Toxic ship banned from being

The shipping authorities have banned a foreign ‘toxic’ ship from being scrapped at Sitakundu ship breaking yard, the Chittagong port and shipping officials said on Wednesday.
Mongolian flag carrier New Atlantia, which global environmental watchdog Greenpeace described as hazardous, changed its name to MT Enterprise and entered the Bangladesh territory a few days back, they said.
It was waiting at the outer anchorage of the Chittagong port to be scrapped at Sitakundu ship breaking yard, they added.
Private ship breaking firm Madina Enterprise imported the scrap ship of over 16,000 tonnes for Tk 90 crores from Singapore recently, the officials informed.
Initially, the office of the director general (shipping) gave clearance for breaking up the ship here, but the same office cancelled the clearance on August 14 after learning that it was blacklisted as hazardous by Greenpeace, they also informed.
The authorities also ordered this ship to leave the Bangladesh water territory, they said.
‘We banned this ship after we became confirmed that it was toxic and blacklisted by Greenpeace,’ said Dr Mosarraf Asraf, chief chemist of the office of DG (shipping).
‘Initially, we gave clearance as we were not aware of the problem because our website was down. Singapore-based exporter firm Yalumba Incorporated also misled us with wrong interpretation in the documents submitted to us,’ he added.
Nazim Uddin, owner of Madina Enterprise, claimed that he had imported the ship for scrapping after obtaining due permission from the shipping authorities.
‘When the ship is ready for beaching at Sitakundu yard, the shipping department cancelled the permission with a plea of its name being on the list of toxic ships made by Greenpeace,’ Nazim said.
‘Then, we filed a writ with the high court and secured permission to break up this ship,’ he added.
But the chief chemist said the next course of action would be taken against this asbestos-laden ship after getting the copy of the court order.
Meanwhile, Young Power in Social Action, an NGO working on environmental and human rights issues, said it would organise a human chain in the port city today to protest against the arrival of this toxic ship and to demand its immediate departure.