On 5 April 2023, the Tory government announced it would use the shipping barge Bibby Stockholm to accommodate asylum seekers. What would be in effect a floating prison would be leased from the privately-owned Bibby Line Group, which has jumped at the opportunity to profit from state racism more than once in the past. Although the Tories have touted the use of the barge as a cheaper alternative to housing asylum seekers in hotels, the reality is that there are very few vessels which could be used in this way, and certainly not enough to accommodate the 50,000 people still in hotels at the end of June.
Bibby Line
When Lancashire-born ship-owner James Bibby began trading out of Liverpool with partner John Highfield in 1807, they had already made at least three voyages transporting over 750 African captives according to the Slave Voyages database. By the time of his death in 1840, Bibby had struck out on his own and come to manage a fleet of more than 18 ships. As Bibby Line Limited from 1891, the company operated ships which served as hospital and transport vessels during the First Imperialist War, as well as merchant cruisers. Like other British shipping lines, the company profited through the operation of a colour bar which was supported by the National Sailors’ and Firemen’s Union and which condemned black sailors from British colonies to appalling conditions and miserable pay below decks.
Bibby Stockholm
The Bibby Stockholm was built in 1976 and converted for accommodation purposes in 1992. In 1994-98 it was used in Hamburg, Germany to house homeless people, many of whom were asylum seekers. In 2005, the barge was docked in the Netherlands detaining asylum seekers; an undercover report revealed details of routine strip searches, beatings, sexual exploitation and suicide attempts. One man from Algeria was denied medical attention for a heart condition and died on board.
Details of the prison ship today are as grim as ever; the once-222 capacity has been expanded to 500 by creating six-person cabins in communal areas and by ‘bunking up’ in the original one-person cabins. Many of the cabins are on the barge’s interior and have no natural light; corridors are very narrow and even when used to house oil workers in the Shetlands the accommodation was described as claustrophobic.
Attempts to board asylum seekers were delayed for weeks until 7 August because of adverse safety reports. On 9 August, responding to asylum seekers’ concerns, Deputy Tory Chair Lee Anderson said that they should ‘fuck off back to France’. But on 11 August, a particularly lethal strain of legionella bacteria was confirmed to be present in a galley hose outlet, forcing the evacuation of the 39 asylum seekers then on board. It was subsequently revealed that tests on 7 August had indicated the presence of the bacteria, but the Home Office had proceeded to use the barge regardless.
The commissioning of the barge has also been plagued with fire safety issues: on 16 August five separate concerns were raised by an inspection, with the Fire Brigades Union stating that it was concerned about a potential lack of ingress and exit points; narrow corridors and doorways; and increased occupancy.’ On 22 August, the union launched a legal challenge against the Home Office because of the high risk of a severe fire on board spreading uncontrollably. It said ‘everyone has the right to live in safe and decent accommodation’ and that asylum seekers were being ‘recklessly endangered on this barge by the Home Office.’
The determination of the government to use the Bibby Stockholm has nothing to do with cost or the viability of the option but rather its commitment to maintaining the hostile environment towards migrants. Locking asylum seekers away into what is effectively a prison is to stamp them as criminals and therefore legitimate objects for vilification. It is racism pure and simple – and we must oppose it.
Aidan Keiteley
FIGHT RACISM! FIGHT IMPERIALISM! 296 October/November 2023
