Tag: EU Regulation on Ship Recycling

EU-flagged vessels intended to be scrapped whilst under EU jurisdiction, are no longer exempted from EU waste laws.

In an exclusive interview to SAFETY4SEA, Dr Nikos Mikelis, Non-executive Director, GMS, provides updates of the regulatory scheme surrounding ship recycling and the current situation in ship recycling yards.

The EU rules on ship recycling aim to make the process greener and safer. However, there are a lot of cases where the regulations are not followed by the book.

Ships reach their ‘end-of-life’ when their second hand sale value for further trading drops below their recycling value. This can happen for many reasons, such as ship’s condition deterioration, but the ship recycling procees must take place with caution. However, this does not always happen, with such cases providing lessons learned. One such case is the Eide carrier. 

The US now havs a shipyard capable of recycling ships according to European Union standards. Namely, International Shipbreaking received EU Ship Recycling Regulation (EU SSR) accreditation for its site in Brownsville, Texas.

Two workers have lost their lives at two separate Turkish ship recycling yards in the last four months, data provided by NGO Shipbreaking Platform suggests. Both yards are included in the EU List of approved ship recycling facilities, so the Platform called on EU to investigate both. 

The shipping industry has its eyes on the upcoming EU Ship Recycling Regulation, while the European Commission issued a notice to assist the industry keep up with what is needed to comply with the IHM regulation.

In ligh of the Brexit period, which is about to end on 31 December 2020, Standard Club noted that EU member states may require UK ships which are subject to EU Port State Control, to carry a SoC onboard.

The UK MCA brings the attention of UK ship owners, operators and the UK’s maritime industry as to what certification may be required in relation to the EU Ship Recycling Regulation 2013 from 1st January 2021, for UK ships 500GT and over.

In the 7th edition of the European List of ship recycling facilities, the European Commission has four new yards to the List. These include notably two European yards, one in Denmark and Norway, and two more yards in Turkey.