NGO Shipbreaking Platform issues Annual Report 2013

71% of the total tonnage dismantles in South Asia in 2013

In 2013, according to the figures of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform, out of a total of 1213 end-of-life vessels dismantled around the world, 53% – 645 ships – ended their operational life on the beaches of India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Globally, the percentage of beached vessels has dropped from 68% in 2012. Nevertheless, 71% of the total tonnage was dismantled in South Asia in 2013.

Even though fewer ships were beached than last year, the total tonnage remains the same. European shipping companies, including Norwegian and Swiss companies, and/ or companies using European flags, beached a total of 238 ships. The percentage of European vessels beached as opposed to those dismantled in pier-side recycling yards has decreased from 73% in 2012 to 64% in 2013.

Best practice examples include Norwegian ship owners Grieg, Wilhelmsen and Höegh, Royal Dutch Boskalis from the Netherlands and Canada Steamship Lines (CSL) who demand cleanand safe recycling in modern ship recycling facilities off the beach. Still too many shipping companies sent their ships to substandard facilities on South Asian beaches in 2013. Greece remains the worst European ship dumper, closely followed by Germany. Owners in these countries disposed a record-high 80% of their end-of-life ships in South Asia, and included well-known companies such as Danaos and Euroseas (Greece), and Conti, Hapag-Lloyd and Leonhardt & Blumberg (Germany). Other European companies topping the lists of worst dumpers include Switzerland-based Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and the Monaco-based Sammy Ofer Group. The Danish global leader in container shipping, Maersk, implemented its ambitious ship recycling policy for a couple of its own ships, but sold other older vessels to new owners from whom they chartered the ships back up until the sale to South Asian beaching yards.

Improving the new EU Ship Recycling Regulation

The Platform has actively contributed to the legislative process which in 2013 ended with the adoption and entry into force of a new EU Ship Recycling Regulation. Working to ensure that the new law will lead to change in current practices and serve the purpose of protecting the workers and the environment in developing countries from ship-borne toxics, our advocacy activities reached out to Members of the European Parliament and their advisors, Permanent Representations of EU Member States as well as the responsible experts and decision-makers in the European Commission. We especially welcomed the Regulation for disqualifying the beaching method and for only accepting downstream waste management that effectively meets European standards.

The new EU Regulation on ship recycling does not outlaw the sale of a vessel or the registration of a vessel under a non-EU flag. The new rules can thus easily be circumvented by ship owners. Already, of the European-owned ships that were scrapped in 2013 more than two thirds were not registered under an EU flag. Flags of convenience (FOCs) such as Comoros, Tuvalu, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Togo and Sierra Leone, that are less favoured during operational use, were popular flags for the end-of-life ships broken in South Asia.

In January 2013, the Platform published a study by the Dutch economic consultancy Profundo outlining three models for a financial mechanism to ensure responsible ship recycling. The report argues that a financial incentive is not only legally and economically practicable but also necessary to ensure the successful implementation of any green ship recycling legislation in Europe. The models presented include a fund financed by ship owners through fees levied at EU ports; a ship life insurance scheme; and a savings account coupled to a transitional fund specifically aimed at financing the recycling of older ships. In the meantime in September 2013 the Platform also presented its position during the GreenPort Congress attended by industry, policy makers and authorities dealing with environmental management of European ports.

The European Commission is to report on the possibilities for a financial incentive by 2015, accompanied, if appropriate, by a legislative proposal. We urge the European Commission and Member States to support the implementation of the polluter pays principle. Unless an economic incentive is introduced to work alongside the regulation, the registration of European ships under flags of convenience (FOC) will allow ship owners to easily circumvent the new rules and continue dumping their toxic ships in substandard facilities.

Source and Image Credit: NGO Shipbreaking Platform

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