Rest in peace norway :( :cry:

More like rust in pieces :cry:

Not over yet. Blue Lady cannot be broken until further orders from the Supreme Court. The matter came up for mention today before the court through I.A. 32 of 657/1995 seeking compliance of national and international law. The 315-metre long and 46,000-tonne Blue Lady (earlier called SS Norway, S S France) is owned by Malaysia’s Star Cruises Limited. The above Interim Application with regard to the beaching/dismantling of SS Norway/ Blue Lady came up for mentioning in the court today before a bench comprising Hon'ble Mr. Justice Arijit Pasayat and Hon'ble Mr. Justice SH Kapadia. The court observed that the only permission granted by it on 5th June 2006 was for anchoring at a safe place in the territorial waters of India off Alang. It made it clear that no permission whatsoever has been granted for breaking of the ship. The court further made it clear that any precipitate action to break the ship without the court’s express permission will be dealt with severely. In its June 2006 order, the court took note of anchorage, beaching and dismantling as separate measures and mentioned them distinctly. Permitting anchorage, the order said, “This shall, however, not confer any equity on the owners of the ship, which is sought to be put on anchorage, beaching and dismantling.” This exposes the impropriety committed by the Technical Committee on Ship-breaking whose term expired on 31st July, 2006 but is still holding its meeting on 18th and 19th August, 2006 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The saga of the Blue Lady seems to be yet another case of corporates profiting by endangering the lives and limbs of the poor workers of Alang. Star Cruises would rather poison workers in India than spend any money on asbestos and PCB abatement prior to export. They are aided and abetted by Indian environment ministry officials, who seem to have sold the health of their poorest constituents to the powerful scrap steel and ship owners lobby. Earlier the company ensured the departure of the Blue Lady from the port of Bremerhaven, Germany on May 23, 2005 by misinforming the German authorities. This has triggered a continuing criminal offense that persists to this day. It has dragged Germany and India into becoming a participant in violating international laws. Newly discovered evidence confirm that as far back as 2004, the owners of the SS Norway, Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) and its mother company, Star Cruises Ltd (SCL), misled Germany by declaring that the vessel was going to Asia for re-use. It did the same in Malaysia. Environmental, labour and human rights groups have strongly recommended that Norwegian Cruise Lines and Star Cruises Ltd must be held accountable by instituting criminal and civil actions against them for illegally exporting Blue Lady by misrepresentation to German authorities of their true intent of disposing of the vessel, and for any harm that will arise by their willful disposal of the toxic wastes they left on board the SS Norway. Therefore, it is incumbent on Germany to take Blue Lady back at once (as was done in Europe in the case of Le Clemenceau) as its export is a clear violation of Article 16 of the European Union Waste Shipment Regulation, Article 6 of the Basel Convention, and the Basel Ban Amendment. Star Cruise’s NCL has acted inappropriately in the past, when it purposely covered up an environmental crime it committed. Efforts are on in Germany to take Star Cruise to task for its act fraudulent misrepresentation to the German authorities. It may be noted that a German inspection team had earlier confirmed the presence of airborne asbestos in several decks of the Blue Lady along with other toxins such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB’s), Cadmium, Azocolourants, Chromium compounds, Mercury compounds, Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDE), Polybrominated Biphenyls (PBB’s), Tributyls, Heavy Metals and other hazardous substances. The applicant in the Blue Lady case prayed for direction that if the purchasers desire to bring it into India for the purpose of demolition, then it should first be de-contaminated in an OECD/EU country at a facility that is fully capable of managing all such wastes in the optimum manner described in the Basel Convention Guidelines and the previous orders of the court. This Press Release is by … Gopal Krishna BANI and Ingvild JENSSEN Greenpeace Release #2 Controversial cruise liner Blue Lady may have been beached at Alang, but as far as dismantling goes, however now the Supreme Court has dropped anchor on Star Cruises. The apex court on Thursday said permission had only been given to beach the ship, not dismantle it. Environmentalists say the 76,000-ton ship contains more than 900 tonnes of toxic waste like asbestos, risking the health of poorly equipped ship-breakers at Alang. ''Breaking cannot take place without our orders,'' the court said, when it was told the ship had beached at Alang. The petitioner representing the environmentalists sought orders restraining authorities from breaking up the ship. The court declined this, but said: "If it's done without our orders, we shall deal with it." The court was acting on an application filed by environmentalist Gopal Krishna, who contended that the permission given by the technical committee was illegal as its term had already expired. Meanwhile, M G K Menon, former chairman of the apex court appointed high-powered committee on management of hazardous waste, has written to the Chief Justice of India that the ship ''should have been decontaminated'' before it was brought to India. ''I wish to draw your attention to the fact that S S Blue Lady belongs to Star Cruises of Malaysia. It is their responsibility and that of the Government of Malaysia to ensure environmentally sound disposal," Menon's letter to Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal says. In June, the court allowed Blue Lady to enter Indian waters but appointed an expert committee to look into how much toxic waste was on board, before it could be broken. The technical committee, headed by Union Environment and Forest Secretary Pradipto Ghosh, gave the ship beaching permission on August 1. Incidentally, the committee's term had expired on July 31. Meanwhile, the 16-member technical committee will meet in Ahmedabad on Friday. Among the many issues on its agenda is the dismantling of the Norwegian liner. Representatives from Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) and Gujarat Pollution Control Board have also been invited to remain present during the two-day meeting in Ahmedabad. The committee's main agenda is to finalise the report it is supposed to submit to the apex court. It was also asked to suggest measures to be taken to augment infrastructural facilities at Alang shipbreaking yard

Oh boy, now I am really confused...... Do NOT think that Blue Lady/Norway/France is owned by Star Cruises.....thought she had been sold at least twice :?: :?:

I would like to see them try and get her back into the ocean :shock:

Mostly stuff we know about, BUT some new things here about the possibilities of re-floating her.....evidently NOT all that impossible NOTE WELL....rumour about MSC making take-over bid for NCL :!: :!: :!: Didn't someone here mention that they thought this might be coming :?: :?: :!: :!: http://www.ssmaritime.com/Norway-NewsUpdates-1.htm

Liz, how appropriate the caption under this pic on the link. Beauty and the Beast

Tony, I think we all know which is the beauty :)

:wink: I think their term "hideous" for POA is right on :lol:

Hideous with a capital HID :)

Any news from Norway?

I read on a post that they had a high tide the 7th, and they got the Blue Lady 300 meters closer the beach :cry:

Horrible news about the Norway. For the life of me I can't figure out why Star would not allow her to become a hotel. It would have been a win, win for all involved. Now they have more negative PR as she sits in India getting torn apart by underpaid, underprotected workers. I will think twice before I sail on a Star owned company. BTW I just read they ordered 3 mega ships for thr NCL brand, where are they getting the money for this huge expense? They lost money again last quarter. Robert

I agree, completely, Robert....where ARE they getting this money for the "new orders" :?: when, supposedly, they are "cash strapped" :?: :?: :?: To quote the King of Siam...."a PUZZLEMENT" :?: :?:

is there any news about norway is she taken all apart or still waiting?