'Alfaship'
The MT 'Alfaship' is not a 'toxic ship'. The 'Alfaship is a standard type of oil tanker no different from other tankers legally sold for demolition in Bangladesh this year or in past years. The vessel has never been used for anything other than the carriage of crude oil and its products. It has never been used for the carriage of wastes. She cannot be compared with either the 'Norway or 'Clemenceau' -- both completely different types of ships. MT 'Alfaship' has reached the end of her useful life and a contract for sale was agreed with buyers in Bangladesh. She remains ready and available for inspection by the government authorities and subject to their approval is ready to be delivered to her new owners in Chittagong. She has been made gas free and emptied of oily cargo residues before her arrival off Chittagong.
The presence of the 'Alfaship' on a Greenpeace website appears to be purely arbitrary. Greenpeace nowhere states that the 'Alfaship' is either toxic or dangerous - only that it 'might be scrapped soon'. As the 'Alfaship' is 27 years old - near the industry average age for scrapping - this is hardly surprising. 'Alfaship' is, in all respects, ready for sale in accordance with the laws of Bangladesh.
As Lloyd's List of London reported on 8 May in an editorial, "Ship scrapping is perfectly legal, don't let anyone tell you otherwise."
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