Asbestos “Circus” Comes to Dalmatia!
News that an asbestos-laden 50-year-old Italian ferry – the Moby Drea – was bound for Croatia in July/August 2025 was not well received by people living near the Brodosplit shipyard.1 According to the information stream released by the ship’s owners, the vessel was being sent from Genoa, Italy to Split, Croatia to be remediated/renovated/refitted prior to being scrapped at another facility in another country. Subsequently, it was admitted that workers at the Brodosplit shipyard would be removing asbestos-containing fireproofing walls. According to numerous articles, there were 350 tons of asbestos on board, but the source of this estimate remains elusive. Asbestos use was banned in Croatia in 2006.2
 The Moby Drea off the Croatian coast August 1, 2025. Photograph supplied by the Association for Nature, Environment and Sustainable Development – Sunce. |
Investigations by the civil society group Sunce into the contracts signed, authorities involved and areas of responsibility of Italian and Croatian authorities in the Mody Drea debacle uncovered a complex network of unclear boundaries and legal uncertainties.3 Allowing unspecified “repair” work on the vessel to be carried out at Brodosplit, a facility registered with the Croatian government as a shipbuilding and not a ship repair yard, suggests that both the authorities and inspectorates have been lax in their oversight duties.
In a well-supported petition, campaigners expressed:
“an unequivocal and resolute stance against the presence of the Moby Drea ship in our city. The ship, which contains asbestos panels and other potentially hazardous materials, must not be serviced, repaired, or docked in Split – not now, not in the future!
Regardless of inspection services, professional supervision or promises of "safe handling", there is no safe way to remove asbestos in a populated urban area. Split is not an industrial zone, but a city of people, children, tourists, and nature that we love and protect.
The health of citizens, the safety of workers and the protection of the environment cannot be compromised due to the interests of foreign companies or business deals. Split will not be a hazardous waste disposal site, and Brodosplit is not and must not be the asbestos station of Europe.”4
 August 1, 2025 Moby Drea protest in front of the City Administration building, Split, Croatia. Photograph supplied by the Association for Nature, Environment and Sustainable Development – Sunce. |
For weeks, local campaigners, city councillors, representatives from NGOs and a new grassroots initiative “Healthy Split” expressed concern about the occupational and environmental hazard posed by asbestos removal at the Brodosplit shipyard. Their high-profile campaigning attracted several hundred supporters as well as substantial media coverage with journalist Marco Birolini saying that the outrage over the import of this “floating bomb” had fueled a “popular uprising in Split.”5
Posters at the demonstration held over the ship’s incursion into Croatian waters at noon on July 31, 2025 were unambiguous:
- “Vranjic Split zajednou azbestu” [Vranjic and Split together against asbestos];
- “Ako ne znaš šta je azbest, nek ti kaže Vranjic!” [If you don't know what asbestos is, let Vranjic tell you];
- “Mjesto koje hoće živjeti Vranjic” [Vranjic, a place that wants to live].6
The objections to the government’s failure to bar the toxic ship from Croatia, were supported by the newly elected Mayor of Split Tomislav Šuta who said:
“the ship must leave Split. The fact is that it is hazardous waste - asbestos. We all know what asbestos caused in this area. There are many open questions and we do not have enough good answers…I am in communication with the relevant ministries, and the City of Split has officially requested answers. I believe that until the ship leaves, citizens must have complete information. This way of acting and working at the shipyard, in which waste will be generated and no added value will be created for the city of Split, is completely unacceptable.”7
Expressing the anger felt by many of the protesters Luči Lončar, spokesperson for Zdravi Split (Healthy Split), said:
“No one asked us anything, and it is about the health of all of us. Health is not an ideology, health is our right. We will not remain silent. Brodosplit has approved the arrival of another ship in our city to remove asbestos panels. This is a protest for common sense and for [the safety of our] children.” 8
According to shipyard spokesperson Josip Jurišić “all necessary measures” have been taken for the work to be carried out without any “risk to the workers.”9 On Monday, August 4, 2025, Croatia’s Environmental Protection and Green Transition Ministry issued an opinion stating that any waste generated from the removal of asbestos-containing partitions on the Moby Drea cannot be disposed of in Croatia.10 Three days later, Croatian journalist Ivo Cagalj reported that work had already begun to clear out the 400 passenger cabins on the ship.11 According to various articles, the work at the Croatian shipyard will take 45 workers two months to complete, after which the ship will be sent to Greece for overhaul/retrofitting/recycling. The stated destination for the Moby Drea could be, yet another, figment of someone’s imagination as there are no EU authorized ship recycling facilities in Greece or Croatia.12
Speculation is rife that the Brodosplit shipyard could declare bankruptcy in September 2025. Should that be the case, good luck to any worker who in 20 years or so finds out he contracted asbestos cancer as a result of his two months summer employment on the Moby Drea. Another aspect of the deadly legacy of this contract was pointed out by Brodosplit trade union representative Pavle Matošić:
"As far as I remember, the President of the Board of Brodosplit, Tomislav Debeljak, in order not to have his account blocked, initiated a pre-bankruptcy settlement himself. There are a lot of free halls in the shipyard, and regarding the panels with asbestos, they will most likely wrap the waste they remove from the ship in nylon foils and store it in one of the halls. If they go bankrupt, then the state will have to deal with that asbestos.”13
According to Matošić “this is a very likely scenario.”
The uproar in Split shows no signs of abating any time soon. Campaigners, far from reassured by statements emanating from the shipyard, continue their efforts to secure answers to the very detailed questions raised by the seemingly illegal import of the toxic waste site that is the Moby Drea.14 Will the vessel enter the lexicon as yet another asbestos ghost ship destined to travel the world looking for a final resting place as the French aircraft carrier the Clemenceau and the Brazilian naval flagship the São Paulo did before it?15 Watch this space!
August 12, 2025
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1 Šuta poručuje da Moby Drea mora iz Splita, oglasio se i Brodosplit [Šuta says Moby Drea must leave Split, Brodosplit also spoke out]. August 2, 2025.
https://www.seebiz.eu/tvrtke/suta-porucuje-da-moby-drea-mora-iz-splita-oglasio-se-i-brodosplit/321063
2 Controversial asbestos-laden Italian ferry to arrive at Split. August 1, 2025.
https://www.portseurope.com/controversial-asbestos-laden-italian-ferry-to-arrive-at-split
3 According to its website, Sunce is “a non-governmental, non-partisan and non-profit organization founded in 1998” working in the field of environmental and nature protection.
https://sunce-st.org/o-suncu/tko-smo/
4 PETICIJA PROTIV BRODA. “Ne azbestu u Splitu!”: Građani traže hitno uklanjanje broda Moby Drea [PETITION AGAINST THE SHIP. “No to asbestos in Split!”: Citizens demand urgent removal of Moby Drea ship]. July 29, 2025.
https://www.dalmacijanews.hr/clanak/ne-azbestu-u-splitu-gradani-traze-hitno-uklanjanje-broda-moby-drea/
5 Birolini, M. Il caso. Un traghetto italiano fa arrabbiare Spalato [The Case: An Italian ferry angers Split]. August 4, 2025.
https://www.avvenire.it/attualita/pagine/un-traghetto-italiano-fa-arrabbiare-spalato
Odzvonilo je brodu Moby Drea; azbestni otpad s broda ne smije završiti u Hrvatskoj! Evo tko je donio odluku [The bell has rung for the Moby Drea ship; asbestos waste from the ship must not end up in Croatia! Here's who made the decision]. August 4, 2025.
https://slobodnadalmacija.hr/split-i-zupanija/split/odzvonilo-je-brodu-moby-drea-azbestni-otpad-s-broda-ne-smije-zavrsiti-u-hrvatskoj-evo-tko-je-donio-odluku-1494133
6 Other signs at the protest said: “We have cancer – Debeljak profits,” “Turks are smarter than Croats,” and “Debeljak is poisoning our children.” [Debeljak is the President of the Board of Brodosplit shipyards].
Brod s azbestom: Radovi idu, ljudi prosvjeduju, a institucije se ograðuju [Ship with asbestos: Work continues, people protest, and institutions distance themselves]. August 1, 2025.
https://vijesti.hrt.hr/hrvatska/moby-drea-12271946
7 Šuta poručuje da Moby Drea mora iz Splita, oglasio se i Brodosplit [Šuta says Moby Drea must leave Split, Brodosplit also spoke out]. August 2, 2025.
https://www.seebiz.eu/tvrtke/suta-porucuje-da-moby-drea-mora-iz-splita-oglasio-se-i-brodosplit/321063
8 Brod s azbestom: Radovi idu, ljudi prosvjeduju, a institucije se ograðuju [Ship with asbestos: Work continues, people protest, and institutions distance themselves]. August 1, 2025.
https://vijesti.hrt.hr/hrvatska/moby-drea-12271946
9 Iz Brodosplita objasnili kako će izvući azbest i tko će ga preuzeti: 'Voze ga na nama nepoznatu lokaciju'
[Brodosplit explains how they will extract the asbestos and who will take it over: ‘They are transporting it to a location unknown to us.’] July 31, 2025.
https://www.telegram.hr/vijesti/iz-brodosplita-objasnili-kako-ce-izvuci-azbest-i-tko-ce-ga-preuzeti-voze-ga-na-nama-nepoznatu-lokaciju/
10 Hari, A. Waste from Moby Drea ship can't be disposed of in Croatia, says ministry. August 4, 2025.
https://www.hina.hr/news/12021783
11 Cagalj, I. U Splitu počela demontaža gotovo 300 tona azbesta s broda Moby Drea: Ako ovo dozvolimo... [Dismantling of almost 300 tons of asbestos from the ship Moby Dre has begun in Split: If we allow this...] August 7, 2025.
https://www.tportal.hr/vijesti/clanak/u-brodosplitu-pocela-demontaza-gotovo-300-tona-azbesta-s-broda-moby-
drea-ako-ovo-dozvolimo-20250807
12 Brod s azbestom: Radovi idu, ljudi prosvjeduju, a institucije se ograðuju [Ship with asbestos: Work continues, people protest, and institutions distance themselves]. August 1, 2025.
https://vijesti.hrt.hr/hrvatska/jandrokovic-ako-je-bilo-sto-sporno-brod-s-azbestom-treba-vratiti-iz-splita-12276087
EU Commission. European List of ship recycling facilities pursuant to EU Regulations. Accessed August 8, 2025.
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:L_202302726
13 Cagalj, I. U Splitu počela demontaža gotovo 300 tona azbesta s broda Moby Drea: Ako ovo dozvolimo... [Dismantling of almost 300 tons of asbestos from the ship Moby Dre has begun in Split: If we allow this...] August 7, 2025.
https://www.tportal.hr/vijesti/clanak/u-brodosplitu-pocela-demontaza-gotovo-300-tona-azbesta-s-broda-moby-
drea-ako-ovo-dozvolimo-20250807
14 Tolj, D. Što znači mišljenje Ministarstva, ide li azbestni brod ‘Moby Drea‘ natrag u Italiju? Evo što je rastumačio naš novinar [What does the Ministry's opinion mean, is the asbestos ship 'Moby Drea' going back to Italy? Here's what our journalist explained.] August 4, 2025.
https://slobodnadalmacija.hr/split-i-zupanija/split/sto-znaci-misljenje-ministarstva-ide-li-azbestni-brod-moby-drea-natrag-u-italiju-evo-sto-je-rastumacio-nas-novinar-1494202
15 Kazan-Allen, L. The Clemenceau Comes Home! May 21, 2006.
https://www.ibasecretariat.org/clemenecau_comes_home.php
Kazan-Allen, L. The São Paulo: International Hot Potato.September 1, 2022.http://ibasecretariat.org/lka-the-sao-paulo-international-hot-potato.php
