{"id":2662,"date":"2023-11-28T11:07:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-28T11:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rosarioduarte.pt\/shipbreaking-desmantelamento-de-navios\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T16:17:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T16:17:41","slug":"shipbreaking-desmantelamento-de-navios","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rosarioduarte.pt\/en\/shipbreaking-desmantelamento-de-navios\/","title":{"rendered":"Shipbreaking"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Where is shipbreaking carried out?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Until environmental rules became stricter, most shipbreaking took place in Europe and the United States. Today, however, the vast majority of the more than 1,000 ships scrapped each year are dismantled on three \u201cbeaching\u201d sites in South Asia: Alang\u2011Sosiya (India), Chattogram (Bangladesh), and Gadani (Pakistan), where enforcement of environmental and labour law is much weaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Impact of beaching<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Beaching uses the tides to move and clear ships directly on the shore during dismantling and has severe consequences:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Destruction of marine life and serious, long\u2011term environmental damage.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Extremely hazardous working conditions; workers are exposed to toxic substances (lead, mercury, PCBs, TBTs) and frequent fatal or disabling accidents. The ILO classifies shipbreaking as one of the most dangerous activities in the world.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Economic, environmental, and health impacts on coastal communities that depend on these ecosystems.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How do ships end up on these beaches?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Few companies use certified, regulated recycling facilities. Instead, ships are often sold to intermediaries who send them to beaching yards to minimise costs and liability. The use of \u201cflags of convenience\u201d from lightly regulated countries is common, making it harder to hold the owner\u2019s State accountable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>International and EU legal framework<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Basel Convention (1989)<\/strong> \u2013 Aims to prevent developing countries from becoming dumping grounds for hazardous waste from developed nations.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Ban Amendment (1994)<\/strong> \u2013 Prohibits exports of hazardous waste from OECD to non\u2011OECD countries.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>EU Regulation 1013\/2006<\/strong> \u2013 Implements the Basel Convention in EU law for transboundary shipments of waste, including end\u2011of\u2011life ships.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Hong Kong Convention<\/strong> \u2013 An IMO convention on safe and environmentally sound recycling of ships; less stringent, it does not ban beaching and relies heavily on the ship\u2019s flag, which encourages the use of flags of convenience.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>EU Regulation 1257\/2013<\/strong> \u2013 More demanding than the Hong Kong Convention; it prohibits beaching and requires better working conditions, but controversially no longer classifies end\u2011of\u2011life ships as \u201chazardous waste,\u201d which some argue conflicts with the Basel Convention.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Portugal\u2019s position<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Despite its maritime tradition and long coastline, Portugal has not positioned itself as a hub for compliant ship recycling. The European Commission has even opened infringement proceedings against Portugal for failure to implement EU ship\u2011recycling legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key Sources<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><small style=\"font-size: 9px;\">NGO Shipbreaking Platform&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.shipbreakingplatform.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.shipbreakingplatform.org<\/a><br>BAN&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ban.org\/green-ship-recycling\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.ban.org\/green-ship-recycling<\/a><br>Care Ratings&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.careratings.com\/upload\/NewsFiles\/Studies\/Ship%20Breaking%20Industry.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.careratings.com\/upload\/NewsFiles\/Studies\/Ship%20Breaking%20Industry.pdf<\/a><br>Basel: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.basel.int\/Implementation\/LegalMatters\/BanAmendment\/Overview\/tabid\/1484\/Default.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">http:\/\/www.basel.int\/Implementation\/LegalMatters\/BanAmendment\/Overview\/tabid\/1484\/Default.aspx<\/a><br>Marine Insight: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marineinsight.com\/environment\/10-largest-ship-graveyards-in-the-world\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.marineinsight.com\/environment\/10-largest-ship-graveyards-in-the-world\/<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"> V\u00eddeos<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><small style=\"font-size: 9px;\">Final Destination: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=XDiuqcx-vpI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=XDiuqcx-vpI<\/a><br>Chittagong: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5waCscf2a00\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5waCscf2a00<\/a><br>Alang-Sosiya: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5jdEG_ACXLw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5jdEG_ACXLw<\/a><br>Gadani: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=MHzhMAInv2Q\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=MHzhMAInv2Q<\/a><br>Aliaga: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=z5XQDtvagHw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=z5XQDtvagHw<\/a><br>National Geographic: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=WOmtFN1bfZ8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=WOmtFN1bfZ8<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"ql-heading\">Rita Duarte | <a class=\"ql-link\" href=\"mailto:rduarte@rosarioduarte.pt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">rduarte@rosarioduarte.pt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a class=\"btn gray\" href=\"http:\/\/eepurl.com\/gyHAu1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sign up for our Newsletter<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading ql-heading\"><strong>Contact us and\/or book a meeting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rosarioduarte.pt\/en\/contacts\/\">here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Where is shipbreaking carried out? Until environmental rules became stricter, most shipbreaking took place in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rosarioduarte.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rosarioduarte.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rosarioduarte.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rosarioduarte.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rosarioduarte.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2662"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.rosarioduarte.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2662\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2669,"href":"https:\/\/www.rosarioduarte.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2662\/revisions\/2669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rosarioduarte.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rosarioduarte.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rosarioduarte.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}