Beached at Aliaga 15.05.25
News
WESTERHAMM
Scrapped
The NGO Shipbreaking Platform has welcomed the Public prosecutor’s appeal of the Rendsburg District Court’s decision to acquit the shipowners involved in the illegal export and scrapping of the'Westerhamm'. While the ruling marked the first time in Germany that shipowners stand trial for violating environmental law through shipbreaking practices, the Court failed to hold them legally accountable, despite the judge’s own recognition of the environmental damage caused. In her oral statement, Judge Martje Heinsohn stated: “What you did was not right. You caused significant damage to the environment in order to achieve maximum profit. I can only appeal to you to give something back to the environment.” The container ship, which was operated by MSC and owned by the Rendsburg Schiffahrtskontor, sailed from Bremerhaven on Nov 2, 2016, then made stops in Gibraltar and Egypt before being beached in Alang, where was dismantled under conditions that are well documented to be highly hazardous for both workers and the environment. The export of end-of-life ships to India is illegal under the EU Waste Shipment Regulation. The Court’s decision to acquit was based on doubts about the timing of the intention to dispose the ship. The shipowners claimed that the decision to scrap the vessel was only taken when the vessel had left German waters and provided as evidence sales documents for scrapping that had been signed when the ship was in international waters. They also sought to argue that because the 'Westerhamm' was still operational when it left Germany, the ship could not be considered as waste under international and EU law, disregarding well-established jurisprudence that confirms a vessel can simultaneously be classified as both a ship and waste. Indeed, what triggers the classification as waste is the owner’s intent to dispose the asset, and because a ship is a waste that can move on its own, it remains also a ship subject to all other maritime regulations on its last voyage to the scrapping yard. The fact that the 'westerhamm' was still operational does therefore not negate its classification as waste under international and EU law. The public prosecutors have appealed the acquittal and maintained that internal communications confirming the “unconditional desire to dispose of the ship” as there was no market for its further operational use provide evidence of the intent to dispose of the ship.
RIGHT
Scrapped
Beached at Alang 15.05.25 https://www.facebook.com/746795035/videos/g.6884293942/586753417771870
