On July 23, a cutter man died while working at Kabir Steel’s Khawja shipbreaking yard in Chittagong, Bangladesh. According to local sources, Shahidul was cutting the container ship Ever Union, when 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.
[smlsubform prepend=”GET THE SAFETY4SEA IN YOUR INBOX!” showname=false emailtxt=”” emailholder=”Enter your email address” showsubmit=true submittxt=”Submit” jsthanks=false thankyou=”Thank you for subscribing to our mailing list”]
Namely, in 2017 and 2018 alone, at least four workers were killed. In 2016, Kabir Steel’s private security personnel fired shots and injured seven people who were protesting after the death of shipbreaking worker Sumon.
The vessel Ever Union was beached in Bangladesh on April 19. It was owned by Taiwanese shipping giant Evergreen Marine, which has been under the spotlight for ‘irresponsible shipbreaking practices.’
In January 2018, Norwegian Central Bank decided to exclude Evergreen from the Government Pension Fund Global, because of the ship owner poor management of its end-of-life ships and the sale of these for dirty and dangerous breaking on the infamous beach of Chattogram.
Since then, the company has clearly not changed its policy. Five vessels, including the EVER UNION, ended up in Bangladesh this year. Three of them were allegedly sold to shipbreaking yards owned by Kabir Steel
NGO Shipbreaking Platform stated.
The Ever Union was sold for scrapping for more than $10 million. Before reaching the shore, the ship was renamed Vera and changed registry to the Paris MoU black-listed flag of Palau.
What is more, 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.
Twenty workers lost their lives in 2018. The number of deaths was the highest in last eight years. These two recent accidents bring the total death-toll of the shipbreaking industry this year to at least ten workers. Clearly, no lesson has been learned. Accidents keep happening, indicating a complete lack of intention from yard owners to ensure workers’ safety
informs Muhammed Ali Shahin – Project Coordinator – YPSA