Platform News – European Union sets a global standard for sustainable ship recycling: NGOs call on shipping companies to use EU approved yards
Today, the European Commission (EC) publishes technical guidance for ship recycling facilities that want to be approved under the EU Ship Recycling Regulation. The European Union (EU) mirrors with this step the call by environmental and human rights NGOs for a relocation of ship recycling to platforms that can ensure sustainable practices. Facilities that intend to be listed as EU-approved will need to ensure safe working conditions, pollution control including proper downstream waste management and enforcement of international labour rights.

According to the EU, ship recycling is an industrial activity that needs industrial methods, equipment and standards. Workers and the environment anywhere in the world have the same right to protection under the EU Regulation. Attempts by some Member States with strong shipping interests to water down the requirements of the Regulation, more specifically, to accept low-cost beaching facilities in South Asia as environmentally friendly and safe for workers in order to make it on the list, have not been successful.
The EU list of approved ship recycling facilities [1] will become a global reference point for sustainable ship recycling. It rewards the companies that already have or are willing to invest in the necessary infrastructure and the employment of fully trained workers to ensure safe and environmentally sound recycling practices. The yards responsible shipping companies such as Hapag Lloyd, Wilhelmsen, Grieg and Royal Dutch Boskalis work with in Europe, China and Turkey will most likely feature on the EU list after having provided evidence that they comply with the requirements and in some cases also having improved their practices in order to meet the European standard. By promising to clearly distinguishing good from bad practices [2], the EU list has also already prompted the establishment of new facilities that see opportunities for an increased market share.
For ship owners, the EU list will be the only guarantee that their end-of-life vessels are not causing harm to workers and the environment. Backed by ‘independent verifiers with qualifications’ and audits by the EC or agents acting on its behalf, a further important warranty lays in the right NGOs have to submit complaints and concerns to the EC regarding the functioning of a facility and with that prompt an on-site visit to establish whether the facility should be removed from the list.

NOTES
[1] The EU list of approved ship recycling facilities is expected to be published by the end of 2016. Applications from facilities that want to feature on the first batch of the list need to be sent to the EC by 1 July 2016.
[2] Unlike the industry driven International Maritime Organisation (IMO) the EU is not rubberstamping the unnecessarily risky activity of managing reverse logistics of ship material management on a beach.
The EU requirements go beyond the IMO’s Hong Kong Convention (HKC), a piece of law which was adopted in 2009, but so far has only been ratified by four countries and is unlikely to enter into force in due time. More than 100 global environmental and human rights organisations, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Toxics and European policy makers have denounced the HKC for merely rubberstamping the status quo.

- RT @Bellona_EU: JOB Opportunity at Bellona Europa! If communication & the environment are your & , we are looking for a Communication…22 hours ago
- RT @IoHadjiyianni: Check out our review article with @Law_UCY alumna Anna Kloni, in Journal of Environmental Law @OxfordJournals, on 'Regul…yesterday
- #Shipbreaking: 5 workers suffered an accident on South Asian beaches in the last quarter of 2020. https://t.co/W1zNr4GKQGyesterday
- RT @ri_montu: The #shipbreaking industry off the #coast of #Bangladesh has disrupted the lives of millions of people in the #Jaldas communi…8 days ago
Related news

Press Release – NGO publishes 2015 list of all ships dismantled worldwide
Read our country-specific press releases: Belgium and France | Brazil and Portugal | Germany | Greece | Italy | Japan | Spain Read what the North… Read More

Press Release – Fire on board Greek tanker kills two shipbreaking workers in Bangladesh
Md Jamil and Bipul lost their lives while scrapping Polembros’ vessel Greek Warrior.
... Read More
Platform News – Investigations ongoing after Norwegian authorities press charges against owners of Harrier
The HARRIER is still under arrest in Norway after its owners failed to illegally set sail for the dangerous and dirty scrapping yards in Gadani, Pakistan, last… Read More

Maersk’s toxic trade: the North Sea Producer case
In August 2016 the FPSO NORTH SEA PRODUCER was beached in Chittagong, Bangladesh. The ship was allowed to leave the UK based on false claims that it… Read More

Press Release – Platform supports banks’ introduction of responsible ship recycling standards
Today, during the first day of NOR-Shipping in Oslo, Dutch banks ABN AMRO, ING Bank and NIBC, together with the Scandinavian DNB, announced that they are… Read More

Platform News – Maersk involved in illegal toxic waste trafficking
The Maersk-owned floating oil production and storage tanker, North Sea Producer, left the UK in May 2016 and was directly towed to Bangladesh, where it arrived… Read More

Press Release – Conditions of shipbreaking workers in India remain appalling
The New Indian Express reveals that conditions for the shipbreaking workers at the beach of Alang, India, have not improved.
... Read More
Platform News – The new lobbyist of beaching, Maersk, ignores concerns of environmental and human rights experts
When Maersk decided earlier this year to sell two end-of-life ships to beaching yards in Alang, India, a broad coalition of European environmental and human rights NGOs… Read More