The Italian passenger ship Moby Drea, 183 meters long and almost 27 meters wide, contains between 250 and 350 tons of asbestos partition panels. It recently sailed into Brodosplit, where it is planned to undergo an overhaul and remove the asbestos parts.
Mayor Šuta: The ship should not have entered Croatian territorial waters
Split Mayor Tomislav Šuta claims that the Moby Dre ship “should not have entered” Croatian territorial waters or docked in Split, and has requested an immediate response from the competent authorities.
“Experts from state bodies have provided me with an opinion clearly stating that in accordance with the Waste Management Act, Article 117. ‘It is prohibited to deliver hazardous waste, mixed municipal waste and residues from the incineration of mixed municipal waste to the territory of the Republic of Croatia for disposal, and in accordance with Article 11, paragraph 1, point (e) of Regulation (EC) No. 1013/2006’ the ship was not allowed to enter the territorial waters of the Republic of Croatia,” said Šuta.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and the Speaker of the Croatian Parliament Gordan Jandroković also publicly supported Šuta. They expressed their confidence in the city’s leadership and called for compliance with procedural and safety regulations. They made it clear that the responsibility now lies with the inspection services. – I hope that we will not have such cases in the future, said the Prime Minister.
Brodosplit: no danger in the air
Brodosplit reported that an authorized expert service conducted an air test on the Moby Drea ship, as part of preparatory work for the reconstruction of spaces with materials containing asbestos, and the results show that there are no asbestos fibers in the air.
According to them, the measurements were carried out in accordance with applicable regulations and standards, using the membrane filtration method and microscopic analysis. It was confirmed that the concentration of asbestos fibers was 0.0 fibers per cubic centimeter of air, which is significantly below the legally permitted limit of 0.1 fibers per cubic centimeter.
The measurements were carried out before the start of any interventions, under stable conditions (temperature, humidity, ventilation) and with the application of the highest standards of occupational safety and under constant professional supervision, the shipyard claims.
They announce that all further work and safety tests will continue to be conducted transparently, with regular public information, and in accordance with applicable legislation and industry standards.
They also remind that the Moby Drea, like most ships built before 2001, was constructed using asbestos-containing materials that were legally permitted at the time. These materials are routinely removed during overhauls, in accordance with international regulations.
Brodosplit points out that this is a standard practice in shipbuilding that in no way represents “waste import”, but rather a technically and safety-based procedure.
Ministry: Asbestos cannot be disposed of in Croatia!
The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Green Transition has published an Opinion regarding the case of the ship Moby Drea, in which it determines that waste generated on the ship by dismantling partitions containing asbestos cannot be disposed of in Croatia.
“If the intention of the participants in the commercial business is to separate the asbestos-containing partitions in the shipyard in Split, after which the ship would sail for further repairs to another shipyard (Greece), the asbestos-containing partitions thus separated would, based on the results of the fact-checking with the competent authorities, constitute waste,” the Ministry reported on its website.
The Ministry points out that it is prohibited to deliver hazardous waste, mixed municipal waste and residues from the incineration of mixed municipal waste to the territory of the Republic of Croatia for disposal. It also states that the Minister may, by order, prohibit the delivery of waste to the Republic of Croatia in order to prevent a negative impact on the national waste management system. The Ministry says that when issuing the Opinion, they studied the relevant case law.
On the occasion of the Moby Drea ship entering the special purpose port in the port area managed by the Split Port Authority for the purpose of carrying out works in the shipyard, and given the announcements of the removal of partitions that are part of the ship with asbestos in the shipyard, joint expert consultations were held between July 27 and August 3 between representatives of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Ministry of the Sea and the State Inspectorate of the Republic of Croatia.
As the initial information spoke of the final departure of the Moby Drea ship for recycling at a foreign shipyard, a verification of the information was requested from the competent authorities in order to establish the facts about the intended work, and after coordination between the competent authorities, information was obtained that the ship sails under the Italian flag, which is responsible for it, and who announced the ship’s arrival in the Republic of Croatia, and will also have to announce the ship’s departure from the Republic of Croatia.
When the ship leaves the Republic of Croatia, it must repeat the same navigation reporting procedure as upon arrival, which is controlled by inspectors from the Navigation Safety Administration, including the fact that the Italian flag must inform the Republic of Croatia about the ship’s further fate, possible recycling or something else.
The ship is going to the repair shipyard in Split, which is a commercial contractual relationship between the shipowner and the shipyard. The shipyard intends to remove asbestos partitions as part of the repair, while respecting occupational safety regulations for protection from asbestos, and the shipyard itself is supervised by inspections.
Regarding the recycling of ships larger than 500 gross tons, the Ministry issues approvals for ship recycling in the Republic of Croatia at the request of shipyards, keeps a list and submits it to the Ministry of the Sea, but so far there have been no such requests.
A shipyard that has a license to recycle ships must be in the EU and international Register, and when recycling a specific ship, the owner submits a recycling plan, which in the Republic of Croatia is approved by the competent county office.
The Ministry states that in the previous procedure for the ship Moby Drea, a Ship Recycling Plan and approval of the competent authority of the country where the ship is planned to be recycled was requested (if such a plan was drawn up).
However, according to information from the competent authorities on July 31, in this case, after the potential completion of the aforementioned works in Brodosplit, the ship will not be recycled but will instead be sent for further repairs to a shipyard in Greece.
An administrative search revealed that there are no authorized ship recycling facilities in Greece, nor in Croatia. “Therefore, in this case, according to the available information, the regulations governing ship recycling are not relevant,” the Ministry of Environmental Protection said.
In addition, they say that according to information received from the competent authorities, and in accordance with media appearances by Brodosplit representatives, it appears that before the ship leaves for repairs in Greece, parts of the ship that are essentially asbestos partitions will be removed at the shipyard in Split.
In this regard, the Ministry of Environmental Protection issued an Opinion and said that “the waste that would be generated on the ship by separating (dismantling) partitions containing asbestos cannot be disposed of in Croatia”.
