Last month saw 10 workers killed by a consignment of scrap metal thought to have been imported from war-affected countries like Iran. The response of the Indian government has been to refuse entry to any non-shredded scrap metal imported from any location unless the scrap has been inspected by one of 23 approved inspection agencies.
Speaking in London last week, the Bureau of International Recycling's Indian ambassador, Ikbal Nathani, said that the issue had arisen through “pure greed”.
He said: “Scrap from the Middle East is $30 to $40 a tonne cheaper in the Middle East than from Europe, but these scrap yards are taking in unexploded shells and manually defusing them. Inadvertently one or two live shells have been included in exports.”
Scared
Mr Nathani said importers in India are now “scared”, and some organisations have been “dumping explosives in the river at night”. He said that particularly after 10 workers had died and customs officers were suspended over the matter, Indian customs was no longer willing to take any responsibility for letting scrap metal into the country.
“The government has had to clamp down very stringently,” he said at a meeting at BIR's World Recycling Convention in London. But, Mr Nathani warned that if the war-zone scrap is barred entry from India, “This scrap will go to somewhere else, so I also feel that other countries should be careful imported scrap from war zones.”
Imports of scrap will only be allowed entry into India with pre-shipment certificates of inspection. Shipping companies will have to insure compliance prior to loading.
Doubtful
Indian consumers of scrap metal are doubtful if the measures announced are completely enforceable, suggesting that 100% inspection of bulk cargo is a “tall order” and that inspection can only be done on a sample basis.
And, even the inspection agencies themselves have said that for they are not keen to inspect consignments of scrap metal, and are unwilling to take responsibility in case explosives slip through the net.
Dave Cross, from the UK-based inspection organisation Alfred H Knight, said: “To carry out this to the letter, it would be completely unviable. To label a container with 'no explosive' – it's something we can't do, and our legal department tells us to just walk away. There are no guarantees, this is an impossible task.”
BIR's Middle East representative, Salaam Sharif, said that since the issue had been triggered by a “single shipment that came from Iran”, the Indian government should not clamp down on all ports. “Blame the supplier for shipping without proper inspection,” he said. “If necessary, you should ban the port of loading – the rest of ports should be under random inspections only.”
The Bureau of International Recycling decided at the meeting that it will send a group of representatives to discuss with the Indian government a way around the situation. The group is to include representatives from freight forwarders, shipping companies, consumers, sellers, inspection companies and importers.
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