Last week, a judgment was handed down by a Rotterdam Court in the Netherlands, convicting the Dutch shipping company Jumbo and two of its directors for their involvement in the illegal export of an end-of-life ship to Turkey for recycling. 

The verdict was issued for the breach of the notification procedures under the European Waste Shipment Regulation. The court imposed a fine of 25.000 euros on ship owner Jumbo, while the directors were individually fined 2.500 euros. The Public Prosecution Service had initially sought community service for the directors and a fine of 100.000 euros for the company.

The ruling addressed the sale of two end-of-life ships in 2014 and 2015. In both instances, Jumbo had failed to submit the notification documents that guarantee the informed consent for the cross-border movement of end-of-life vessels, which are considered hazardous waste under EU and international law. However, in one of the cases, the defendants were acquitted as the ship was found to be situated outside EU waters at the time of the decision to sell the it for scrap.