Platform News - Shipping industry presses to undermine European Ship Recycling Regulation

Platform News – Shipping industry presses to undermine European Ship Recycling Regulation

Published in June 20th, 2018

On Monday, the EU member states’ experts on ship recycling met in Brussels to discuss the latest developments, six months ahead of the application of the 2013 Ship Recycling Regulation. With the recent decision by the Chinese government to stop the import of end-of-life ships for scrapping, the shipping industry is quick to lament that there will not be enough recycling capacity and that there will be too few options for them under the EU List of approved recycling facilities. The industry claims that the standard set by the EU must be lowered so that beaching yards can be approved.

As much as it is a pity that the Chinese yards who have already made efforts to be included on the List may now no longer be receiving EU-flagged ships for recycling, the Platform has calculated that the facilities which are currently on the List, the 21 EU-based ones only, are in fact sufficient to recycle the entire EU-flagged fleet at end-of-life. [1]

Moreover, there are still other facilities outside the EU, as well as those operating in Italy and Norway, which are expected to be included on the List before the application of the Regulation. Indian beaching yards that have applied to be on the EU List will not be included as there is no way for these yards to comply with the requirements of the Regulation as long as ships are beached. The overall capacity and sizes of all the facilities that are compliant with EU law will easily accommodate the recycling needs of EU-flagged ships by 1 January 2019. The scaremongering of the shipping industry therefore needs to be debunked, and the European Commission should not bow-down to the “fake news” spread by the ship owners.

SeaEurope, IndustriAll Europe and the Platform have urged that a financial incentive is needed to push more ship owners towards clean and safe ship recycling. French trade Union CGT also recently called upon the French government to support the development of ship recycling capacity in the Mediterranean. With China potentially leaving the international market of ship recycling already next year, there is a clear opportunity for other regions to tailor for clean and safe ship recycling off the beach.

"The EU should aim at ensuring that the European shipping industry no longer causes harm to the environment and workers on the South Asian beaches. 30 percent of end-of-life ships are owned by European companies – compared to only six percent registered under an EU flag. There will be a need to support the expansion of existing or building of new facilities to ensure the clean and safe recycling of the many larger vessels that are owned by European companies. Circular economy is the buzz-word and a return scheme for ships is the solution."

Ingvild Jenssen - Executive Director and Founder - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

NOTE

[1] The 21 facilities that are currently on the EU List have the capacity to recycle at least 1 mill LDT. Whilst most can only take in smaller vessels, at least 10 of the facilities on the List can take in larger vessels. In 2017, less than 500.000 LDT was registered under an EU flag at end-of-life, out of which 245.827 LDT ended up on the South Asian beaches. All EU-flagged vessels broken last year could have been recycled in facilities that are on the EU List, both in terms of LDT and size. Even when adding also the 423.369 LDT of the 24 ships that swapped their EU flag for a non-EU one few weeks before beaching, the total tonnage does not exceed the capacity of the current EU-listed facilities.

Brussels, Oct 17th 2018

Platform publishes South Asia Quarterly Update #17

There were a total of 113 ships broken in the third quarter of 2018. Of these, 79 ships were sold to the beaches of South Asia for… Read More

Brussels, Jan 20th 2023

Press Release – Brazil must allow its own toxic aircraft carrier to dock

NGOs demand urgent action of Lula administration as ship needs repair and safe harbour.

Lisbon, May 17th 2023

Press Release – NGOs organise event on sustainable maritime transport on 31 May in Lisbon

On 31 May, between 2PM and 7:30PM, the NGOs ZERO, Sciaena, NGO Shipbreaking Platform and Circular Economy Portugal are organising the conference “Waves of change: towards circular… Read More

Chittagong, May 15th 2019

Press Release – Major explosion at Bangladesh shipbreaking yard kills two workers and severely injures five

A fire broke out on board the Malaysian-owned vessel BUNGA KELANA 4, beached at Mahinur Ship Breaking yard.

MORE NEWS

Brussels, Aug 05th 2022

Press Release – Toxic warship “Clemenceau II” starts voyage from Brazil to the Mediterranean Sea

Reports from Rio de Janeiro confirm that the sister ship of the infamous aircraft carrier Clemenceau has now been placed under tow on an about 6000-mile journey to Turkey, where it is to be scrapped.

Chattogram, Sep 03rd 2019

Press Release – Accident on board Greek ship kills two and injures thirteen

Two deaths and thirteen severe injuries. This is the toll of victims following yet another accident at the shipbreaking beach of Chattogram, Bangladesh.

Brussels, Mar 26th 2021

Press Release – NGOs call upon authorities to sanction illegal exports of cruises

At least three passenger ships have been illegally sold for scrapping on the beaches of South Asia in the last months.

Brussels, Jan 13th 2022

Press Release – NGOs join local residents and First Nations in fight against toxic shipbreaking in British Columbia

NGO Shipbreaking Platform calls on authorities to halt shipbreaking activities at Union Bay.