The Le Clemenceau Controversy: Business vs. Safety

In the early hours of January 12, 2006, when Le Clemenceau was stationed 50 nautical miles off the Egyptian coast, two Greenpeace activists got on board and hung up a banner on the ship that said, 'Asbestos carrier, stay out of India.' The warship, on its way to India, had been stopped at the Suez Canal by the Egyptian authorities, who suspected that the vessel contained toxic materials. However, French authorities obtained permission from the Egyptian government for Le Clemenceau to pass through the Suez Canal after providing documents in proof of their stand that the ship did not contain any toxic materials. The French government estimated that around 45 tons of asbestos were on board⁶ and agreed to take back any hazardous waste that came out during the dismantling process...

India, in particular, had had a history of dismantling warships purchased from Russia and other western nations. Alang, located on the western coast of India in the state of Gujarat, was one of the biggest ship-breaking ports in the world (Refer to Exhibit I: Brief Note on the Ship-breaking Industry in India).

Even before the Le Clemenceau episode had thrust it into the limelight, Alang had been attracting the ire of environmental activists due to the working conditions prevalent there and the fact that safety standards were way below international norms. Workers employed for ship-breaking lacked even basic safety gear like gloves or protective clothing and equipment...