On September 7, 2024, a catastrophic explosion on the oil tanker MT Suvarna Swarajya at a shipbreaking yard in Bangladesh claimed the lives of six workers and left four others in critical condition.
This tragic incident shines a spotlight on the inadequate international and national regulations that govern the shipbreaking industry, a sector notorious for unsafe working conditions, environmental hazards, and insufficient oversight. Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the NGO Shipbreaking Platform have condemned the industry’s negligence and are calling for urgent reforms.
The Tragedy at S.N. Corporation’s Yard
The explosion occurred at the Unit-2 yard of S.N. Corporation, a shipbreaking company with a poor health and safety record. This yard had recently received certification under the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships.
However, this certification, which is meant to promote safety and environmental standards, has been criticized by experts as insufficient. According to Julia Bleckner, senior health and human rights researcher at HRW, “The Hong Kong Convention and its so-called certificates of compliance create the dangerous illusion that these yards are safe and environmentally sustainable.”
Despite the IMO certification, the Unit-2 yard was operating under hazardous conditions. Since 2010, at least 14 workers have died and 22 have been injured at S.N. Corporation’s facilities. This explosion occurred just months after two workers were injured on the MT Suvarna Swarajya when a pipe and steel rope fell, causing significant harm.
These frequent accidents highlight the ongoing dangers faced by workers in the shipbreaking industry, even in yards that claim to adhere to international safety standards.
Regulatory Failures and Loopholes
The MT Suvarna Swarajya tragedy underscores the broader failures in the international regulatory framework governing ship recycling. The vessel was initially owned by the Shipping Corporation of India and later sold in 2023 to Last Voyage DMCC, a subsidiary of Best Oasis, one of the largest cash buyers of ships globally.
Cash buyers, like Best Oasis, often facilitate the sale of ships to countries with lower regulatory standards, such as Bangladesh, allowing shipowners to bypass stricter environmental and labor protections. In May 2024, the MT Suvarna Swarajya was sold to S.N. Corporation for dismantling, despite the company’s well-documented history of accidents and fatalities.
Critics argue that the use of cash buyers and shell companies to offload end-of-life ships to countries with weak regulations amounts to an evasion of responsibility. Many of the ships sold to Bangladesh are dismantled on tidal mudflats, a practice known as “beaching,” which is both hazardous for workers and environmentally destructive.
“Beaching can never be safe, nor environmentally sound,” said Ingvild Jenssen, director at the NGO Shipbreaking Platform. “It amounts to endorsing the exploitation of vulnerable communities and ecosystems in developing countries.”
The MT Suvarna Swarajya incident also highlights the limitations of the Hong Kong Convention, which is set to enter into force in June 2025. While many yards have sought voluntary certification under the Convention, rights groups have raised concerns that it fails to establish stringent safety and environmental standards.
HRW and other organizations are urging the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to establish a clearer consensus that the Hong Kong Convention should not replace the Basel Convention, which offers stronger protections for workers and the environment by regulating the transboundary movement of hazardous waste.
Calls for Accountability and Reform
In the wake of the explosion, Bangladesh’s authorities have taken immediate action. The Department of Environment has indefinitely shut down S.N. Corporation’s yard, halted all work on the MT Suvarna Swarajya, and launched an official investigation into the incident.
The government has also suspended the yard’s environmental clearance and ordered S.N. Corporation to explain why it should not be permanently closed.
While Bangladesh’s interim government is making efforts to address the safety violations at S.N. Corporation’s yards, international shipping companies and their intermediaries must also be held accountable for their role in the tragedy. HRW and the NGO Shipbreaking Platform have called on the companies involved—S.N. Corporation, Best Oasis, and the Shipping Corporation of India—to provide compensation for the families of the deceased workers, as well as for those who were injured in the explosion.
Despite repeated inquiries, these companies have failed to respond, raising further concerns about their commitment to worker safety and human rights.
At the international level, activists are advocating for stricter enforcement of regulations that would prevent ships from being sold to substandard yards.
In 2019, the Bangladesh High Court ruled that ships under flags that have been gray- or black-listed for repeated violations should not be imported for dismantling. However, more than 100 ships entered Bangladesh last year under these flags, flouting the court’s directive.
Rights groups are calling on the Bangladeshi government to enforce this ruling and to establish rigorous safety standards that protect workers and the environment.
Looking forward, HRW and the NGO Shipbreaking Platform are urging governments and shipping companies to adopt formal due diligence policies that ensure ships are recycled in safe, environmentally sound facilities.
These policies should include a ban on the sale of ships through cash buyers and the elimination of beaching as a method of ship dismantling.
The explosion on the MT Suvarna Swarajya is a stark reminder of the deadly consequences of the shipbreaking industry’s failure to prioritize worker safety and environmental protections.
As the global shipping industry continues to rely on developing countries like Bangladesh for cheap shipbreaking services, it is imperative that international regulators, governments, and companies work together to enforce stricter safety standards and ensure that workers are protected.
Only by addressing these systemic failures can the industry begin to prevent further tragedies and mitigate the environmental harm caused by irresponsible shipbreaking practices.
