Campaign Launched Against Indian Shipbreaking Yard

The International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) and environmental group Greenpeace launched a joint campaign last week against the world's largest shipbreaking yard, located in India. Officials of the ITF and Greenpeace said they would present to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), details of the environmental hazards at the Alang shipyard in India's western state of Gujarat. "We are demanding that shipowners and nations take full responsibility for their contaminated cargo," Nityanand Jairaman, Greenpeace's coordinator for South Asia, said. Shipbreaking poses large environmental risks because of the toxic waste remaining in ships, he said. A Greenpeace report said that until the 1970s, shipbreaking was done in Britain, Spain, Mexico, Brazil and Taiwan and shifted to China in the following decade. Currently, India breaks 70 percent of decommissioned ships, with the rest of the business going to Pakistan, Bangladesh and China.