In the open Brazilsails “São Paulo” decommissioned, one aircraft carrier the ship is filled with an unknown quantity asbestos, since its processing, which was supposed to be carried out in Turkey, was prohibited and no government wants to take it on. In 2021, the Turkish company Sok Denizcilik bought the ship at an auction for $1.8 million. Her goal was to destroy the ship by recycling its useless parts and selling the rest as ore. However, the company’s plans were thwarted by the intervention of environmental groups who protested that the ship was hiding far more pollutants than its buyer had anticipated. The ship, which served in the French Navy for almost 40 years from 1963 to 2000, had a decade to complete any service. Experts considered that in some parts of it so many poisonous gases had accumulated that entering them was dangerous for everyone.

They hid 10 tons

During the construction of the aircraft carrier, environmental standards were much softer. Many of the materials now banned were widely used then. One of these is carcinogenic asbestos, which served insulating purposes due to its fire-resistant properties. When its “younger brother” named Clemenceau, which together were the first successful French aircraft carriers built after World War II, was destroyed in the 2000s, experts said they collected 45 tons of asbestos when they were dismantled. However, the problem with São Paulo is that people who inspected it at the time of purchase said it contained ten tons less asbestos, which aroused many suspicions. In July last year, activists contacted the Norwegian company that conducted the inspection. Their suspicions were confirmed. The inspectors told them that parts of the ship were sealed due to toxicity and could not be searched. “It is possible that the actual amount of asbestos is much higher,” the company said.

Activist protests

Shortly thereafter, there was increasing pressure on the Turkish government to abandon the ship and prevent it from being wrecked. Last August, when the ship left Brazil, the Turkish government announced that it was refusing to accept it and forcing it to return. Thus, the ship, which had already reached Gibraltar, was forced to return, and the conservationists celebrated a great victory. However, another surprise awaited him at home. The protests took on such a scale that the port of Rio de Janeiro, from which they began, was impossible to accept. Sao Paulo, after two transatlantic crossings, ended up around Brazil. So on Wednesday, and under the pressure of an ever-deteriorating logistical situation, the Brazilian Navy decided to sink the ship in international waters. “Something like that would be horrifying and completely absurd,” environmentalists now say, knowing that tons of toxic metal will kill a huge part of marine life.