Like the Brillante before them, the Columbus and the Magellan were dismantled by hand and stripped of recyclable material at Indian and Pakistani shipbreaking yards, some of the world’s most dangerous and polluted workplaces. Because of the human and environmental cost, it’s illegal for European companies to send vessels to either country to be broken down without first removing all potentially hazardous waste, but the rules are easily skirted by transferring ownership offshore.
