Memories of the SS France/Norway and how people are trying to save her - Page 2

**Ally** · 08-14-2006, 03:51 PM

To show just how much superstructure was added to France....look above the bridge...

**Ally** · 08-15-2006, 08:41 AM

http://www.moxon.net/india/alang.html

A fascinating look at Alang, from a travel writers point of view. I would think for anyone who have sailed on the liners and ferries it would be a very emotional place to visit.

**Ally** · 08-15-2006, 10:24 AM

Confirmation.....

Quote:

AHMEDABAD: Norwegian cruiseliner the 'Blue Lady' on Tuesday beached for dismantling at the Alang shipbreaking yard in Bhavnagar after recently getting the go-ahead from the Supreme Court.

The beaching was permitted after the cruiseliner, also known as the SS Norway, underwent a thorough inspection by a team of experts appointed by the apex court last week after environmentalists said that it contained tonnes of harmful asbestos.

Confirming that the cruiseliner had beached at Alang, the port officer Anil Rathore said, "The Blue Lady has beached today in plot No V1 after completing all formalities required. It should be ready for dismantling in a month's time."

Blue lady, that stands 315 meters tall and is almost 11 storeyed, got a green signal to beach on July 15 after the Supreme Court-appointed committee inspected it for five days and submitted a report to it.

The team comprised 15 members of the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB), National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH) and Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB).

On entering Indian seas on July 10 it was docked at Pipavav port in Kutch district till clearance from the experts committee.

The cruiseliner made its way into Alang after it was turned away from the Bangladesh Shipbreaking yard following protest by environmentalists who complained that it contained toxic asbestos that could harm the numerous workers involved in ship breaking.

(Times of India)

**Ally** · 08-16-2006, 05:15 AM

I did a bit of Google Earthing this morning and think I found her....from media reports she is around 500 meters or so away from the shoreline and firmly beached...she is the largest vessel there, so wasn't hard to find...sadly...

**Ally** · 08-16-2006, 06:14 PM

A nice obituary from Peter Knego....

The Norway, known recently as Blue Lady, was beached yesterday in India at Alang’s ship-breaking yard. After years of uncertainty, the end is here.

The ship had been idling off the coast since early May when Indian authorities forbid entry due to environmental concerns. India’s Supreme Court cleared the breaking to proceed after the state of Gujarat’s Pollution Control Board submitted a report that Blue Lady contained a lower level of asbestos than claimed by environmentalists. The clearance came with the condition that the dangerous waste would be disposed of safely.

The former ocean liner France was one of the most famous passenger vessels of all time. It was commissioned in 1956 for the French Line and began sailing between LeHavre and New York in 1962.

‘Aside from having possibly the most beautiful hull ever put to sea and those magnificent winged funnels, France was hugely significant for being the longest liner ever built (until the advent of Queen Mary 2) and for being one of those rare "ships of state" where she truly served as an ambassador to all that was the best of France at the time, from her astonishing artworks to legendary service and cuisine,’ said journalist and maritime historian Peter Knego.

High oil prices forced the France into retirement in 1974. Five years later, Norwegian shipping magnate Knut Kloster stunned the world by buying the mothballed ship and spending $80m to convert it for Caribbean cruising. It re-entered service for Norwegian Caribbean Line in 1980.

‘As Norway, she was the first mega cruise ship and largely repsonsible for making the ship as much of an attraction as the destinations she visited,’ Knego said. ‘No doubt she inspired the newbuild boom that we are still witnessing today.’

Service ended in May 2003 when a boiler explosion killed seven crewmen at the Port of Miami. The Norway was towed to Bremerhaven where it languished before being moved to Port Klang, Malaysia. Various entrepeneurs dreamed of reviving the ship as an attraction while legal battles waged over the breaking.

Knego, who travels to the breakers to document the end of beloved passenger vessels and rescue, if possible, treasured fittings and artwork, will head to Alang next week. He said he hoped to gather any original France fittings and any significant Norway items. Certain objects will go into his personal collection in Los Angeles, but if he can recover a quantity of items, he plans to make them available at www.midshipcentury.com.

**Ally** · 08-17-2006, 08:48 AM

SS France/Norway...back in court...the story isn't over...just yet.

NEW DELHI: The 'Blue Lady' will be in court again on Thursday. Two days after the controversial cruise liner beached off the Alang ship breaking yard, the challenge to its entry will come up for mention in the Supreme Court.

Gopal Krishna, India Coordinator of the NGOs' Global Platform on Ship breaking, said the issue will come up before the court's mentioning board.

Environmentalists claim the ship carries more than 1,200 tonnes of asbestos waste and unquantified amounts of cancer-causing polychlorinated biphenyls and heavy metals.

They say they are not aware of any Supreme Court order permitting the beaching, and that no legal arguments on the matter have been heard.

In turn, the official position within the environment ministry is that a technical committee allowed this after a review of all the data and inspections by the Gujarat Pollution Control Board as well as the Central Board.

It was believed the ship dismantling can be handled with the existing facilities at Alang. The additional solicitor-general has been requested to inform the court.

Environmentalists don't quite see it that way. In a statement on Wednesday, they alleged the technical committee on ship breaking, Gujarat Maritime Board and Gujarat Pollution Control Board used a 'holiday window' to bring in the ship.

The ship was only allowed to anchor in Indian waters on humanitarian grounds by the court, they claim.

On Monday, M G K Menon, former chairman of the High-Powered Committee on Management of Hazardous Wastes appointed at the instance of the Supreme Court, wrote to Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal voicing his own apprehensions.

NGOs claim the levels of asbestos in Blue Lady, or S S Norway, are more than double those in the French aircraft carrier Le Clemenceau, which was not allowed to dismantle in Alang.

(Times of India)

Various reports now say that she was supposed to be anchored closer to the shore but not beached in an effort to keep her safe in high seas caused by monsoons. However she was beached and that is the emphasis of the latest court action as permission to beach does not appear to have been officially granted.

Hopefully she is in a position that she can be refloated should the courts judge that she was beached without permission...and that she is not damaged in any way and therefore able to sustain anchorage afloat.

**Ally** · 08-17-2006, 10:25 AM

The plot thickens....

Quote:

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Supreme Court said on Thursday the controversial Norwegian cruise liner, Blue Lady, should not be dismantled without its permission.

Blue Lady has beached at India's ship-breaking yard at Alang in Gujarat. Environmentalists, led by Greenpeace, say the 46,000-tonne ship contains more than 900 tonnes of toxic waste like asbestos, risking the health of poorly equipped ship-breakers at Alang.

"Breaking cannot take place without our orders," the court said, when it was told the ship had beached at Alang.

The petitioner representing the environmentalists sought orders restraining authorities from breaking up the ship. The court declined this but said: "If it's done without our orders, we shall deal with it."

In June the court allowed Blue Lady to enter Indian waters but appointed an expert committee to look into how much toxic waste was on board, before it could be broken.

The committee has to formally submit its findings to the court but senior Alang port officials said earlier this month the panel had cleared Blue Lady and it was ready to be scrapped, raising concern among environmentalists.

In February, the French government recalled the former aircraft carrier Clemenceau, which had been heading for Alang, after a lengthy campaign by Greenpeace, which said the ship carried toxic waste.

A Greenpeace report published last year said thousands of workers in the ship-breaking industry in countries such as India, China and Pakistan had probably died over the past two decades in accidents or due to exposure to toxic waste.

**Ally** · 08-17-2006, 04:21 PM

Quote:

In a small victory for environmental activists, India's Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the owners of the SS Norway must await its approval before dismantling the ship.

Environmental activists say the Norway contains more than 1,000 tons of asbestos and other hazardous materials and are calling on the Indian Supreme Court to turn the ship away. They say the ship should be decontaminated before hundreds of Indian workers begin breaking it apart.

The Norway, originally named the France, and of late called the Blue Lady, arrived Tuesday at the Indian port of Alang, the world's largest ship-breaking yard. A port official said he expected the ship to begin being dismantled within a month.

But the Indian Supreme Court said it won't allow the dismantling until it reviews a final report by experts charged with looking over the ship's contents.

The Norway's fate at the hands of ship breakers also is being watched by John Voet, a North Carolina business man who seeks to buy it and turn it into a floating tourist attraction. Voet called Thursday's decision ``a positive step forward.''

The Norway was turned away by Bangladesh in February on the grounds that it was too hazardous to be dismantled there.

The France set sail in 1962 as a showpiece for the French government. Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Line bought the ship in 1979 and renamed it the Norway. The ship sailed from Miami on week-long Caribbean voyages from 1980 to 2003, when a deadly boiler explosion forced it to be taken out of service.

Malaysia-based Star Cruises, Norwegian's parent company, transfered ownership of the Norway this year to Indian ship breakers.

(MiamiHerald)

**Ally** · 08-18-2006, 03:21 AM

Two photo's of France/Norway as she is now can be seen at this link...

http://www.maritimematters.com/shipnewspics.html

So very very sad to see this once beautiful ship beached in this way.

**Ally** · 08-18-2006, 05:04 AM

This storm is not going to die down for some time....

Quote:

Toxic ship Blue Lady not to be broken: Indian court

17 August 2006 (New Delhi):

Blue Lady cannot be broken until further orders from the Supreme Court. The matter came up for mention today
before the court through I.A. 32 of 657/1995 seeking compliance of national and international law. The 315-metre long and 46,000-tonne Blue Lady (earlier called SS Norway, S S France) is owned by Malaysia's Star Cruises Limited.

The above Interim Application with regard to the beaching/dismantling of SS Norway/ Blue Lady came up for mentioning in the court today before a bench comprising Hon'ble Mr. Justice Arijit Pasayat and Hon'ble Mr. Justice SH Kapadia.

The court observed that the only permission granted by it on 5th June 2006 was for anchoring at a safe place in the territorial waters of India off Alang. It made it clear that no permission whatsoever has been granted for breaking of the ship. The court further made it clear that any precipitate action to break the ship without the court's express permission will be dealt with severely.

In its June 2006 order, the court took note of anchorage, beaching and dismantling as separate measures and mentioned them distinctly. Permitting anchorage, the order said, "This shall, however, not confer any equity on the owners of the ship, which is sought to be put on anchorage, beaching and dismantling." This exposes the impropriety committed by the Technical Committee on Ship-breaking whose term expired on 31st July, 2006 but is still holding its meeting on 18th and 19th August, 2006 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

The saga of the Blue Lady seems to be yet another case of corporates profiting by endangering the lives and limbs of the poor workers of Alang. Star Cruises would rather poison workers in India than spend any money on asbestos and PCB abatement prior to export. They are aided and abetted by Indian environment ministry officials, who seem to have sold the health of their poorest constituents to the powerful scrap steel and ship owners lobby.

Earlier the company ensured the departure of the Blue Lady from the port of Bremerhaven, Germany on May 23, 2005 by misinforming the German authorities. This has triggered a continuing criminal offense that persists to this day. It has dragged Germany and India into becoming a participant in violating international laws. Newly discovered evidence confirm that as far back as 2004, the owners of the SS Norway, Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) and its mother company, Star Cruises Ltd (SCL), misled Germany by declaring that the vessel was going to Asia for re-use. It did the same in Malaysia.

Environmental, labour and human rights groups have strongly recommended that Norwegian Cruise Lines and Star Cruises Ltd must be held accountable by instituting criminal and civil actions against them for illegally exporting Blue Lady by misrepresentation to German authorities of their true intent of disposing of the vessel, and for any harm that will arise by their willful disposal of the toxic wastes they left on board the SS Norway.

Therefore, it is incumbent on Germany to take Blue Lady back at once (as was done in Europe in the case of Le Clemenceau) as its export is a clear violation of Article 16 of the European Union Waste Shipment Regulation, Article 6 of the Basel Convention, and the Basel Ban Amendment. Star Cruise's NCL has acted inappropriately in the past, when it purposely covered up an environmental crime it committed. Efforts are on in Germany to take Star Cruise to task for its act fraudulent misrepresentation to the German authorities.

It may be noted that a German inspection team had earlier confirmed the presence of airborne asbestos in several decks of the Blue Lady along with other toxins such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's), Cadmium, Azocolourants, Chromium compounds, Mercury compounds, Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDE), Polybrominated Biphenyls (PBB's), Tributyls, Heavy Metals and other hazardous substances.

The applicant in the Blue Lady case prayed for direction that if the purchasers desire to bring it into India for the purpose of demolition, then it should first be de-contaminated in an OECD/EU country at a facility that is fully capable of managing all such wastes in the optimum manner described in the Basel Convention Guidelines and the previous orders of the court.

(OneWorld South Asia)