Indian authorities have seized three ships anchored at Alang Shipyard in Gujarat, India, under false pretences. They are planning to confiscate the ships currently stationed at the outer harbour of Bhavnagar. However, no official announcement has been made about what will happen to the ships. Earlier this month, ships arrived at Alang Shipyard for demolition using forged documents.
Three years ago, the European Union (EU) enacted a strict law imposing certain conditions on the demolition of ships owned or registered in EU countries. One of the conditions is that the recycling site must have EU registration in order to break up ships with a capacity of more than 500 gross tons.
At present this registration is available in various shipyards of Aliağa in Turkey and some specialized yards in Europe. Scotland has recently announced the launch of an EU-registered yard. But so far no shipyard in India has received this registration.
Officials at India’s Customs and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) said they had recently inspected the ships for demolition and found fake documents in three ships. Of these, two ships, the Coral and the C Golden, arrived at the outer anchorage on 5 December. Both ships used fake IMO notification numbers.
Three days later, another ship, the Harriet, arrived in the outer anchorage, which is under UN sanctions, according to a document review. Officials said all three ships used forged documents and were confiscated.
The Ship Recycling Industries Association, which oversees Alang’s operations, said in a statement: When shipbreaking auctions are held, in many cases it is not possible to inspect the ship’s documents. We can insist that no recycler will knowingly buy a ship with forged documents.
