Tag: data

Press Release – Platform publishes list of ships dismantled worldwide in 2025

Posted on by Nicola Mulinaris

The NGO Shipbreaking Platform publishes its 2025 annual list of ships dismantled worldwide. The data reveals that 85% of the global tonnage scrapped last year was broken down on three beaches in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan.

 

321 vessels were dismantled globally last year, of which 214 ended up in South Asia. Bangladesh and India remain the shipping industry’s first choices for scrapping, despite the documented grave consequences beaching ships has on workers, local communities and fragile coastal ecosystems. Eleven workers lost their lives in South Asia in 2025, with at least another sixty-two workers injured due to unsafe working practices.

 

One of the most serious incidents occurred at Ziri Subedar yard in Chattogram, Bangladesh, where an oil tank explosion injured eight workers during the dismantling operations of the BANGLAR JYOTI, a vessel owned by the Government of Bangladesh.

 

Bangladesh has already approved seventeen yards under the International Maritime Organisation’s Hong Kong Convention (HKC), which entered into force in June 2025. Yet, serious accidents continue to occur even at these yards, and incident reporting remains opaque or entirely absent. While in India no shipbreaking yards have so far been authorised under the HKC, more than 100 shipbreaking plots in Alang-Sosiya hold private Statements of Compliance with the Convention’s requirements.

"Clearly, the Hong Kong Convention does not set a standard that ensures safe and environmentally sound practices. Now under review at the IMO, it will be key to bolster its requirements, including ways to phase out the fatally flawed beaching method. At the same time, better enforcement of the Basel Convention’s restrictions on hazardous waste trade need to be ensured through measures that effectively hold the shipping industry accountable. This entails shifting responsibility to the states that actually have control over the owners of assets intended for disposal."
Ingvild Jenssen - Executive Director and Founder - NGO Shipbreaking Platform
Chattogram's shipbreaking beach in Bangladesh - January 2026 - © Spencer Call
Alang's shipbreaking beach in India - 2025 - © RTS
Shipbreaking in Chattogram, Bangladesh - January 2026 - © Spencer Call
Shipbreaking in Chattogram, Bangladesh - January 2026 - © Spencer Call

 

The Platform also warns that the low number of ships that have been scrapped these past years due to favourable operating rates hides a growing backlog of aging tonnage that is expected to head for the breaking yards in the coming years. Included in the backlog are hundreds of tankers operating in the so-called dark fleet, some of which in 2025 were claimed to be illicitly traded to Indian beaching yards using cash, crypto and foreign currencies to avoid sanctions. These developments, combined with indications that the dark fleet may be far larger than widely assumed, risk fuelling a parallel and opaque shipbreaking economy where safety standards, environmental protections, and waste controls will remain easily bypassed.

"The many vessels that will be heading for scrap, including the dark fleet, must be recycled at safe, transparent, and fully regulated facilities — away from beaching practices. Existing facilities that already meet these standards, including ship recycling yards in the European Union, continue to operate at significant under-capacity, underscoring that safe alternatives do exist but remain systematically overlooked by the shipping sector."
Nicola Mulinaris - Senior Communication and Policy Advisor - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

DUMPERS 2025 – Worst practices

 

China tops the 2025 Dumpers List, with 21 Chinese-owned vessels sold to South Asian shipbreakers, mainly in Bangladesh. This despite China’s domestic capacity to recycle ships in dry-dock facilities. 

 

South Korea and the UAE are close runner-ups to Worst Dumpers, with 19 and 17 vessels beached, respectively. More than 60 vessels furthermore departed from these countries’ territorial waters for dismantling in South Asia. The UAE Ship Recycling Regulation, which entered into force in June 2025, however, explicitly prohibits vessels from leaving UAE territorial waters for scrapping at beaching- and landing yards, as these methods are not deemed safe and environmentally sound. International law is also clear: all transboundary movements of hazardous waste, including end-of-life ships, need to obtain Prior Informed Consent (PIC) in line with the Basel Convention and only be approved when safe and environmentally sound practices all the way to disposal are ensured. Exports of end-of-life ships from OECD to non-OECD countries are furthermore banned by international law, breaches of which are considered serious environmental crimes, as witnessed by cases brought to European courts.

 

Greek shipping magnate Vangelis Marinakis is the 2025 Worst Corporate Dumper. A Reporters United investigation into the illegal end-of-life sale of the tanker TRADER III — linked to companies controlled by Marinakis — shows how one of Europe’s most powerful shipping figures profits on selling toxic ships to Bangladesh, enabled by what a senior Greek official describes as a “policy of deliberate indifference”. The report traces the vessel’s final voyage from Turkey through Greek waters and onward to Chattogram, where it was beached at KR Ship Recycling Industries yard on 15 March 2025, completing several transactions designed to evade EU laws and externalise the costs of safely managing toxic waste to vulnerable communities and ecosystems in the Global South. Another Marinakis-linked tanker, the TRADER II, met the same fate on the same beach in September.

 

The TRADER II beached in Chattogram, Bangladesh in January 2026 - © Spencer Call

 

Other well-known owners — including Norwegian Green Reefers and Odfjell, South Korean H-Line, Hyundai LNG Shipping and SK Shipping, Cypriot cruise company Louis PLC, Greek Polys Haji-Ioannou Group, Japanese NYK Line and Mitsui OSK, and Swiss MSC — have contributed to the shipping industry’s toxic footprint, sending their end-of-life vessels for scrapping in the Global South. Lila Global, acting as the ship-owning arm of cash buyer GMS, also sent several vessels to yards in Bangladesh and India.

 

Recently, the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP) adopted new decommissioning guidelines urging its members to avoid beaching and intermediaries such as cash buyers. While IOGP members Petrobras, SBM, and Shell already follow these guidelines, gas carriers and traders such as US-controlled Seapeak [1] and Thai Siamgas externalise their costs onto vulnerable communities and the environment in Bangladesh. According to local sources two workers lost their lives during beaching operations of the SEAPEAK ASIA, owned by Seapeak. The body of one shipbreaking worker and the severed body parts of another were recovered on the coast. A co-worker of the deceased and witness to the incident told media correspondents that they were struck by the SEAPEAK ASIA during night-time operations at KR Ship Recycling Yard, a plot authorised under the IMO’s Hong Kong Convention. 

 

The SEAPEAK ASIA beached in Chattogram, Bangladesh in January 2026 - © Spencer Call

 

This fatal incident is not an isolated workplace tragedy, but part of a wider end-of-life shipping model in which regulatory loopholes and weak oversight converge at the point of dismantling. Vessels’ end-of-life phase is increasingly recognised as high-risk for environmental violations and financial crime. The widespread use of Flags of Convenience (FOCs), layered ownership structures, and offshore intermediaries enables shipowners to evade regulation and obscure accountability. Prior scrapping, vessels are commonly reflagged to a small group of low-oversight FOCs — such as Comoros, Palau, St. Kitts and Nevis — a practice known as flag-hopping and which allows easy circumvention of the EU Ship Recycling Regulation and Hong Kong Convention. In the case of the SEAPEAK ASIA, the vessel’s rapid flag changes — from Spain to the Bahamas in September, and again in December to St Kitts and Nevis — appear designed to evade the EU Ship Recycling Regulation, which requires EU-flagged ships to be scrapped only in EU-approved yards. No yards in South Asia are on the EU List as they do not comply with the Regulation’s requirements. 

 

According to a recently published European Commission report, profits from scrap vessel sales — inflated by avoiding EU-compliant dismantling requirements — can be channelled through shell companies in low-tax jurisdictions using FOCs to disguise beneficial ownership, evade taxation, and launder proceeds linked to other illicit maritime activities such as illegal fishing or sanctions evasion.

 

Turkey is one of the few non-EU destinations that can receive EU-flagged end-of-life vessels — yet its ship recycling sector has come under mounting scrutiny. In Aliağa, civil society groups have challenged the sector’s EIA exemption and filed a criminal complaint alleging systemic regulatory failure. Public pressure led to calls for the EU to withdraw approvals for all yards, a call now also supported by 20 Turkish MPs.

 

In the last months, the sector in Aliağa saw three fatal accidents, including one at EU approved facility Temurtaşlar, and a major fire at Simsekler yard involving the FSO SLOUG, which still held an estimated 6,000 tons of petroleum. Meanwhile, Aliağa Municipality uncovered illegal dumpsites containing 15,000 tons of hazardous waste originating from the ship recycling sector.

 

At the EU level, broader economic and industrial transformations aimed at enhancing clean industries are taking place. Trade unions, the recycling and steel sectors, and civil society organisations are calling on the EU to curb the export of EU owned end-of-life vessels that may cause harm to third countries and recognise the role maritime secondary steel can play in decarbonising not only steel production, but also construction. 

"Emerging regional strategies, such as those focused on strategic autonomy in raw materials, have renewed attention on scrap steel, bringing ship recycling into focus as a valuable source of high-quality materials. Companies like CMA CGM and Höegh Autoliners are already engaging with the steel sector and innovative start-ups such as Oppsirk, and by that stepping forward as market drivers for solutions that will enhance decarbonisation and circularity."
Benedetta Mantoan - Policy Officer - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

NOTE

[1] The company is a globally operating entity, formed from Canadian Teekay LNG Partners and now controlled by US private equity firm Stonepeak.




For the data visualization of 2025 shipbreaking records, click here. *

For the full Excel dataset of all ships dismantled worldwide in 2025, click here. *

 

* The data gathered by the NGO Shipbreaking Platform is sourced from different outlets and stakeholders, and is cross-checked whenever possible. The data upon which this information is based is correct to the best of the Platform’s knowledge, and the Platform takes no responsibility for the accuracy of the information provided. The Platform will correct or complete data if any inaccuracy is signaled. All data which has been provided is publicly available and does not reveal any confidential business information.

 

Platform publishes South Asia Quarterly Update #44

Posted on by Nicola Mulinaris

In this quarterly publication, the NGO Shipbreaking Platform informs about the shipbreaking industry in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Providing an overview of accidents that took place on the beaches of South Asia and recent on-the-ground developments, including our activities, we aim to inform the public about the negative impacts of substandard shipbreaking practices as well as positive steps aimed at the realisation of environmental justice and the protection of workers’ rights. 

 

One session in this Update offers an insightful interview with our Indian member organisation Toxics Link.

Click here or on the image below to access the full version of our quarterly report. 

Platform publishes South Asia Quarterly Update #43

Posted on by Nicola Mulinaris

In this quarterly publication, the NGO Shipbreaking Platform informs about the shipbreaking industry in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Providing an overview of accidents that took place on the beaches of South Asia and recent on-the-ground developments, including our activities, we aim to inform the public about the negative impacts of substandard shipbreaking practices as well as positive steps aimed at the realisation of environmental justice and the protection of workers’ rights. 

 

One session in this Update focuses on Pakistan’s shipbreaking sector, exposing the severe human and environmental costs of beaching practices and outlining emerging solutions on the horizon.

Click here or on the image below to access the full version of our quarterly report. 

Platform publishes South Asia Quarterly Update #42

Posted on by Nicola Mulinaris

In this quarterly publication, the NGO Shipbreaking Platform informs about the shipbreaking industry in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Providing an overview of accidents that took place on the beaches of South Asia and recent on-the-ground developments, including our activities, we aim to inform the public about the negative impacts of substandard shipbreaking practices as well as positive steps aimed at the realisation of environmental justice and the protection of workers’ rights. 

 

One session in this Update focuses specifically on the Hong Kong Convention and the implications of its recent entry into force.

Click here or on the image below to access the full version of our quarterly report. 

Platform publishes South Asia Quarterly Update #41

Posted on by Nicola Mulinaris

In this quarterly publication, the NGO Shipbreaking Platform informs about the shipbreaking industry in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Providing an overview of accidents that took place on the beaches of South Asia and recent on-the-ground developments, including our activities, we aim to inform the public about the negative impacts of substandard shipbreaking practices as well as positive steps aimed at the realisation of environmental justice and the protection of workers’ rights. 

One session in this Update focuses specifically on our South Asian members and their impactful activities.

Click here or on the image below to access the full version of our quarterly report. 

Press Release – Stop South Korea’s toxic ship dumping

Posted on by Nicola Mulinaris

South Korean shipping companies continue to fuel environmental and human rights violations by offloading their end-of-life vessels on the beaches of South Asia for scrapping. Since 2020, 94 South Korean-owned vessels have been dismantled on the shores of Bangladesh and India under dirty and dangerous conditions, putting workers’ lives at risk and causing irreversible environmental damage.
 
In the last two years alone, three serious accidents, leading to deaths and injuries, have been reported on board South Korean vessels sent to South Asia for breaking. Yet, despite repeated calls for accountability, South Korean ship owners—including major players such as Sinokor, SK Shipping and H-Line—persist in selling their end-of-life assets to unscrupulous cash buyers and circumvent international regulations that require safe and environmentally sound disposal.
 
Most recently, the NGO Shipbreaking Platform alerted South Korean authorities to the illegal export of the vessel HL PYEONGTAEK (IMO 9061928), sold to cash buyer Best Oasis by H-Line and beached in Alang, India. H-Line has scrapped five vessels in the last five years and is about to retire the HL RAS LAFFAN (IMO 9176008).
 
In 2024 alone, at least 13 vessels were exported from South Korea to India and Bangladesh for breaking. International law is clear: all transboundary movements of hazardous waste, including end-of-life ships, must obtain Prior Informed Consent (PIC) from importing countries in line with the Basel Convention. Additionally, the export of end-of-life ships from OECD to non-OECD countries is strictly prohibited. Violations of these laws are serious environmental crimes, as evidenced by recent cases in the Netherlands and Norway where shipowners have faced heavy fines and prison for exporting vessels for scrapping in India and Pakistan.

 

The NGO Shipbreaking Platform calls on Sinokor, H-Line, SK Shipping and all other South Korean shipowners to stop scrapping their ships on the shores of South Asia. South Korean authorities must also act to end this toxic trade in breach of their international responsibilities under the Basel Convention, and actively promote a responsible and sustainable domestic ship recycling sector.

 

The South Korean Act on Promotion of Transition to a Circular Economy and Society recognises waste metal as a resource that can support society in transitioning toward a circular economic model. This act aims to facilitate the efficient use of resources throughout the entire lifecycle of products to minimise waste generation and promote sustainable practices. South Korea is a large ship building nation and has an important steel manufacturing sector. National shipping companies and the steel sector should be incentivised to find synergies on how high-quality ship scrap steel can contribute to the decarbonisation of the domestic steel industry, whilst the ship building sector should be encouraged to look at design for optimised material recovery.

"We invite South Korean civil society and media to collaborate with us in raising awareness of this issue and to ensure that ship recycling practices align with the country’s circular economy policies and sustainability commitments."
Benedetta Mantoan - Policy Officer - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

Platform News – EU must take action to end dumping of toxic ships and support capacity building

Posted on by Nicola Mulinaris

The European Commission published its evaluation of the EU Ship Recycling Regulation (EU SRR) earlier this month. The evaluation clearly identifies several issues that hinder the effectiveness of the EU SRR, including circumvention of the regulation through out-flagging and a lack of detailed EU standards for hazardous waste management and environmental monitoring. Yet, the Commission does not consider a swift revision of the EU SRR an adequate response.

"As identified in the evaluation, the EU SRR has not delivered the expected outcomes in terms of increasing the market share for sustainable ship recycling [1]. With no immediate plans for a review of the EU SRR, we urge the Commission to effectively adopt alternative measures that will boost capacity for sustainable ship recycling and prevent European shipping companies from dumping their toxic ships on beaches in South Asia."
Ingvild Jenssen - Executive Director and Founder - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

The evaluation also announces an upcoming report on the feasibility of introducing a return scheme for ships trading in the EU to incentivise the use of EU-approved ship recycling facilities. Additionally, it aims to clarify the application of corrective and punitive actions in cases where deficiencies are identified during ship recycling facility inspections and highlights unannounced inspections as an essential tool for ensuring the effectiveness of the EU SRR.

 

To prevent the loss of skills in both the maritime and circular economy sectors and to boost capacity for handling the increasing number of vessels expected to reach end-of-life in the coming years, the EU’s approach to ship recycling must uphold the Polluter Pays principle and contribute to the general policy objectives of the European Green Deal, including optimised material recovery and zero-emission industrial activities. When formulating targets and policy measures under the Circular Economy Act, the Steel and Metals Action Plan, the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, and the new Clean Industrial Deal, ship recycling must be recognised as a key contributor to the decarbonisation of the European steel sector.

 

Furthermore, the evaluation finds that the standards set by the EU SRR and their implementation are not sufficiently aligned with EU safety and environmental acquis [2]. Consequently, the Commission intends to develop clearer criteria for the EU approval of ship recycling facilities. The NGO Shipbreaking Platform recommends incorporating measures to optimise material recovery from ships, particularly steel recycling operations. Clear requirements for environmental, health, and safety monitoring and reporting must also be established to ensure that all yards on the EU List operate fully in line with EU standards.

"Double standards have been identified, and they are unacceptable—if a practice is not allowed in the EU, it should not be approved on the EU List. There is no valid justification for allowing EU-flagged or EU-owned ships to be scrapped outside the EU under conditions that would not be permitted within the EU. Beaching—the scrapping of vessels on intertidal mudflats, as practised in all South Asian yards—is not allowed in the EU, nor does the cold re-rolling of scrap steel comply with EU standards."
Ingvild Jenssen - Executive Director and Founder - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

While the shipping industry is pressuring the EU to accept Indian beaching yards onto the EU List, the NGO Shipbreaking Platform warns that such a move would blatantly undermine the EU SRR’s objective of creating a level playing field that benefits yards operating in line with the EU safety and environmental acquis. It would also seriously threaten the future of the EU ship recycling sector and the recent investments made to establish new ship recycling facilities based on industrial platforms that provide full containment.

 

The evaluation rightly recognises that the International Maritime Organization’s Hong Kong Convention sets far weaker standards than the EU SRR. The NGO Shipbreaking Platform supports the EU’s efforts to take international leadership in amending the Hong Kong Convention to align with the EU SRR while ensuring full and effective implementation of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Waste and their Disposal as it applies to end-of-life ships.

"Efforts at the international level should not prevent the EU from addressing the issues that weaken the effectiveness of the EU SRR. Expanding the regulation’s scope to include beneficial ownership and introducing a financial incentive are both measures that could improve ship recycling regulations globally. The EU has a track record of taking the lead as an early adopter of safety and environmental measures, later championing their global implementation through the International Maritime Organisation. "
Ingvild Jenssen - Executive Director and Founder - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

The Polluter Pays principle and Extended Producer Responsibility are fundamental principles of EU environmental policies and must also apply to the shipping sector. By holding EU-based shipping companies accountable—regardless of their vessels’ flags—many more ships would fall under EU regulations, ensuring alignment with broader EU corporate accountability policies. The current opacity of ownership structures in the shipping sector poses several problems, and transparency regarding the European shipping sector’s Beneficial Owners should be ensured, starting with the public disclosure of ownership details for the 21,000 ships classified as EU-owned.

 

NOTES

 

[1] The evaluation report highlights that “shipping companies did not make the shift they were expected to make towards dismantling their ships in facilities on the European List.” It identifies flagging-out from EU registries at end-of-life as a key factor undermining the effectiveness of the regulation. While flags such as Comoros, St Kitts and Nevis, and Palau are alarmingly popular at end-of-life, many EU-owned vessels never sail under an EU flag, or only do so during their early operational years. As the evaluation notes, fewer than 40 vessels are scrapped annually under an EU flag—a figure far lower than the number of ships scrapped each year by EU shipping companies, many of which end up on South Asian beaches.

 

The report further finds that shipping companies swap their EU flags for non-EU flags to access higher prices from yards not included on the EU List. While the shipping sector presents this as a key factor in maintaining global competitiveness, the report shows that the additional revenue gained from substandard shipbreaking yards represents only 0.0020% to 0.0050% of some shipping companies' annual revenues—demonstrating that the industry can afford to manage its end-of-life fleet at facilities that meet EU standards.

 

[2] Some EU-approved yards in Turkey have been found lacking essential environmental safeguards, such as oil-water separators and functional wastewater collection systems, leading to direct environmental discharge. These deficiencies contrast sharply with wastewater management requirements for yards in EU/EFTA countries. Moreover, facilities operating in Aliaga have not undergone an Environmental Impact Assessment or obtained an environmental licence in accordance with Turkish regulations. These are serious concerns that do not align with EU standards for the safe and environmentally sound management of hazardous waste.

The Toxic Tide – 2025 Shipbreaking Records

Posted on by admin_ec

THE TOXIC TIDE

The shipping industry continues to exploit workers and the environment for profit

 

According to new data released today by the NGO Shipbreaking Platform, 321 vessels were dismantled globally in 2025, of which 214 ended up in South Asia. Bangladesh and India remain the shipping industry’s first choices for scrapping, despite the documented grave consequences beaching ships has on workers, local communities and fragile coastal ecosystems.

 

Eleven workers lost their lives in South Asia in 2025, with at least another sixty-two workers injured due to unsafe working practices.

 

 

 

"We have been witnessing this environmental and human rights scandal for too long. All ship owners are aware of the dire situation at the beaching yards and the lack of capacity to safely handle the many toxic materials onboard vessels. Yet, with the help of scrap dealers, the vast majority choose to scrap their end-of-life fleet in South Asia as that is where they can make the highest profits."
Ingvild Jenssen - Executive Director and Founder - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

 

Explore our Data Visualisation and read our Press Release.

 

 

Ship recycling in Aliağa under the spotlight

Posted on by Nicola Mulinaris

SHIP RECYCLING IN ALIAGA UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT

The NGO Shipbreaking Platform has published its report Ship Recycling in Turkey: Challenges and Future Direction. While the publication provides a comprehensive analysis of the current challenges faced by the ship recycling sector in Aliağa, it also underscores the immense potential for driving forward sustainable ship recycling practices and demonstrates a clear path towards achieving this goal.

 

Turkey stands at a crossroads as the recent announcement of plot sales in October 2023 and the upcoming expiration of public land leases in 2026 create an opening to bring needed change to its ship recycling industry.

 

Some of the key operational priorities highlighted in the report include putting in place effective drainage channels and the use of oil-water separators for waste water treatment. Additionally, there is a need for third-party verification of hazardous materials during dismantling, proper operations for hazardous waste removal, and the establishment of standards for secure pulling and lifting equipment, along with introduction of proper gas-free operations and cold-cutting techniques.

 

To ensure adequate oversight of the sector, a comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is necessary. This assessment should define environmental licensing processes and enforce existing legal instruments for permitting and monitoring, taking into consideration both safety and environmental aspects. It is also important to continuously monitor the environment in and around ship recycling yards to identify sources of pollution and develop effective remediation strategies. Furthermore, occupational health monitoring is required to identify the underlying causes of accidents and work-related illnesses.

 

Whilst two yards in Aliağa were removed from the EU list of approved ship recycling facilities last year, other non-compliant yards have been allowed to remain listed. As stressed in the report, the lack of governance that allows yards to operate without EIAs or adequate monitoring underscores the necessity for more frequent and unannounced EU inspections, including cross-referencing hazardous waste records and incorporating workers’ perspectives and experience to inform evaluations.

 

Recognising the pivotal role of the European Union (EU) in driving improvements, the report also recommends strengthening the criteria for ship recycling, including waste management and steel recovery operations, under the EU Ship Recycling Regulation.

 

 

Press Release – Platform publishes list of ships dismantled worldwide in 2024

Posted on by Nicola Mulinaris

The NGO Shipbreaking Platform publishes its 2024 annual list of ships dismantled worldwide. The data reveals that 80% of the global tonnage scrapped last year was broken under substandard conditions on the beaches of Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan.

 

409 ships were dismantled globally in 2024, of which 255 ended up in South Asian yards. Bangladesh remains the shipping industry’s first choice for scrapping, despite grave consequences for workers, local communities and fragile coastal ecosystems. Nine workers lost their lives dismantling ships in South Asia in 2024, with another 45 workers injured due to unsafe working practices.

 

SN Corporation - which operates a yard on the beach of Chattogram, Bangladesh - saw one of last year’s worst accidents. While dismantling an oil tanker, a massive explosion claimed the lives of six workers and left six others with critical injuries. Investigations revealed severe negligence and disregard for safety protocols, as well as inadequate hazardous waste management. SN Corporation, which boasts holding a so-called Statement of Compliance with the Hong Kong Convention from Japanese classification society ClassNK, has lost its environmental clearance in Bangladesh as a result of the investigations.

"That a facility such as SN Corporation – and the more than 100 beaching yards that have similarly obtained Statements of Compliance – supposedly fulfils the requirements of the Hong Kong Convention says much about the low standards set by the IMO. And while the IMO also ignores everything that happens outside the facility gate – including whether or not there is adequate medical emergency response, and capacity to handle all toxic waste streams in a safe and environmentally sound manner – now, even yards that are not licensed to operate nationally maintain their Statement of Compliance. Clearly, the upcoming entry into force of the Hong Kong Convention does not provide the solutions needed to shift the sector towards sustainable ship recycling."
Ingvild Jenssen - Executive Director and Founder - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

DUMPERS 2024 – Worst practices

 

As in 2023, China tops the 2024 Dumpers List with more than fifty Chinese vessels sold to South Asian shipbreakers, mainly in Bangladesh. This comes despite China’s ban on the import of waste and the country’s own capacity to recycle ships in dry-dock facilities. Indeed, beaching is forbidden in China.

 

More than a dozen vessels were also beached by shipping companies headquartered in Russia, Switzerland, the Philippines, and South Korea. The Platform recently alerted South Korean authorities of the illegal export of the vessel HL PYEONGTAEK (IMO 9061928), sold to cash buyer Best Oasis and now en route to South Asia for scrapping. In 2024 no less than 13 vessels were exported from South Korea to India and Bangladesh. International law is, however, clear: all transboundary movements of hazardous waste, including end-of-life ships, need to obtain Prior Informed Consent (PIC) in line with the Basel Convention, and exports of end-of-life ships from OECD to non-OECD countries are banned. An export in breach of the Basel Convention is a serious environmental crime as witnessed by cases brought to European Courts, including now in Germanyand in Norway where Altera Infrastructure was fined for the illegal export of several vessels for scrapping in India.

 

For the second year in a row, Swiss containership giant Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) receives the notorious title of Worst Corporate Dumper, with 16 of its ships beached in India in 2024. Ignoring repeated calls from the Platform to adopt a sustainable recycling policy, MSC is the one single owner responsible for having exported the highest number of toxic end of life ships to South Asia, with more than 100 ships beached since 2009.

 

Other well-known companies — including Norwegian Green Reefers, Philippine Span Asia Carrier and South Korean Sinokor — have contributed to the shipping industry’s toxic footprint, selling their end-of-life vessels for scrapping at some of the world’s most hazardous yards in 2024. Notably, also Lila Global, acting as the ship-owning arm of cash buyer GMS, sent its vessels to the worst yards in Bangladesh and Pakistan — further exposing the hypocrisy behind its sustainability claims and greenwashing services.

 

Last year, the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP) adopted new decommissioning guidelines urging its members to avoid beaching and intermediaries such as cash buyers. While companies like Petrobras, SBM, and Shell already enforce no-beaching policies, offshore firms Perenco and BW Offshore respectively sold an FSO and an FPSO to beaching yards in Bangladesh and India. In 2022, the Platform reported a fatal accident at India’s Priya Blue shipbreaking yard during the dismantling of another BW Offshore asset.

 

 

As parts of the shipping industry are keen to see beaching yards rubber-stamped by the weak Hong Kong Convention that will enter into force in June this year, the European Union is still to reveal proposals for strengthening its EU Ship Recycling Regulation. Unannounced inspections by the European Commission of EU approved facilities in Turkiye have uncovered discrepancies between paper plans and actual practice, leading to several yards being removed from the EU list. High levels of pollution in the Aliaga region has now also pushed legal action by Turkish civil society organisations demanding that the sector undergoes a proper Environmental Impact Assessment. Similarly, in Canada, the residents of Union Bay remain engaged in a prolonged struggle against unregulated shipbreaking activities and insufficient regulatory measures.

"The Basel Convention recommended the phasing out of the beaching method 20 years ago and calls for full containment of pollutants and their environmentally sound management all the way to disposal. It also regulates, even bans in some cases, the international trade of hazardous wastes with an eye to protecting vulnerable communities and environments. We strongly encourage enforcement authorities globally to take actions that will effectively hold the shipping sector liable for committing serious environmental crimes, and call on policy makers to safeguard the environmental justice principles that are at the heart of the Basel Convention."
Ingvild Jenssen - Executive Director and Founder - NGO Shipbreaking Platform

Looking ahead, policies aimed at enhancing circularity, increasing demand for scrap steel, and technological advancements will undoubtedly lead to the development of safer and cleaner ship recycling options. At the Platform’s 2nd Ship Recycling Lab, industry frontrunners showcased that viable and scalable alternatives to beaching already exist.

Read more about the pioneers of green ship recycling in our Breaking Out magazine.

 

 

For the data visualization of 2024 shipbreaking records, click here. *

For the full Excel dataset of all ships dismantled worldwide in 2024, click here. *

 

* The data gathered by the NGO Shipbreaking Platform is sourced from different outlets and stakeholders, and is cross-checked whenever possible. The data upon which this information is based is correct to the best of the Platform’s knowledge, and the Platform takes no responsibility for the accuracy of the information provided. The Platform will correct or complete data if any inaccuracy is signaled. All data which has been provided is publicly available and does not reveal any confidential business information.