The 47,500-gt Global Spirit (built 1987) was due to leave Belgium today but the NGO Shipbreaking Platform has written to the country’s environment minister, Joke Schauvliege, asking him to detain the ship, which the organisation claim contains toxic waste. It has also informed the European Commission (EC) that the vessel is heading for scrap in Alang.
The lobby group says that, under current European Waste Shipment Regulation, based on the Basel Convention, Belgium has a responsibility as the exporting country to prevent the vessel from leaving for disposal in a non-OECD country.
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