Haunting graveyard of ships in Brazil poses environmental threat: Activists

• A giant, abandoned cargo ship broke free from its moorings.
• The Sao Luiz is one of the scores of ships abandoned to rust.
• Scores of ships are now rotting beneath its murky waters.

In the middle of November, during a stormy evening, a giant, abandoned cargo ship broke free from its moorings and slowly floated into the vast concrete bridge that takes cars across Brazil’s Guanabara Bay to Rio de Janeiro.

Before colliding with Latin America’s largest over-water bridge, the 200-meter-long (660-foot) Sao Luiz, a rust-covered bulk carrier constructed in 1994, had been anchored in the harbour for more than six years awaiting legal processes. The navy stated that it was conducting an investigation.

“The Sao Luiz is still in the Port of Rio today, with 50 tonnes of fuel oil in it,” Sergio Ricardo, co-founder of the environmental group Movimento Baia Viva (Living Bay Movement), told Reuters, pointing out the ship’s high corrosion levels.

“The ship is unsafe and can cause an environmental disaster,” he said.

Financial and legal issues are common causes of ship abandonment on a global scale.

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The Sao Luiz is one of scores of ships abandoned to rust in a famous but highly polluted harbour that was once home to enormous mangrove forests and abundant marine life.

Rio de Janeiro’s emblematic seahorses, green turtles, and Guiana dolphins are at jeopardy due to the depletion of mangroves and the graveyard of ships’ effect on pollution.

This year, the Rio de Janeiro State University discovered that only 34 Guiana dolphins survived in the bay, compared to over 800 in the 1990s.

Ricardo calculated that the pollution in the bay imposes a financial penalty of tens of billions of reais every year, in addition to the impact of ships on marine life and passing vessels, which must navigate an obstacle course of half-submerged hulks.

Fernando Pinto Lima, a 62-year-old veteran bay fisherman, told Reuters that he used to be able to catch 50 to 100 kg of fish in a short amount of time. “Now to catch fifty kilograms, it’ll take you a week or a month,” he stated.

Local media said that, following the Sao Luiz catastrophe, officials were examining how to eliminate the phantom ships. However, the abandoned vessels continue to rot beneath its murky waters.

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