Ms Harjono is in Malta to hold meetings with the government on this matter over the next two days, together with her colleagues from Greenpeace International. The meetings will be held with Competitiveness and Communications Minister Censu Galea and Environment and Rural Affairs Minister George Pullicino.

The group gave a press conference yesterday at the Corinthia Palace Hotel in Balzan to create an awareness on the matter. Ms Harjono explained that despite that the Maltese government, together with some 160 other countries, signed the Basel convention – aimed at preventing toxic ship-breaking – 95 per cent of ships destined for wreckage still make their way to the beaches of India, Bangladesh, China, Pakistan and Turkey, among others, where they are scrapped indiscriminately, polluting the environment with hazardous toxins.

Footage taped at various ship-breaking sites presented during the press conference showed how the ships are steered onto beaches and basically torn down over some four to five months by hundreds of workers in appaling conditions. The ships, most of which contain toxic waste or oil reservoirs, are left to spill in the sea. Rubbers from the ships’ cables are burnt on site releasing large quantities of dioxins.

Furthermore, given the fact that many of these ships were built decades ago, a lot of them contain large quantities of highly carcinogenic asbestos, which the workers dismantle with their bare hands and without any facial or respiratory protection.

The export of these ships to Asia, where regulated ship-breaking facilities are practically non-existent, escalated after the Maltese-flagged oil tanker Erika broke in two and sank in 1999, leaking over 10,000 tons of heavy oil, polluting 400 kilometres of France’s Brittany coast. The International Maritime Organisation decided to phase out single-hull oil tankers like Erika by 2010. The process was further hurried up after the single-hull oil tanker Prestige sank in 2002, polluting 4,000 kilometres of Spanish and French coast.

To this effect a report prepared for the European Commission shows that by 2010 there will be 2,200 single-hull ships to be scrapped, which means a five- or six-fold increase in the ships to be scrapped. This is an expansion that could spell an irreparable environmental and human catastrophe, Ms Harjono stressed.

Greenpeace’s report shows that an estimated 34 ships flying a Maltese flag were sent for scrapping in Asia in 2003. So far this year the figure stands at 15. None of the ship owners had taken any steps to clean the ships before they were to be scrapped.

Besides the environmental damage caused by the unregulated way in which these ships are being scrapped, the sites are among the most hazardous workplaces in the world, Ms Harjono said. The fact that the ships to be scrapped still contain oil and other flammable materials means that there are frequent explosions on site.

The exact number of deaths occurring on these sites cannot be estimated as records are not kept and many of the workers do not have permits. The footage shown included scenes of countless children, completely unprotected, pulling at cables a few metres away from open fires.

Ship-breaking is big business, she added. On average, a scrap ship is worth some $1.9 million and therefore many of the Asian developing companies competing for the market cannot afford to make demands on ship owners fearing that this can scare them off to another ship-breaking bay, campaigner Martin Besieux said.

“Many of these countries are willing to implement some changes, if not for the environment to safeguard their workers,” he said. “But they cannot because if they do make certain demands they will lose their market share, which is often an indispensable lifeline to large communities.”

Last year India tried to implement measures to restrict the ships entering Indian shores to those which have already been cleaned of flammable fuel, but found that many ship owners were looking elsewhere.

The Greenpeace contingent is expected to ask the government to take immediate action ensuring that ships flying a Maltese flag are disposed of properly, in line with the Basel convention, of which Malta is a signatory. More importantly, Mr Besieux explained, Malta could play a major role in lobbying with other EU members and the rest of the international community. After all Malta is the fourth largest maritime register in the world, he stressed.

“Not only can Malta salvage its image as a responsible maritime nation but it can also spearhead a very profitable new business for its shipyards. In fact, the Maltese drydocks have been earmarked in the Greenpeace report as a possible green ship-breaking site. Ship-breaking is a lucrative business with a market that is only expected to expand in the foreseeable future.”