Smuggled oils partly to blame for Gadani tragedy

Minister concedes gasoline, lubricants smuggled in decommissioned vessels

ISLAMABAD: A cabinet minister has conceded that smuggled lubricants and petroleum products were to blame for the deadly ship as the fed the blaze on the decommissioned Japanese vessel for four days.

Officially, 26 labourers were killed and more than 50 wounded when a series of explosions onboard 24,000-ton MT Aces triggered a huge fire on Nov 1. Unofficially however, the death toll has been much higher.



“A huge quantity of lubricants smuggled by the ship owner had caught fire due to mishandling of work managers,” Ports and Shipping Minister Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo told The Express Tribune. “According to the Customs rules and regulations, decommissioned vessels are only allowed to carry a fixed quantity of oil required for their voyage from a port of departure to Gadani shipbreaking yard in Pakistan,” he added.



But the rules are flouted with impunity, often in connivance with officials. Bizenjo is candid enough to confirm this: “Businessmen acquire decommissioned ships for scrap from different parts of the world and bring them to the United Arab Emirates where they are filled with lubricants which are then smuggled into Pakistan.”

A Quetta-based businessman, who had been associated with the shipbreaking business at Gadani, told The Express Tribune that owners of decommissioned vessels not only smuggled millions of litres of lubricants , diesel and furnace oil but also other goods, including high-powered generators into Pakistan.

“They sell all smuggled oil and lubricants in the market in connivance with authorities,” Ahmed Yar Kakar added. “The Gadani shipbreaking yard has become a hub of foreign smuggled goods.”

Minister for Defence Production Rana Tanveer Hussain, who headed a committee that investigated the Gadani ship blaze, confirmed at a news conference last week that MT Aces was carrying 132 metric tons furnace oil, 1,100 tons of sludge, 27 metric tons of diesel and 30,000 metric tons of lubricants when the ship caught fire.



The Gadani shipbreaking yard, one of the biggest in the world, was closed down in the aftermath of the Nov 1 tragedy, leaving hundreds of workers jobless. “Normally, over 12,000 daily-wagers are engaged in the Gadani shipbreaking industry, while their numbers go up to 25,000 during peak season,” said Nasir Mansoor, the Karachi-based deputy general secretary of the National Trade Unions Federation.

Bizenjo, however, said work at the yard would resume next week with some health safety and security measures for labourers.

“The decision to restart work at Gadani has jointly been taken by the federal and provincial governments,” he added.

Bizenjo also admitted that there were no laws or rules and regulations for the shipbreaking industry. “Health and safety facilities for workers are zero,” he added. He also disclosed that 30 to 35 workers die every year at Gadani due to the absence of health and safety facilities. “Workers at the Gadani shipbreaking yard are not protected under labour laws as they are not considered regular employees.”

The minister said the shipbreaking industry in India and Bangladesh was a federal subject while in Pakistan it was under the supervision of the Balochistan Development Authority. “After the Nov 1 deadly tragedy, both federal and provincial governments have decided to enact necessary laws, including health and safety measures for the workers.”



An aide to the provincial chief minister also conceded that workers at Gadani shipbreaking yard were denied all their rights guaranteed under the labour laws and international conventions for workers.

“We agree that the labour force at the Gadani shipbreaking yard had been working under deplorable conditions in the past,” Jan Achakzai, special assistant to Nawab Sanaullah Zehri, told The Express Tribune.

“But now the provincial government will follow rules and procedures,” he said and assured that owners of ships would be held responsible in case of any tragedy in future.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 17^th, 2016.