Clemenceau going to be scrapped
- Thread starter Sczepan
- Start date
Intresting! I saw the French news on Tv and it seems some enviromentalist(Greenpeace) were trying to block the movement of the ship to the scrap yard in India because of asbestos contamination. I guess now it's been cleared.
TOULON, France (AFP) - A lone Greenpeace activist was camped out aboard a decommissioned French aircraft carrier after a larger protest against plans to send the asbestos-riddled ship to India for scrapping, the environmental group said.
Originally three protesters jumped from small boats to the hull of the 44-year-old Clemenceau, kept in the Mediterranean port of Toulon after being mothballed in 1997, and climbed on to the radar platform at the top of the boat's superstructure.
Two of the protesters later left the ship and joined four of their fellow campaigners who had been taken into French police custody earlier Monday.
All seven had earlier climbed up a crane in the dockyard, where they unfurled a banner reading: "Asbestos carrier: not here, nor elsewhere".
Greenpeace said it organised the stunt to call attention to the carcinogenic danger posed by the vessel and to call on the French government to remove the asbestos itself instead of sending the carrier to India.
"It is clear that the government is unable today to manage the decommissioning of its military and merchant ships. We ask that the government start a national strategy of dismantling them that observes international law, human rights and the environment," said the head of Greenpeace France, Pascal Husting.
The French government intends to send the Clemenceau to India to be broken down into 22,000 tonnes of scrap metal.
Although some of the asbestos insulation has been removed, Greenpeace and an anti-asbestos group, the Jussieu Committee, say the bulk of the 210 tonnes of the dangerous fireproofing remains.
"Decontamination is very expensive and so the easiest thing to do is to send it to other countries where labour laws can be easily flouted," said activist Madhumita Dutta of pressure group Corporate Accountability Desk.
Dutta said in a statement released in New Delhi that India did not have the proper technology, equipment or procedures in place to handle the decontamination of the Clemenceau.
"The workers use the most unsophisticated methods to break the ship down. Even one fibre of asbestos can cause serious medical problems," she said.
Almost half of the world's ships end up in India -- which has the world's biggest shipbreaking yard -- for dismantling after their sailing lives are over, according to Greenpeace.
India was selected as its destination for the process after a Spanish company which won the original decommissioning tender in 2003 tried to send the ship to Turkey to have its asbestos stripped out, in contravention of EU law.
That contract was rescinded and the French defence ministry decided to do some of the decontamination work itself before sending the ship to India.
The timing of the Greenpeace protest coincided with a meeting of a World Maritime Organisation working group in Basle on the transport of dangerous waste and a World Trade Organisation meeting in Geneva on Monday.
No comment was available from the Ship Decommissioning Industries (SDI), an affiliate of German steel giant Thyssen-Krupp, which is handling the ship decommissioning.
The French maritime authority said that over a hundred tonnes of asbestos had been removed already, and "what was not accessible must be treated in India at a specialised site and according to European norms, under direction of the SDI".
Up to 100,000 people are set to die in an "epidemic" of asbestos-linked cancers, the French senate said in a report published in October which blamed the state and powerful lobbyists for the failure to ban the substance until 1997.
The Clemenceau, which took part in the 1991 Gulf War, was taken out of service when it was superseded by France's new, nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle.
TOULON, France (AFP) - A lone Greenpeace activist was camped out aboard a decommissioned French aircraft carrier after a larger protest against plans to send the asbestos-riddled ship to India for scrapping, the environmental group said.
Originally three protesters jumped from small boats to the hull of the 44-year-old Clemenceau, kept in the Mediterranean port of Toulon after being mothballed in 1997, and climbed on to the radar platform at the top of the boat's superstructure.
Two of the protesters later left the ship and joined four of their fellow campaigners who had been taken into French police custody earlier Monday.
All seven had earlier climbed up a crane in the dockyard, where they unfurled a banner reading: "Asbestos carrier: not here, nor elsewhere".
Greenpeace said it organised the stunt to call attention to the carcinogenic danger posed by the vessel and to call on the French government to remove the asbestos itself instead of sending the carrier to India.
"It is clear that the government is unable today to manage the decommissioning of its military and merchant ships. We ask that the government start a national strategy of dismantling them that observes international law, human rights and the environment," said the head of Greenpeace France, Pascal Husting.
The French government intends to send the Clemenceau to India to be broken down into 22,000 tonnes of scrap metal.
Although some of the asbestos insulation has been removed, Greenpeace and an anti-asbestos group, the Jussieu Committee, say the bulk of the 210 tonnes of the dangerous fireproofing remains.
"Decontamination is very expensive and so the easiest thing to do is to send it to other countries where labour laws can be easily flouted," said activist Madhumita Dutta of pressure group Corporate Accountability Desk.
Dutta said in a statement released in New Delhi that India did not have the proper technology, equipment or procedures in place to handle the decontamination of the Clemenceau.
"The workers use the most unsophisticated methods to break the ship down. Even one fibre of asbestos can cause serious medical problems," she said.
Almost half of the world's ships end up in India -- which has the world's biggest shipbreaking yard -- for dismantling after their sailing lives are over, according to Greenpeace.
India was selected as its destination for the process after a Spanish company which won the original decommissioning tender in 2003 tried to send the ship to Turkey to have its asbestos stripped out, in contravention of EU law.
That contract was rescinded and the French defence ministry decided to do some of the decontamination work itself before sending the ship to India.
The timing of the Greenpeace protest coincided with a meeting of a World Maritime Organisation working group in Basle on the transport of dangerous waste and a World Trade Organisation meeting in Geneva on Monday.
No comment was available from the Ship Decommissioning Industries (SDI), an affiliate of German steel giant Thyssen-Krupp, which is handling the ship decommissioning.
The French maritime authority said that over a hundred tonnes of asbestos had been removed already, and "what was not accessible must be treated in India at a specialised site and according to European norms, under direction of the SDI".
Up to 100,000 people are set to die in an "epidemic" of asbestos-linked cancers, the French senate said in a report published in October which blamed the state and powerful lobbyists for the failure to ban the substance until 1997.
The Clemenceau, which took part in the 1991 Gulf War, was taken out of service when it was superseded by France's new, nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle.
Here's an old article on the ship scrapyard in Gujarat:
I've seen a couple of TV specials on the Indian scrapyard, usually with a pro-environmentalist slant.
At one time, Taiwan had an active ship scrapyard business too. There were a couple of decommisioned US aircraft carriers that got towed to Taiwan for scraping. But eventually that industry dried up in Taiwan as ships went to S. Korea instead.
It's interesting to note that the sister ship, the FS Foch, was sold for only $12 million to the Brazilian navy, but the Clemenceau ended up with no buyers intending to keep her operational. In another time, I think countries like Argentina might have stepped forward to buy it. But after being hammered by the economic crisis of 1999-2002, they're not in any shape to do so today.
I've seen a couple of TV specials on the Indian scrapyard, usually with a pro-environmentalist slant.
At one time, Taiwan had an active ship scrapyard business too. There were a couple of decommisioned US aircraft carriers that got towed to Taiwan for scraping. But eventually that industry dried up in Taiwan as ships went to S. Korea instead.
It's interesting to note that the sister ship, the FS Foch, was sold for only $12 million to the Brazilian navy, but the Clemenceau ended up with no buyers intending to keep her operational. In another time, I think countries like Argentina might have stepped forward to buy it. But after being hammered by the economic crisis of 1999-2002, they're not in any shape to do so today.
Does anyone know what aircraft Brasil operate off their "new" carrier, and if it has successfully put to sea?
I know a little while ago Brasil bought Argentinas A4's (Argentina no longer operates her old Carrier), and assume these operate from the Brasilian ship - anything else?
I know a little while ago Brasil bought Argentinas A4's (Argentina no longer operates her old Carrier), and assume these operate from the Brasilian ship - anything else?
Sea Kings also, thougth i cant remember wheter they were Italian, Uk, or US build...
there has been talks of converting some Turbine-trackers (normal Gruman trackers upgraded whit turbodrops) to AEW planes but sofar nothing have come from it...
there has been talks of converting some Turbine-trackers (normal Gruman trackers upgraded whit turbodrops) to AEW planes but sofar nothing have come from it...
the argentinian carrier was scrapped - the argentine now operating by land and using the brazil carrier SAO PAULO to hold carrier know howMIGleader said:
Brazil will have a number of Skyhawk vers. 1 and 1A (20 one seat - 3 two seats) additional 23 fighters.
The rest (the carrier could operate 40 planes) ar helos.
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In the first three years of service as the NAel São Paulo, the ship completed several missions, some in foreign waters (such Operations ARAEX and TEMPEREX, where it was used to qualify and train Super Etendards and S-2T Turbo Trackers of the Argentine Navy) and is currently working to remain operational while the military faces budget cuts.
've seen pix showing Super Etendards at brazil carrier
ARAEX IV in 2002: + ;
TEMPEREX in 2002:
in 2003 the ARAEX-exercises have been performed on the new Brazilian aircraft carrier São Paolo
.... its a nice cooperation between argentinia and brazil
( and )
back to Clemenceau
new informations told, that greenpeace entered the carrier in front of suez-canal;
- german link
egypt (edit: was) blocked the passage
edit:
the egybt gov. allowed to pass the canal by paying the sum of 1,3 Mio. $
- german link
- german link
and indians gov. is proofing the scrapyard - may be, India will not accept to scrapp the vessel in Alang, India
german link
've seen pix showing Super Etendards at brazil carrier
ARAEX IV in 2002: + ;
TEMPEREX in 2002:
in 2003 the ARAEX-exercises have been performed on the new Brazilian aircraft carrier São Paolo
.... its a nice cooperation between argentinia and brazil
( and )
back to Clemenceau
new informations told, that greenpeace entered the carrier in front of suez-canal;
- german link
egypt (edit: was) blocked the passage
edit:
the egybt gov. allowed to pass the canal by paying the sum of 1,3 Mio. $
- german link
- german link
and indians gov. is proofing the scrapyard - may be, India will not accept to scrapp the vessel in Alang, India
german link
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