Tag: ship- recycling

Turkey has opted to require the submission for approval of a Ship Recycling Plan before a ship may be recycled in the country's authorized Ship Recycling Facilities, in line with Hong Kong Convention. Although Turkey became the latest country to ratify the Convention in March 2017, it had not chosen until now a manner of approval before a ship can be recycled in the approved facilities.

Gadani shipbreaking beach recently experienced two fire incidents. On 11 October a tanker caught fire, with no injuries reported. However, on 14 October, another oil tanker caught fire, injuring seven workers. These incidents made the Balochistan Environmental Protection Agency ban all shipbreaking activities in Gadani.

In its quarterly update, NGO Shipbreaking Platform reported that a total of 113 ships were broken in the Q3 of 2018, and 79 of these ships were sold to the beaches of South Asia. Meanwhile, between July and September, three workers have lost their lives in shipbreaking in Alang, India.

Seven workers sustained severe burn injuries after a non-functional ship caught fire in Gadani ship-breaking yard, Pakistan, on Sunday. Three of the inured men are considered to be in critical situation. The incident took place while cutting steel inside the oil tanker.

In its 2018 Maritime Transport Review, UNCTAD informed that in 2017, total newbuilding delivery amounted to 65 million gt, equivalent to 5.2% of the start-of-year fleet in 2017. Meanwhile in 2017, 23 million gt were scrapped leading to a net growth in world fleet of 42 million gt, equivalent to a growth rate of 3.3%.

While previous reports from global NGOs have shown that the current EU list with approved ship recycling facilities can accommodate the numbers and sizes of EU-flagged ships that are scrapped every year, ECSA noted that non-EU facilities should be included in the list, provided that they comply with requirements. 

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.

The International Ship Recycling Association (ISRA) argued that the EU recycling capacity will possibly cope with the expected demand of end of life EU flagged ships, as the current listed EU capacity to recycle ships amounts only about 1,3 million LDT. 

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.

The video provides a timelapse of a ship breaking procedure in the world's largest ship recycling facility, in Alang, India. Alang has been found several times at the centre of global criticism regarding the unsafe working conditions and environmentally unsustainable practices, as Bangladeshi and Pakistani shipbreaking yards.