Ibama orders the return to Brazil of the aircraft carrier São Paulo, barred in Turkey

Ibama (Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) canceled the authorization to export the aircraft carrier, São Paulo, to Turkey and determined the vessel’s return to Brazil.

On Friday, August 26, after environmental organizations denounced the illegal export of toxic waste, the Turkish government barred the ship from entering that country for lack of information about the quantity of toxic materials in its structure.

The Navy sold the aircraft carrier to the shipyard Sök Denizcilik and Ticaret Limited, which specializes in ship dismantling. The vessel left Brazil on the 4th, on a trip monitored in real-time by Greenpeace.

On Tuesday, August 30, it was in front of the coast of Morocco, approaching the Strait of Gibraltar.

In a letter signed by the general coordinator of Environmental Quality Management, Rosângela Maria Ribeiro Muniz, Ibama says that “the authorization issued by Ibama for this movement is suspended, and the Brazilian exporter must provide, at its own expense, the return of the vessel to Brazil.

If the determination is not complied with, says Ibama, the exporter of the ship runs the risk of incurring illegal trafficking of hazardous waste. The ship was exported by Oceans Prime Offshore, Sok’s maritime representative in Brazil.

In a note sent by e-mail to Folha, the Turkish embassy in Brazil said that the Turkish government has been warning since the beginning of the process that the ship would not enter the country if it represented any danger.

Ankara even issued an authorization for the ship’s entry, but the decision imposed conditions, such as the guarantee that the vessel would be inspected before arriving, according to requirements established in the Basel Convention.

Responsible for the inspection, the Norwegian company Grieg Green admits, however, that it did not have access to the entire structure and that the work was also hampered by the limitation of access to the original documentation of the ship, given its age.

On the 4th, the Federal Justice of Rio de Janeiro granted an injunction to the São Paulo-Foch Institute to prevent the vessel’s departure. When notified, the Navy said the request could not be granted because the ship was already in international waters.

According to the Turkish embassy, the entry of the ship into the country depends on a second inspection of the vessel under the supervision of independent institutions and the delivery of an inventory of hazardous materials, with the exact location of asbestos and other waste.

THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER WAS BRAZIL’S LARGEST WARSHIP

The aircraft carrier São Paulo was sold in 2021 for R$10.5 million (US$2.1 million). It was the largest Brazilian warship, with 31,000 tons, 266 meters long, and a capacity for up to 40 aircraft.

Its armament was composed of three double missile launchers and large-caliber machine guns.

Built in the late 1950s, it was initially baptized Foch and, after being part of the French fleet, arrived in Brazil in 2001. It operated until 2017, when the Navy decided to dispose of it.

Nicola Mulinaris, director of communications and political advisor of Shipbreaking Platform, says that the transport of the ship disregards the Basel agreement rules by the failures in the characterization of toxic waste and the lack of warning to the countries in whose waters it will sail until it reaches Turkey.

According to him, the Grieg Green inspection identified just under ten tons of asbestos on the ship, while a French aircraft carrier of the same class, named Clemenceau, had 760 tons.

Asbestos is believed to cause asbestosis, a chronic lung disease of occupational origin, and cancers of the lung and gastrointestinal tract, for example.

The story contacted Oceans Prime but did not receive a reply as of the publication of this text.

With information from Folha de S.Paulo