycling of Petaluma, Calif., a start-up ship-recycling company.

At least some ship owners are concerned, according to Kathy Metcalf, maritime affairs director for Chamber of Shipping of America, a Washington-based trade organization whose membership includes several companies with fleets of oil tankers.

"We've had members consider sending their ships [to developing nations] and then they discover conditions there are just as bad as they always were," Ms. Metcalf says. "The option is to go somewhere else, and our members do. Unfortunately, there are always ships that will go and make headlines."

The Oceanic's end?

Until recently, the owner of the SS Oceanic was California Manufacturing Corporation, Coast Guard records show. That company appears to be affiliated with Miami-based NCL Corporation, Ltd., which operates Norwe­gian Cruise Line. The Oceanic was reportedly sold last summer, but its current owner has not been publicly revealed. Requests for an interview with NCL officials to clarify the vessel's ownership went answered.

Originally christened the SS Independence at the Quincy, Mass., shipyard in 1950, the SS Oceanic could easily follow another former NCL ship – the SS Norway, also known as the Blue Lady, Puckett says. That liner was driven onto a beach in Alang for scrapping in 2006.

"We no longer own the Oceanic," a woman answering NCL's press line in Miami said.

The Christian Science Monitor

EPA Sues US Ship Broker for Illegal Export but Allows 'Toxic Timebomb' to Sail Away

Government is Allowing Toxic Traders to "Get Away with It"

Saipan/Seattle/New Delhi, March 20, 2008– Following a tip from the Basel Action Network (BAN) and Save the Classic Liners Campaign, the US Environmental Protection Agency has filed suit against a well known "cashbuyer" that routinely buys ships from all over the world and sends them to the notorious breaking beaches of Bangladesh, Pakistan and India for exporting the aged 682 foot ocean liner known as the SS Oceanic (previously known as the SS Independence). But the activist groups were appalled that the EPA is simply slapping a fine on the perpetrators and is not taking action to halt the violation and send the ship back to the US.

According to BAN the ship is a "toxic time bomb" for the laborers on the infamous shipbreaking beaches of South Asia as the ship is loaded with an estimated 210 tons of toxic polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contaminated material and an estimated 250 tons of asbestos as part of its construction[1]. The shipbreaking operations in South Asia endanger workers and the immediate environment by failing to manage asbestos, PCBs, toxic paints, and residual fuels. EPA filed suit because the export of PCBs is illegal under the Toxics Substances Control Act (TSCA). But the government has not filed an injunction against the ongoing export. Instead the ship will likely be allowed to proceed to be dumped and managed by some of the poorest workers in the world, operating under some of the most dangerous conditions.

"The government is letting the shipowners get away with what could be tantamount to murder," said Jim Puckett of the Basel Action Network. "It is stunning to see them merely slapping these perpeterators on the wrist and allowing the offence to continue. Why on earth is the government not demanding that the ship be turned back to US territory at once?" he asked. "Real lives may be at stake."

The ship and its tug, after leaving San Francisco Bay on February 8th, passed Hawaii and Guam without coming into port to refuel. It is now thought to be near Saipan and is being allowed to continue on its way. The lawsuit does not call for an injunction against export and the accompanying cover letter say nothing about having the ship being returned to the US and prevention of the eventual contamination in Asia other than a mere request urging GMS not to allow the release of PCBs. The maximum penalty that can be levied against the company is 32,500 dollars per day and only after March 15.

The last owner of the classic 1950 liner was Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) owned in turn by Chinese Company Star Cruises. NCL already has a reputation for negligence and evasion of international and national environmental and safety laws. NCL According to BAN and the Save the Classic Liners Campaign, the US Maritime Administration (MARAD) was fully aware of this latest export well prior to the vessel being allowed to leave San Francisco Bay on 8 February and was warned about the export likely being illegal but they did nothing to stop it.

"We've seen this time and time again," said Jim Puckett, coordinator of BAN. "The US Maritime Administration turns a blind eye or even assists in the reflagging and export of toxic vessels even thought they know very well that these exports may very likely be illegal under US law, or international law. MARAD policies lead to workers and the environment suffering while the historic preservation of classic ships or our own domestic ship recycling industry is denied the business and jobs. And now EPA is merely going to fine the owners some thousands of dollars when they stand to make millions dumping poisons on Asia. Its a shameful lose lose lose scenario," he said.

An NCL shell company California Manufacturing Corporation sold the ship in July of last year to Global Marketing Services (GMS) founded by Mr. Anil Sharma. M. Sharma's website brags of buying and facilitating more than 100 ships per year being exported to Asia for scrapping.


Anybody with knowledge of the ship's whereabouts please contact:

Colby Self of Basel Action Network, phone: 1.206.250.5652, colby.self@gmail.com

For more information contact:

Jim Puckett, Basel Action Network (Seattle): 1.206.652.5555 (office), 1.206.354.0391 (cell), jpuckett@ban.org
Erik James, Save the Classic Liners Campaign: 1.617.755.8570 (cell), ejames70@hotmail.com
Corey Abelove, Save the Classic Liners Campaign: 1.770.853.1413, our_flagship@yahoo.com
Gopal Krishna, Ban Asbestos Network of India (BANI): 9818089660
krishnagreen@gmail.com

[1] http://www.ban.org/Library/SS_Independence_Waste_Stream_Estimate.pdf, conducted by ship remediation expert Mr. Werner F. Hoyt. Mr. Werner Hoyt can be contacted at: 1.530.938.1253 (office), 1.650.291.5204 (cell),WernerHoyt@aol.com

--------------------------------
BASEL ACTION NETWORK (BAN)
c/o Earth Economics
122 S. Jackson, Suite 320
Seattle, Washington 98104 USA
Phone: 1.206.652.5555, Fax: 1.206.652.5750
Email: jpuckett@ban.org
Website: http://www.ban.org

USEPA files complaint against SS Independence (Oceanic)

U.S. EPA files complaint against ship brokers for violations of Toxic Substances Control Act

SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a federal complaint on 18th March against Global Shipping and Global Marketing Systems, Inc. for distribution in commerce and export of PCB-containing materials on the MV Oceanic, formerly the SS Independence, a ship being sent by Global to be scrapped overseas.

Fines against these two companies may be assessed up to $32,500 per violation per day. The MV Pacific Hickory is towing the MV Oceanic to its final destination.

“Federal law prohibits companies from exporting PCBs, including those in ships, that are sent overseas to be scrapped,” said Rich Vaille, Associate Director for waste program enforcement in EPA’s Pacific Southwest region. “When companies illegally export PCB waste, they are circumventing U.S. requirements for proper disposal. PCB waste must be properly disposed to protect public health and the environment.”

Global has 30 days to file an answer to the complaint to avoid a penalty assessment without a hearing.

The EPA was not informed by Global of their intention to export the ship for disposal. The previous owners, Norwegian Cruise Lines, bought the ship through a wholly owned subsidiary with the intent to put it into service in the United States. The paperwork showing that Norwegian Cruise Lines had sold the vessel to Global was not submitted to the Maritime Administration until the ship had already sailed.

Export of PCB materials from the United States is a violation of EPA’s Toxic Substances Control Act. Vessels such as the MV Oceanic, which was built in the early 1950s, were commonly constructed with PCB-containing materials including cables, electrical equipment such as capacitors and transformers, watertight seal material, and painted surfaces.

More than 1.5 billion pounds of PCBs were manufactured in the United States before the EPA banned the production of this chemical class in 1978. PCBs were commonly used in paints, industrial equipment, plastics, and rubber products. EPA banned this class of chemicals after tests showed that PCBs cause cancer in animals and adversely affect the nervous, immune, and endocrine systems in humans.

For more information on PCB regulation and enforcement, as well as enforcement of U.S. laws related to toxic materials in general, please visit: http://www.epa.gov/pcb/pubs/laws.htm. Or: http://www.epa.gov/Compliance/. For information on PCBs, please visit: http://www.epa.gov/pcb/.

Contact Information: Dean Higuchi, 808-541-2711, higuchi.dean@epa.gov

Otapan precedent

Otapan is indeed a success almost like Le Clemenceau and it sets a precedent too unlike SS Norway (Blue Lady) where Germany's role left a lot to be desired because it connived at the dismantling of the Le Clemenceau precedent.

The Otapan (IMO: 6508561, Port of Registry: Coatzacoalcos, Mexico) is a tanker, which became well-known in Holland in the period between 1999 and 2006 when it was chained up in Amsterdam because she contained asbestos. In August 2006 the ship even gained international fame when it left for Turkey for demolition, but the Turkish authorities refused to allow the ship because the Dutch authorities had registered the ship to have a lower amount of asbestos than was really on board. After this the vessel returned to Amsterdam again.

The Otapan is a 168 metres long, 26 metres wide chemical tanker especially built for the transportating of melted sulfur. The vessel contained 5 tanks with a total capacity of 400,000 cubic feet which kept the sulfur fluid at a temperatur of 145 degrees Celsius. She was built in 1965 by Verolme Shipyard, Holland as the Harry C. Webb. The Otapan arrived at the Waalhaven, Rotterdam where the onboard asbestos was to be removed.

The Dutch State Property Department exported the toxic vessel to Turkey to cut down on disposal costs after the original owner, Navimin, went bankrupt. The Dutch notification to Turkey, required under the EU Waste Shipment Regulation, only listed 1,000 kg of asbestos was on board the ship. No other toxins were mentioned in the official notice. Later, the Dutch Environment Minister admitted on Dutch radio that as much as 54,000 kg of asbestos is on board the Otopan. He also admitted however that no proper inventory exists, and acknowledged the Dutch responsibility to provide such an inventory.

The controversial chemical tanker Otapan was berthed in the port of Amsterdam since 1999 left for scrapping in Turkey. After nearly seven years berthed in the port of Amsterdam, the Otapan, a chemical tanker still containing lethal brown asbestos, was set to be unceremoniously towed from the Dutch port to be scrapped, perhaps significantly, in a non-European Union country, Turkey. The MS Otapan contains large amounts of highly toxic materials, including an estimated 6 tonnes of asbestos plus TBT, sulphur cakes, heavy metals and very likely PCBs.

The Dutch government was been very keen to make a stand about "green" scrapping, arresting the chemical tanker Sandrien, which has ironically spent many years berthed next to the Otapan. The Otapan found itself embroiled in controversy when its naïve crew were commanded by the master to rip tonnes of asbestos out of the ship. When around 3,000 refuse sacks were spotted on the deck, the implications were clear. Amsterdam, the capital of one of the most densely-populated countries in the world, had a real health hazard at the heart of the city.

After Mexican firm Compania Naviera Minera de Golfo (Navimin), the former owner of the Otapan, ran into financial difficulties, the Dutch state also found itself the owner of the ship.

The Dutch government was one of the very few that entered into the spirit of the Basel Ban with gusto. The Sandrien was detained under the Basel Convention ban on exporting hazardous waste because of fears that it was to be beached in Alang.
Otapan, considered more potentially lethal by industry insiders has been berthed at Amsterdam Ship Repair for an even longer period than the Sandrien — since September 1999. Then owned by Navimin, the Otapan hit the headlines when its unfortunate crew started ripping lethal brown asbestos out of the ship in 2001. Navimin apparently wanted to repair the chemical tanker but because the insulating material — mainly asbestos —was in poor condition, it had to be replaced.

Apparently, after receiving quotations from specialist cleaning companies, the owner decided to have it removed by the crew in order to save money.

With around 3,000 bags or 26 tonnes found on deck, the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM) ordered them to stop.

After the exterior had been cleaned by VROM, the vessel was immediately sealed and because of the local health risk the Dutch government had little choice but to pay to have it cleaned up. The vessel was handed back to its owners and has been sealed ever since, with little known about how much asbestos remains.

According to a ministry statement prepared for Lloyd's List, the owner took no action until 2004, when, partly on the initiative of the Mexican embassy in the Netherlands, talks began between the Dutch government and Navimin.

The Netherlands proposed giving the owners financial support to tow the Otapan to
Mexico or a similar destination, since it would be far less expensive to scrap it there than in the Netherlands. The owners' initial response was enthusiastic but later they fell silent and nothing more was heard from them. Meanwhile, Navimin had been the subject of a judicial investigation to see whether it had violated the Asbestos Decree in 2001.

A district court gave a judgment in 2005 and Navimin was found guilty of contravening environmental legislation. The ship was declared forfeit to the state of the Netherlands. If the state ended up with a positive balance it should be credited to Navimin. This judgment made it more complicated to find a solution for this thorn in the Dutch government's side.

The State Property Department had now become the Otapan's owner on the state's behalf.
In what appears to be a familiar story with these problem ships, in 2005 Navimin, too, had run into serious financial problems so the Otapan was the least of its worries.
In 2005, Basilisk stepped forward. Basilisk, according to the Dutch government, reschedules debts of owners of movable and immovable property on behalf of mortgage lenders. It has taken over the banks' claim and became the mortgagee/owner of the Otapan in late 2005. Consultation with the state advocate as to who is the real owner has never yielded a clear answer. So “to avoid getting embroiled in a protracted legal battle, it was decided to seek a practical solution and to continue the negotiations between the Dutch government and Basilisk”.

The State Property Department joined in, especially since established case law requires the government to take account of the rights of a mortgagee. This means that options other than supporting Basilisk to find a final destination for the vessel are no longer being considered, the ministry stressed.

The Netherlands then had several meetings with Basilisk. An investigation last year showed that the ship was completely incapable of sailing under its own steam so a decision was made to scrap the vessel. The government stated that “given the exorbitant cost of doing so in the Netherlands, a suitable alternative location was sought” — although for the Sandrien, the government had managed to find a solution in the Netherlands.

The Otapan's owners, Basilisk of Mexico and the State Property Department on behalf of the State of the Netherlands, chose one of the shipyards in Analya, near Izmir in Turkey.

Basilisk had put all its efforts into this solution, the statement stressed, and during the negotiations the “VROM inspectorate adopted the same position as it did towards the original owner and had not modified the offer”.

On July 28, 2006 the Otapan departed to Turkey. On August 16, 2006, it reached Turkey.
The NGOs had raised alarms against the export of the MS Otapan last July 28, 2006 shortly after the vessel left the Port of Amsterdam-Noord, highlighting that Turkey lacks the appropriate expertise and the right facilities for testing and managing hazardous waste, such as PCBs, in an environmentally sound manner as required under the Basel Convention and its Technical Guidelines for ship dismantling.

The newly formed Turkish civil society coalition, Initiative Against Hazardous Shipbreaking in Turkey (Tehlikeli Gemi Sökümünü Önleme Girisimi) and the NGO Platform on Shipbreaking, a coalition of human rights, environmental and public health groups, are demanded that the Dutch Government take back the toxin-laden ship MS Otapan, following a decision by Turkey on 24 August 2006 to refuse entry of the vessel, which was exported there from Amsterdam for breaking up.

The NGO Platform on Shipbreaking, has joined with Turkish NGOs to applaud the decision of the Turkish Minister of Environment, Osman Pepe, and demand that the ship - which is legally owned by the government of the Netherlands - be exported back to Amsterdam for "detoxification", a move that would exactly mirror the case of the French aircraft carrier Le Clemenceau.

The civil society groups highlighted that the Dutch government has contravened international law banning the transboundary movements of hazardous waste, as set out in the Basel Convention and EU Waste Shipment Regulations – both of which were strongly supported by the Dutch administration when they were introduced. The Dutch Environment Minister, Pieter van Geel also admitted that the Dutch government negligently provided the wrong information to Turkey on the real quantity of asbestos in the ship and failed to properly quantify the other toxins on board.

"Turkey's official rejection of 'the Dutch Clemenceau' is a vindication for the dock and ship workers, the fisher folk, and the communities in Aliaga - the group which will be harmed by the toxins born by the Otapan, had it been dismantled in Turkey," said Arif Ali Cangi of the Turkish Initiative. "It is not acceptable for the Dutch to pass its toxic burden to the people and environment of Turkey, particularly when Turkey can not properly manage these types of wastes."

Thousands of end-of-life ships from the global fleet, military and commercial, containing thousands of tonnes of asbestos, PCBs, lead, and other hazardous substances await dismantling in the next few years. There are only a handful of nations, mostly in the developing South, such as India and Bangladesh that host major shipbreaking facilities. Recently, there has been a growing clamour from these countries against the export of toxins into their territory. Last March the government of Bangladesh rejected the import of the SS Norway (Blue Lady), a vessel bearing as much as 1,200 tonnes of asbestos, invoking its right under the Basel Convention to protect the health of its people and environment. The Turkish rejection of the Otapan is yet another case in the growing call for an end to toxic waste export and exploitation.


It is the duty of the ship owner and exporting state to fully inventory and characterize the quantity of hazardous wastes on board as well as to assure environmentally sound management of all wastes prior to export. Under the Basel Technical Guidelines for ship dismantling, the exporter is also obligated to pre-clean the vessel before export. Civil society groups uncovered a report revealing that an estimated 60 tonnes of brut asbestos were still onboard. They also criticized the Dutch Government for not warning the Turkish authorities or any other party of the widespread, severe contamination of the ship by asbestos, creating a serious danger to anyone visiting the ship unprepared. The misrepresentation of the amount of toxic wastes, as well as the false assurances of environmentally sound management violates the Basel Convention, and constituted a criminal offence.

Meanwhile, a report dated 8 March 2008 noted that owner of Otapan has been taken to court. The Dutch government has started court proceedings against the Turkish Simsekler Group, owner of the controversial chemical tanker the Otapan.

A summons will be issued to the Turkish owner for a court hearing on April 9 in The Hague, Lloyd's List was told by a Ministry of Environment spokesman.

The 22,328 dwt tanker was totally cleaned of all asbestos and other pollutants in the summer of last year and the government claims that Aliaga-based Simsekler must now pay some of the berthing and insurance costs incurred since the vessel was fully cleaned up.

The Ministry of Environment spokesman said that the chemical tanker had also been placed under arrest to prevent the owner from taking it.

Adam Simsek, director of the Turkish group, said he was not aware of any court action and that he was still negotiating with the Dutch Government.

The Dutch Government wants Mr Simsek to share part of the €400,000-€500,000 ($611,000-$764,000) costs that have arisen since June but Mr Simsek said he was not willing to pay, adding, "it is not my fault". The former owner of the ship should pay, he said.

Mr Simsek said that he had no idea how long negotiations with the government would take, but he still wants to bring "our big ship" back to Turkey.

Otapan originally hit the headlines when the crew started to remove asbestos from the ship in 2001 when it was in Amsterdam. Around 3,000 bags of lethal brown asbestos had been removed by the crew before the authorities moved in and sealed the vessel. At the time, the tanker was owned by Compania Naviera Minera de Golfo (Navimin).

Otapan had been in Amsterdam for repairs since 1999. Separately, a court case is ongoing against another former owner, Mexican firm Basilisk, which acquired the vessel in 2005.

Here, the government wants to try and retrieve some of the estimated €4.5m costs that were incurred when the vessel was initially cleaned and towed to Turkey.

Fugitive Toxic Ocean Liner Now Believed to be Nearing Guam

Mariners are Asked to Report Whereabouts and to Avoid Selling Ship Fuel

Guam/Seattle– An aged 682 foot ocean liner known as the SS Oceanic (previously known as the SS Independence), loaded with an estimated 210 tons of toxic polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contaminated material and an estimated 250 tons of asbestos as part of its construction[1], is expected to arrive within days in the vicinity of Guam where it will be needing to be refueled in order to continue its nefarious voyage. According to the Basel Action Network (BAN) and Save the Classic Liners Campaign, the export of the 1950 classic ship, recently owned by Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) and mothballed in San Francisco Bay, does not pose a toxic threat currently to Guam, or the marine environment, but is a "toxic time bomb" for the laborers on the infamous shipbreaking beaches of Bangladesh, India or Pakistan where the ship is thought to be heading. There the shipbreaking operations endanger workers and the immediate environment by failing to manage asbestos, PCBs, toxic paints, and residual fuels. Moreover the export is likely to be illegal.

The ship and its tug, after leaving San Francisco Bay on February 8th, is now seen as an international fugitive vessel, as the US Environmental Protection Agency is known to be seeking to conduct an enforcement action on the vessel or its tug, the Pacific Hickory. They wish to stop the SS Oceanic in order to conduct sampling and analysis as it is expected that the ship contains significant amounts of PCBs. Under US law it is illegal to export the highly toxic banned substance for any reason. However after a February 20 press release was circulated, the ship's tug did not arrive in Hawaii to take on fuel as expected and instead, notified the Hawaiian Coast Guard that it was going to Guam. It has also been disclosed by the Guam Coast Guard that the tug has not notified Guam of its pending arrival to take on fuel, yet the vessel is expected to need to be refueled in the vicinity of Guam. Preservationist organizations such as the Save the Classic Liners Campaign also believe the ship's export violated laws designed to protect and preserve historic property.

"This ship is historic and should never be scrapped at all, but if it must be done it should be done in the United States where we can properly clean-up ships and dispose of the contaminants properly," said Erik James, of the Save the Classic Liners Campaign. "This ship must now be seen as a renegade vessel. We call on all mariners to report its whereabouts and to refuse to sell its tug any more fuel than it takes to make port at Guam."

EPA and others are finding it difficult to determine who the current owner of the ship is. The vessel was owned by Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) and sold in July 2007 to California Manufacturing Corporation (CMU) which appears to be a company created by NCL and operates out of the NCL headquarters in Miami. CMU is still listed in the Coast Guard documentation as the last registered owner of the ship. Last Friday, BAN and Greenpeace delivered a letter to CMU by hand in Miami. It was accepted by Lillia Suarez, Assistant Administrator of Maritime Operations Department of NCL. However, NCL has revealed to journalists in the last days that CMU no longer owns the ship but sold the vessel on July 26th, 2007. CMU claims there is a confidentiality document in place so they can not divulge the name of the buyer. Thus while the ship continues to fly a US flag, the last registered owner is CMU/NCL and the new owner is not registered and has intentionally not revealed itself. Under US law, if the ship was sold to a foreign entity, as is suspected, this exchange is illegal as the Maritime Administration did not approve the sale as is required.

Further, importation of a toxic ship from the United States (a non-Party), for full or partial dismantling by a country that is a Party to the Basel Convention is a violation of the terms of the Basel Convention treaty. However, as was the case with the last NCL ocean liner that needed to be disposed of -- the SS Norway (aka Blue Lady), by the time it is rammed up onto the beaches at Alang, India, it may be too late to seek legal recourse. The SS Norway was beached in India in violation of Supreme Court rulings of India. Currently all shipscrapping in India is on hold pending government decisions about how to comply with Supreme Court requirements for pre-cleaning and gas-free certification. In spite of this ruling, the SS Norway and 52 other ships have been illegally beached and remain rotting in the tide pending government decisions. With record prices for steel and non-ferrous metals now being paid, unscrupulous ship owners can avoid the costs of proper toxic waste remediation and care, and make millions as a windfall profit from recycling in substandard breaking operations in South Asia.

"We fear that those involved with the decision to export this vessel from US waters have violated US national law and are intent on getting past the US waters of Hawaii and Guam undetected so they can drive this ship up on the beaches of Bangladesh, Pakistan or India," said Jim Puckett. "The ship and her tug should now be considered as a prime criminal suspect that is at large on the high seas. We urge all mariners to report her whereabouts so that she can be brought in for chemical testing."

Anybody with knowledge of the ship's whereabouts please contact:

Colby Self of Basel Action Network at 1.206.250.5652 or mailto:colby.self@gmail.com

For more information contact Jim Puckett of the Basel Action Network (Seattle): at mailto:jpuckett@ban.org

Gopal Krishna, Ban Asbestos Network of India (BANI) krishnagren@gmail.com

Ocean Liner's Final Voyage to Asia Under Scrutiny

Ocean Liner's Final Voyage to Asia Under Scrutiny
By Steve Herman
New Delhi
29 February 2008

A disabled passenger ship being towed across the Pacific Ocean is rekindling debate about how such vessels are scrapped. VOA correspondent Steve Herman reports from New Delhi.

The 'SS Independence' (file photo)
The 'SS Independence' (file photo)
A once glorious ocean liner is finding rough sailing as it is towed across the Pacific, likely en route to South Asia to be dismantled and sold for scrap.

The vessel, formerly the S.S. Independence, is the last U.S.-built ocean liner to sail under the American flag. After being laid up in San Francisco for the past six years it is apparently on a final voyage to India, Pakistan or Bangladesh, the hub of the world's ship-breaking industry.

Environmentalists say the 20,000 ton vessel is on a rogue journey, because it is in breach of U.S. and international laws that prohibit the export of toxic waste.

Jim Puckett is with the toxic trade watchdog group, Basel Action Network, which sounded the alarm to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency after the liner's fog-shrouded departure on February 8 from San Francisco Bay.

Jim Puckett
Jim Puckett
"We have basically a fugitive ship being towed," he said. "They have gone dark. They've turned off their satellite beacon after they got word that the EPA was interested in seizing it and testing it for polychlorinated biphenyls, a very toxic persistent organic compound which is illegal to export in any form from the United States."

Independent industry experts do not dispute that a ship of that vintage would contain tons of PCB's in its wiring, gaskets, coolants, lubricants and paint. In addition, they say, it is also likely to hold tons of asbestos insulation.

Lieutenant Marcus Hirschberg of the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Guam says authorities are monitoring the 58-year-old vessel as it heads toward the U.S. island territory of Guam.

"We have heard through Coast Guard Legal (division) that there's a possibility there was a breach of export law," he said. "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is the lead agency on those regulations and we will work closely with them if there are actions that they need to take. But right now I'm not aware of any course of action that's planned."

The SS Independence was a favorite of celebrities crossing the Atlantic in the final years before ocean travel gave way to the jet set. The Independence later spent years crisscrossing the Hawaiian islands as a cruise ship.

After American Global Lines went bankrupt in 2001, the Independence, built in 1950 at a cost of $50 million, was sold at auction for $4 million to Norwegian Cruise Lines, which later changed the ship's name to Oceanic. That company tells VOA News it sold the Independence last year to a broker who then placed it with "an unknown buyer." But current U.S. government records and those of Lloyds Maritime Intelligence Unit show the ship as still being owned by a Florida-based affiliate of Norwegian Cruise Lines (called California Manufacturing Corporation).

Preservationists in the United States have campaigned for such historic vessels to be preserved as floating museums, but that takes a lot of money. For the owners of such ships the current high prices for metals make scrapping them a more lucrative option.

Officials say any toxic materials on board would only be a general hazard when they are exposed during the ship's demolition.

South Asia's ship-breakers have come under intense international scrutiny in recent years. Scenes of bare-handed and barefoot workers with no protective equipment tearing apart toxic-laden vessels prompted calls for reform in India and elsewhere.

India's Supreme Court ordered stricter regulations on safety and health. The justices demanded adherence to the 1989 Basel Convention on Hazardous Waste and other international agreements banning the import of numerous hazardous substances. A 1995 amendment prohibits developed countries from sending hazardous waste to developing nations, even for recycling.

Jim Puckett of the Basel Action Network says the Indian high court's directives are not being followed.

"Following that ruling, 53 ships have been beached," he noted. "So they're just ignoring the Supreme Court with impunity. As far as international law goes, there is no international law. There are guidelines and they are ignoring them right, left and center."

At the Alang ship-breaking yard in the Indian state of Gujarat, Jay Joshi, a director of Soham Overseas, which purchases vessels for demolition, argues however that his industry has turned a new leaf, is complying with the Indian Supreme Court order and following international guidelines.

"Alang has got the green passport so there is no problem of recycling any kind of vessel," he said. "Most of the breakers have got the ISO (International Standards Organization) certification for safety and environment."

And Joshi says workers in the top Indian ship-breaking port are now supplied with adequate protective wear.

"Safety boots, clothes, masks, helmets and hand gloves - everything has been provided by all the breakers," he said.

In recent years Alang lost substantial business to neighboring Bangladesh, which depends on the industry for its domestic steel and is known to offer higher prices for retiring vessels. Some environmentalists say environmental and safety regulations are more lax in Bangladesh's Chittagong ship-breaking yard.

Pakistan is the third largest ship-breaker, mainly specializing in oil tankers and other large tonnage vessels.

The industry is expecting its fortunes to rise in the years ahead as single-hull oil tankers are phased out under international regulations. Environmentalists say they will monitor South Asia's ship-breakers to ensure they comply with global standards and adequately protect workers.