cargo ships sailing from coast to coast often transport unwanted freight. Marine plants, animals and microbes regularly hitch rides to distant shores in these ships' ballast water, seawater stored

Even as interested parties have approached the Supreme Court for clarification on its orders on shipbreaking safety norms, 88 ships have illegally beached at Alang in Gujarat without prior decontamination or requisite safety certificates. The court, in its order in September 2007, had ordered that all ships being beached in India should compulsorily carry the "Certificates for Gas Free for Hot Work'.

Anil Ambani group's Reliance Power is looking to invest about $1 billion (Rs 4,000 crore) towards purchase of large-size vessels for shipping coal from abroad to its Krishnapatnam and other projects.

According to some estimates, there are more than a million people across the world directly engaged in ship breaking- Bhaskar Dasgupta

Shipping CO2 Controls To Raise Transport Costs UK: April 11, 2008 LONDON - The world's shipping industry plans to limit its growing carbon dioxide emissions by taxing marine fuels and signing up to a new climate change deal in moves likely to raise transport costs for raw materials. Experts say the measures, aired at an International Maritime Organisation (IMO) meeting on fuel pollutants in London last week and about a year away from being formally agreed, will be painful but are necessary in the fight against climate change.

UN Body To Slash Ship Fuel Pollution By 2015 UK: April 7, 2008 LONDON - The world's top maritime body agreed tough new limits on ship fuel pollutants at a week-long meeting that ended on Friday, an industry source said. The United Nations' International Maritime Organisation (IMO) measures will sharply curb harmful sulphur emissions by 2015. The ambitious targets, first reported by Reuters on Thursday, will likely cost the oil and ship industry billions of dollars to implement.

UN Body Nears Agreeing Ship Pollutant Limits UK: April 4, 2008 LONDON - The world's top maritime body has tentatively agreed new sulphur limits for ship fuels that will slash air pollutants, but cost the oil and ship industry dear, an industry source close to the talks said on Thursday. At a major UN International Maritime Organisation (IMO) meeting in London this week countries gathered to thrash out how best to reduce harmful ship pollutants, like sulphur dioxide, and tackle climate changing gases.