In the 5th version of European List of ship recycling facilities, the European Commission added eight new yards to the List. These include 7 European yards, namely 2 in Denmark and 5 in Norway, as well as 1 yard in Turkey. With the new update, the European List of ship recycling facilities currently contains a total of 34 yards.
Bunge became the first in its industry to join the Ship Recycling Transparency Initiative, an online platform which gathers information from shipowners on key disclosures regarding social and environmental measures. SRTI and its members aspire to tackle challenges in parts of the ship recycling industry, including pollution in the environment and occupational health and safety risks for workers.
The Asian Shipowners’ Association urged China and India to ratify the Hong Kong Convention on recycling. Namely, during its general meeting in Thailand on May 28, the association explained only by ratifying the Convention will an environmentally-sound recycling of ships take place worldwide.
As IMO informed, Malta became the latest country to accede to IMO’s treaty for safe and environmentally-sound ship recycling, namely the Hong Kong Convention. H.E. Victor Camilleri, Permanent Representative of Malta to IMO deposited the instrument of accession. Twelve contracting States party to the Convention now represent more than 28.8% of world merchant shipping tonnage.
Ten years after the adoption of IMO’s Hong Kong Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, in May 2009, there has been progress with voluntary application of its requirements, but the treaty needs to enter into force for it to be widely implemented. For this reason, IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim urged Member States who have not yet ratified the Convention, to do so, in order to bring it into force as soon as possible.
A fire broke out in the engine room on board a tanker, beached in Chittagong, on February 18, killing two workers. According to information, the two men died while scrapping the ship Greek Warrior at Shagorika Ship Breaking Yard. One of the men was burned and rushed to Chittagong Medical College Hospital, but he died before reaching the hospital. The body of the second man was discovered on board a few hours later.
Toxic Watch Alliance, an environmental NGO, has pointed out the indifference of the Narendra Modi-led government in looking the other way as end-of-life ships from other countries, many of them carrying banned toxic and other hazardous substances, continue to be dismantled in the ship-breaking yards of Alang in Gujarat, India. Consequently, Dereo O’Brien, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, sent a letter to Trinamool Congress MP in Rajya Sabha.
Mr. Henning Gramann, CEO at GSR Services GmbH, talks about latest developments concerning ship breaking, highlighting that proper planning and assistance by experts is required for the preparation of an Inventory of Hazardous Material (IHM), as required by HKC and EU-SRR.
Mr. Henning Gramann, CEO at GSR Services, talks about an interesting project in which his team was involved with the aim to change the image of beaching in India substantially. In particular, Mr Gramann describes the process, from the beginning till the end, toward responsible ship recycling of the HMNZS Endeavour in Alang shipyard in compliance with Hong Kong Convention, EU-Ship Recycling Regulation and Basel Convention. As explained, proper planning and assistance by experts to develop all necessary documents (such as IHM Part I and II) are of outmost importance for conducting responsible recycling.
Rohit Agarwal, Ship Recycling Expert at GSR Sentinels LLP, shares his view on the ship recycling industry at Alang. Mr. Agarwal says that India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have the ideal tidal conditions for ship breaking. However, the ship recycling industry has been using unacceptable conditions. Nevertheless, this seems to be changing as the Hong Kong Convention sets standards to ensure safe ship recycling.
