Toxic Asbestos Ship Docks in India

June 30, 2006 - Despite protests from environmental groups such as Greenpeace, the Blue Lady, a former cruise ship, has been docked in the waters of India and is awaiting a process known as “ship breaking.”

The Supreme Court of India has decided to allow local workers to commence with the scrapping of the 46,000 ton ship, formerly the SS Norway, provided experts deem the ship to be safe. 

Greenpeace, an environmental watchdog group, claims that the ship contains more than 900 tons of asbestos.  The group also believes that, due to the lack of modern technology at Alang (the shipyard responsible for the scrapping), the process of dismantling the ship will be unsafe for workers. 

Greenpeace issued a report last year which stated that thousands of Indian and Chinese shipyard workers have died during the past two decades due to work-related accidents and exposure to toxic substances such as asbestos.

Currently, the ship is berthed 73 nautical miles from Alang, awaiting inspection by toxic waste experts.  Alang is an enormous ship breaking yard, situated in the western Indian state of Gujarat.

While Greenpeace remains concerned, workers at Alang hope the ship breaking goes on as planned. 

"We pray to scrap the Blue Lady,” shipyard worker Devan Guna told The Times of India.  “By cutting it, we will get money every day.”

Greenpeace and other environmental groups were successful earlier this year in encouraging the French government to recall the aircraft carrier Clemenceau, which was also on its way to Alang to be dismantled.  The current fate of the Clemenceau remains undecided.