How did MV Diamond Highway end up as toxic scrap in Cebu?
SCORES of residents of a coastal community in Lapu-Lapu City have complained of skin rashes, itchy throat and cough. They blame it on a big shipbreaking operation near the area. After an inspection, city hall officials reached the same conclusion and on January 31 issued a cease and desist order to the company behind the dismantling of the MV Diamond Highway.
The 199-meter-long ship was anchored in the waters off Tayud, Consolacion, but was unmoored during the onslaught of Typhoon Odette on Dec. 16, 2021. It drifted toward Mactan Island, where it ran aground in the shallow waters off Barangay Punta Engaño. The barangay is located at the tip of Mactan, across the waters from Consolacion in the Cebu mainland. Punta Engaño and the adjacent barangay are home to some of Lapu-Lapu City’s many famous beach resorts.
Diamond Highway and its cargo were declared “a total loss” after the vehicle carrier caught fire near the Recto Bank in the West Philippine Sea on June 15, 2019. The vessel was en route from Singapore to Batangas, carrying about 6,300 vehicles (Robin des Bois Shipbreaking Bulletin #69, June 29, 2023). I do not know how many of these cars were to be delivered in the Philippines, but 246 Ford Rangers were bound for Taiwan. Ford Motor Co. in early 2021 filed a suit against the Japanese companies that had chartered and managed the Panama-registered Diamond Highway. Ford “learned that the ship and its cargo were sold ‘as is’ for salvage or scrap.” The company claims its losses reached more than $7 million (Aug. 8, 2023, US District Court, Eastern District of Michigan Southern Division).
The Philippine Coast Guard towed the ill-fated MV Diamond Highway to Batangas from where it got towed to Subic Bay. A post dated Jan. 17, 2020 on www.salvtug. com reports the safe towage by the commercial operator of the vessel from Subic Bay to Cebu. Whether repair or dismantling work took place while the ship was anchored in the waters off Consolacion is unclear. If such work was undertaken, was it stalled when Cebu in late March 2020 was placed under total lockdown?
Fast forward to April 28, 2023. Workers of Pilipinas Precious Metal Resources Inc. (PPMRI), a company engaged in shipbreaking and other metal recycling operations, accidentally caused a massive fire on the grounded vessel while cutting metal (Philippine Coast Guard FB post, April 28, 2023). All workers were evacuated.
Strangely, the cease and desist order served by the Lapu-Lapu City government on the shipbreaking operations last month is addressed not to PPMRI or some other recycling company but to “MV Diamond Highway vessel management.” Diamond Highway has long been dead, “designated a total loss by insurers” (Insurance Marine News, May 2, 2023). The name of the vessel was removed long before the wreckage drifted to Lapu-Lapu City. So there is no “vessel management,” only a scrap or recycling company engaged in removing metal and other recyclable parts of the grounded ship.
Shipbreaking, while necessary inas
much as even the strongest ship doesn’t last forever, is not only a dirty business. It is a dangerous business for workers, nearby communities and the environment. Asbestos is most likely present in the Diamond Highway, which was built in 2004 when the use of asbestos was less regulated than it is today. Punta Engaño residents — and the scrap workers — have all the reason to be concerned for their health. Fishermen and anybody who eats what is caught in the sea that receives debris and waste from the shipbreaking operations should be very worried too. And so should the resorts on Mactan Island.
But we must also consider the options. Believe it or not, according to a July 22, 2022 report on GMA, barangay officials proposed to make the grounded ship — larger than the Philippines’ largest passenger vessel — a tourist attraction, with a restaurant inside! Meaning, they were clueless about the monstrous, toxic problem they had before them.
The wreckage of the Diamond Highway needs to be removed as fast and as safely as possible. It won’t disappear by itself. After two fires, is it in a condition to be towed to a site more appropriate for shipbreaking? The services of PPRMI or some other shipbreaking company are needed. The situation is more than local officials can handle. Assistance from the national government should be sought.
The Panama-registered Diamond Highway, chartered and managed by Japanese shipping companies, caught fire on its way from Singapore to Batangas and Taiwan and ended up as a serious health and environmental hazard in Cebu. Who will shoulder the cost of removing the wreckage safely, cleaning up land and sea, compensating for lost livelihood, and providing needed medical assistance to the affected population?