Brazil Must Urgently Provide Safe Haven for Aircraft Carrier São Paulo | |
Ship can no longer be left dangerously floating in the Atlantic | |
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Transboundary Movement Gone Wrong
The former French aircraft carrier FOCH, currently named SÃO PAULO (A-12), was sold by the French Navy to Brazil in 2000. Already at that time, the French government was concerned about the vessel’s end-of-life management and reportedly asked that the ship's final destination be approved by them to ensure its safe and environmentally sound disposal.
The SÃO PAULO was formally decommissioned by Brazil in 2017 and subsequently auctioned off, with only recycling yards approved by the EU and vetted by France participating in the bidding. On 18 March 2021, the ship was purchased for recycling by Turkish company Sök (Sök Denizcilik and Ticaret Limited) in Aliağa, Turkey. Prior to its export to Turkey for scrapping, the NGO Shipbreaking Platform, Basel Action Network (BAN), BAN Asbestos France, Henri Pézerat Association (Work, Health, Environment), International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS), İstanbul Isig Meclisi, Brazilian ABREA and Greenpeace Mediterranean all expressed in letters to IBAMA (Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources), the Brazilian Basel Competent Authority, their great concerns about the proposed Transboundary Movement, which are summarised here below, over the questionable legality of the export.
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1. Federal District Court injunction
On August 4, a Brazilian Federal District Court injunction to stop the departure of the SÃO PAULO was issued but was ignored. Following the court decision, the ship was hastily towed out to sea, and instead of following the towage plan which projected it sailing along the coast, the tow train made an easterly heading to leave Brazilian territory waters as rapidly as possible.
2. Export without Notification and Consent of Transit States
The Transboundary Movement of the SÃO PAULO from Brazil to Turkey took place without the transit states being notified. Under the Basel Convention Article 6.4, all transit states must be notified prior to export. IBAMA asserted in an e-mail exchange with the NGOs that a notification was not needed if the ship did not stop in a port; however, this is not a correct interpretation of the Convention. The definitions of “transboundary movement”, “transit state”, and “area under the national jurisdiction” make it clear that transit includes passage through territorial waters. Therefore, at least Spain, Morocco, the UK, Malta, Italy, and Tunisia should all have been notified, and their consent should have preceded any movement.
3. Export to a Party that has Prohibited the Import
Turkey has a national ban on importing hazardous wastes of all kinds. This prohibition has been notified to the Basel Secretariat. Furthermore, Turkey is a Party to the Izmir Protocol, which also signifies that Turkey must ban all imports of hazardous wastes. The Izmir Protocol (an Article 11 Basel Agreement) was also notified to the Basel Secretariat. As an exporting state Party, Brazil must, by virtue of Article 4.1.b, prohibit all exports to Turkey. Yet, Brazil allowed this export, in clear violation of the Convention.
4. Toxic Waste Quantification Discrepancies
The SÃO PAULO, like its infamous sister-ship CLEMENCEAU, whose misguided export to India was recalled to Europe at great expense due to violations of the Basel Convention, contains large amounts of hazardous substances within its structure and is thus considered a hazardous waste under the Basel Convention. France, Brazil and Turkey are all Parties to the Convention. Based on the audits performed on the CLEMENCEAU we can estimate that SÃO PAULO contains around 900 tons of asbestos and asbestos-containing materials, as well as Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB)-containing materials and toxic heavy metals onboard. There is little doubt that the SÃO PAULO is a particularly toxic vessel. What a ship actually contains in terms of hazardous wastes is vital in determining its environmentally sound management and thus, legal fate under the Basel Convention. And yet, despite this fact, an dubious independent audit or Inventory of Hazardous Materials (IHM) was performed prior to the export by Norwegian company Grieg Green, which reported the presence of only 10 tons of asbestos on board the ship. The Convention in Article 9.1.d stipulates that if a shipment does not conform in a material way to the documentation is illegal traffic. It is impossible to have confidence in the Ship Recycling Plan submitted to IBAMA by Sök, if the quantification is not correct. The serious discrepancies regarding the inventory and other uncertainties led to the injunction cited in the paragraph 1 above.
And yet, despite all of the concerns raised, the SÃO PAULO departed Rio de Janeiro on 4 August 2022 towed by the Dutch vessel ALP CENTRE on a 6,000-mile journey to Turkey for scrapping. IBAMA to this day claims the export was done legally.
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Turkey Denies Consent
On August 9, as a result of the news of the Brazilian Supreme Court's interim injunction and the letters written by the NGOs, and local protests, the Turkish government demanded the preparation of a new IHM for the vessel. Then after this was not forthcoming and the ship was getting closer and closer to the Mediterranean Sea, on August 26, Murat Kurum, Turkish Minister of Environment, City and Climate Change, withdrew the consent for the shipment, therefore banning the toxic aircraft carrier SÃO PAULO from entering Turkish national waters. Consequently, IBAMA ordered the return of the vessel to Brazil as is required under Article 8 of the Basel Convention.
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SÃO PAULO 17 miles off of Recife, Brazil. From the cover of the inspection report completed by AWS. 18 October 2022. | |
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Ship Needing Repairs is now being towed in Circles at Sea
Now, more than a month has passed since the toxic aircraft carrier came back to Brazilian territory. Yet, the vessel has not been allowed to safely dock. It is still drifting off the coast of the State of Pernambuco, while both the Brazilian Navy, as the former owner of the vessel, and IBAMA, as Basel authority, fail to demand and provide a safe haven to prevent potential harm to the crew and the marine environment. Alarmed by the presence of toxic materials within the structure of the SÃO PAULO, the State Environment Agency (CPRH) of Pernambuco denied the docking of the hull at the Port of Suape, located south of Recife on the southern coast. Several other Brazilian facilities approached by Sök, the vessel’s current owner, likewise refused to temporarily host the vessel due to an alleged lack of available berths or technical capacity.
After the ship reached its current location on October 5, per instructions by the Directorate of Ports and Coasts of the Brazilian Navy, it was ordered that the hull be inspected in order to verify its integrity. Accordingly, AWS Service performed inspections on October 12 and October 14, and concluded that, due to degradation and structural damage as a result of environmental influences, the "immediate mooring/docking is recommended for structural repair, to avoid the expansion of damage and the possible loss of stability for a long period at sea."
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The route of the tow chain from November 13-16 as the old aircraft carrier São Paulo and the tow ship Alp Centre steam back and forth awaiting an order from the Brazilian government to come ashore for safe haven. The São Paulo is known to be in need of repairs and presents a grave risk to the environment at sea. | |
Action Needed Now By Brazil to Immediately Provide Safe Haven
International and national NGOs, observers of this impasse, demand responsible action on the part of Brazil as a matter of urgency. The Basel Convention is clear. When a transboundary movement of hazardous wastes cannot be completed, the State of export shall ensure that the wastes in question are taken back into the State of export, by the exporter and ensure that those wastes are managed in an environmentally sound manner. While Brazil can claim that they have brought the SÃO PAULO (the waste) back, it is not currently being managed in an environmentally sound manner – floating at sea. The Basel Convention calls for Brazil to take immediate responsibility. We urge Brazilian authorities to immediately find a safe port to dock the ship. Clearly the ship can return to the naval dock it left.
After the ship is once again safely moored in Brazil, NGOs furthermore call for a complete re-initiation of the plan for the safe recycling or reuse of the ship - one that ensures that human health and the environment are protected as a priority and the Basel Convention is applied correctly. Considering the impossibility of the attempted transboundary movement of hazardous waste to Turkey due to the Barcelona Convention Waste Trade protocol, and the buyer’s unreliable IHM submissions, the NGOs are urging Brazil and France (the original naval owner) to start over, perform a new IHM, and initiate a new sale with only legal and capable destinations participating, with the price of recycling, commensurate with safe and efficient management of the ship recycling operation.
Basel Parties and Secretariat are urged to do all they can to ensure action is taken by Brazil and France as a matter of urgency.
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For more information:
Jim Puckett, Executive Director of BAN
email: jpuckett@ban.org
Annie Thébaud-Mony, for Ban Asbestos-France Association
email: annie.mony@gmail.com
Nicola Mulinaris, NGO Shipbreaking Platform,
email: nicola@shipbreakingplatform.org
About Basel Action Network
Founded in 1997, the Basel Action Network is a 501(c)3 charitable organization of the United States, based in Seattle, WA. BAN is the world's only organization focused on confronting the global environmental justice and economic inefficiency of toxic trade and its devastating impacts. Today, BAN serves as the information clearinghouse on the subject of waste trade for journalists, academics, and the general public. Through its investigations, BAN uncovered the tragedy of hazardous electronic waste dumping in developing countries. For more information, see www.BAN.org.
About The NGO Shipbreaking Platform
The NGO Shipbreaking Platform is a coalition of environmental, human and labour rights organisations, headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. For more than 10 years, we have been fighting for shipbreaking workers’ right to a safe job, the use of best available technologies, and for equally protective environmental standards globally. With a broad base of support both geographically and in orientation we challenge the arguments of a powerful shipping industry not used to being held accountable for its substandard practices. We raise public awareness of the human rights abuses and pollution caused by shipbreaking, and seek to prompt both policies and marketplace incentives to divert traffic away from the infamous breaking beaches. Our goal is to find sustainable solutions that encompass the principles of human rights, corporate accountability, environmental justice, “polluter pays”, producer responsibility and clean production.
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