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The Spanish environmental authorities have stopped the passenger vessel ‘Beni Ansar’ from departuring to a shipbreaking yard at one of the beaches in India. The presence of hazardous materials such as oil, fuel, batteries and chemicals at the vessel, have stopped it from its final journey (article).
Transboundary movements of hazardous waste are regulated by provisions laid down in the Basel Convention. Export of hazardous waste from Europe to a non-OECD country is prohibited according to the so called Basel-Ban.
It is not the first time ships are prevented from setting sail to scrapping yards in India and Bangladesh. The Dutch authorities dealt with the Sandrien, the French with the Clemenceau and Norway had its SS Norway.
In these cases various problems arise. First the classification of the vessel: should it be classified as a waste or not? In case of waste, the next question is if it concerns hazardous waste. That would imply it is not allowed to be exported. But then what? Current dismantling capacity in Europe is limited and not able to deal with big vessels.