how major shipping companies are getting rid of their old freighters in india

It is one of the most polluted beaches in the world. Twelve kilometers of sand on which cargo ships run aground at full speed, a technique called “beaching”. On the west coast of India, in Alang Bay, some major shipping companies are getting rid of their old ships, sometimes in defiance of international laws which strictly regulate the export of toxic waste.

“Everything that is liquid goes to the sea”

What happens to the waste from these ships? “Everything that is liquid goes into the sea“, answers one of the workers on a dismantling site that “Complément d’Enquête” infiltrated. The local authorities having refused the magazine’s request to shoot, the journalist has filmed with a hidden camera. Since the appearance of these construction sites, thirty years ago, the sea would therefore swallow these toxic liquids…

Solid waste “is buried in the ground, in large holes”

As for solid waste that cannot be recycled, “they are buried in the ground, in large holes“, explains another worker. Apart from the sheet metal of the boats, cut into pieces and resold to factories on site, the rest would be burned, and buried for miles around…

These dismantling sites are “a huge business, these people make colossal profits. This is done to the detriment of the local population”, denounces the environmental activist Rohit Sharma. For ten years, he has been investigating, at the risk of his life, this industry which uses his region as a huge open-air garbage can. “It causes pollution and destroys natural resources. It’s a dump!“

Excerpt from “Cargos: business in troubled waters”, a document to be seen in “Complementary investigation” on April 7, 2022.