After a recent casualty where a worker lost his life while cutting the ship ‘Ever Union’ at a shipbreaking yard in Bangladesh, on July 23, Evergreen released a press statement expressing sympathy for this loss of life and for any other resulting from an industrial accident. It also disclaimed any responsibility, as the ship had been already in the hands of a buyer who had provided assurances that the breakers yard concerned is a certified Green-Ship Recycling shipyard.
According to local sources, the ship ‘Ever Union’ had been previously owned by Evergreen. After the incident, the company was accused of adopting irresponsible shipbreaking practices in disposing of its ships.
For this reason, Evergreen clarified that the vessel was already in the hands of a buyer, who had assured that the breakers yard concerned is a certified Green-Ship Recycling shipyard under ISO 9001, 14001 and 18001 standards. The Ever Union was sold for scrapping for more than $10 million.
A worker sadly lost his life having accidentally fallen while scrapping a container ship … Evergreen wishes to express sympathy for this loss of life and for any other resulting from an industrial accident
the company stated in the press release.
The man died while working at Kabir Steel’s Khawja shipbreaking yard in Chittagong, Bangladesh. Namely, as he was cutting the container ship, he fell from a great height.
These shipbreaking yards form part of the large industrial conglomerate of Kabir Group of Industries. The NGO Shipbreaking Platform has reported various important and fatal accidents in the company’s yards over the last years.
In addition, Evergreen’s current policy for recycling aged ships, both at the bidding invitation and memorandum of agreement stages, mandates that the shipbreaking yard selected by the buyer must fully comply with the standards of ‘2009 Hong Kong Convention on Safe and Responsible Ship Recycling’.
Despite the convention as yet not being officially in force, Evergreen insists on the adoption of such higher standards. The company will also require that more stringent safety measures should be included in the bids for its end-of-life vessels in the future in order to be assured that they will be scrapped in a safe and eco-friendly manner
the company highlighted.
Finally, in spite of the fact that activities are slow due to the monsoon rains, accidents keep happening. According to Platform’s member organisation YPSA, another worker lost his life in Chattogram in the beginning of July.
