Protesters Block Asbestos-Removal Project for Classic Ferry at Brodosplit
Brodosplit Shipyard has landed in hot water with local residents over plans for restoring an aging cruise ship, the Moby Drea. The vessel has asbestos partition panels inside, and the shipyard's work plan called for removing them - but local citizens were not interested in the perceived risks, and pressed successfully for a government order for the ship's removal.
Moby Drea (ex names Tor Britannia, Prince of Scandinavia) is a 1975-built cruise ferry, originally designed with fine lines and high speeds in mind. In service in the Baltic Sea and North Sea, the vessel made up to 27 knots with four Pielstick diesels. A 1998 refit added more steel amidships, increasing bed capacity, broadening the beam by about 10 feet and raising gross tonnage by about 6,000 GT.
The cruise ferry is now 50 years old, well past the age for demolition for most commercial vessels. As recently as May, the ship was reported sold for delivery to Aliaga, Turkey for scrap value. However, on July 22, Croatian shipyard Brodosplit announced that it would be accepting Moby Drea into its facility for specialized asbestos removal work. Two days later, Shipping Italy confirmed that the vessel will be cleaned of asbestos, then moved to Piraeus for a refit for continued commercial service. The new owner is reportedly a bunkering company based in Messina, Med Fuel.
The Moby Drea's interior contains metal partition panels with an asbestos core, amounting to about 350 tonnes of asbestos in total; the work will be performed by a contractor focused on this specific line of work, with special post-removal handling to minimize risk of environmental contamination.
The ship arrived at Brodosplit under tow in late July, and its berthing was approved by local port authorities. But the project immediately met a speed bump: a citizens initiative to halt the work. The group organized protests outside the shipyard's gates in an attempt to prevent work from going forward, and it filed a petition with Croatia's government to demand the ship's removal, questioning whether the Moby Drea is undergoing repair or has another ultimate fate.
For its part, Brodosplit said that the asbestos was fully encased in the panels and would be handled and disposed of safely. Air testing on board the ship was carried out and detected no sign of contamination before the start of work, the firm said in a statement to local media.
Local sensitivities are high because of the region's history. Vranjic, a small town near Split, was once the site of a large asbestos construction material factory; the area has considerable experience with the dangers, including hundreds of fatalities over the decades. The public memory of trouble with asbestos is still alive and well, and - any statistical risk profile for the specifics of the Moby Drea project aside - protesters have expressed a strong desire to avoid returning to those days.
Croatia's Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure has sided with residents and issued an order for the vessel's prompt removal from Brodosplit. The Moby Drea must be towed out of Croatia and its territorial seas by early September.
Owner Med Fuel confirmed that on receipt of the stop work order on August 11, all construction activity was suspended, and none of the asbestos panels will be removed going forward. The owner is now solely focused on securing a safe tow to get Moby Drea out of Croatia, and the ministry has granted it an additional 15 days to complete the task. Split's port authority is assigned to oversee compliance.
Top image: Moby Drea (Lucarelli / CC BY SA 3.0)
