NGO-owned MV Rongdhonu ex-Rainbow Warrior II Beached in Chittagong for Recycling

DUBAI, UAE - June 19, 2021 - PRLog -- Wednesday, November 14, 2018 – For the first time, Greenpeace has recognized safe and responsible recycling using the beaching method can be conducted in the Indian subcontinent and that Bangladesh specifically can be a green recycling destination.

Greenpeace's previously owned vessel, MV Rongdhonu ex-Rainbow Warrior II, was recently beached for recycling at PHP Family yard in Chittagong. MV Rongdhonu ex-Rainbow Warrior II (IMO number: 5300481) is a 1957 United Kingdom-built hospital ship that Greenpeace International acquired in 1989, according to French NGO Robin des Bois. Greenpeace "fitted her with three masts, a new engine and converted her to a sail/diesel dual-powered vessel," stated the Robin des Bois report, before donating her to the Bangladesh branch of the EU-based NGO Friendship in 2011. The 680 LDT-vessel became a mobile hospital ship and provided medical care to the southern coastal regions of Bangladesh.

For decades, the media and NGOs, especially Greenpeace and the NGO Shipbreaking Platform, have consistently criticized the Indian subcontinent for its allegedly poor ship recycling facilities. Their position is that responsible recycling cannot be done at a facility in the Indian subcontinent that conducts the beaching method of recycling. Accordingly, the platforms have persuaded the European Union to prohibit the recycling of EU-flagged vessels in the Indian subcontinent. In contrast, GMS' position has been that there are good and bad yards all over the world and responsible recycling can in fact be conducted at yards that practice the beaching method, including those in the Indian subcontinent.

Therefore, after years of this debate, GMS is pleased to see one of the vessels previously owned by the world's leading campaigner against beaching and recycling in the Indian subcontinent has finally accepted the fact that responsible recycling in the Subcontinent is the most prudent option for shipowners worldwide.

"After a lifetime serving humanity, our second Rainbow Warrior deserves a clean and

handsome farewell. We take this opportunity to salute a long-serving friend," said Greenpeace International representative Daniel Rizzotti in an article Friendship NGO Luxembourg posted on Medium.com.

GMS congratulates both Greenpeace and Friendship for actively participating in the green transformation of the ship recycling industry in Bangladesh.

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