Tag: ship- 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.

Seatrade sentence by a Dutch court in March, on the basis of the EU Waste Shipment Regulation, sends a very clear message that any intentional violation of this regulation will no longer go overlooked, argued Ms. Alexandra Mikelis, Associate Solicitor, Norton Rose Fulbright LLP.

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.

In its recently published figures for the second quarter of 2018, NGO Shipbreaking Platform informed that a total of 220 ships were dismantled, 169 of which were sold to South Asian recycling yards for 'dirty and dangerous breaking'. Also in this period, a total of 8 deaths and 9 injuries were recorded in these yards.

The five Indian yards that are already being considered for EU inclusion would add 323,000 LDT of annual capacity, while four others recently applying could contribute a further 300,000 LDT. The EU must step up its assessment of these yards and ensure that acceptable conditions, MSI notes.

At total of 20 workers were rescued after being trapped inside an oil tanker which caught fire in Gadani shipbreaking yard, Pakistan, on Monday, local media reported. The incident occurred during dismantling operations only a few months after the tanker scrapping ban was lifted. 

Bangladeshi ship recycling yard PHP Family is ready for demolition of its first vessel in accordance with Hong Kong Convention standards. The shipyard, located in Chittagong, was the first in Bangladesh to win a statement of compliance with the Convention, back in October 2017.

The second phase of a project to enhance safe ship recycling in Bangladesh has been launched with the first Project Executive Committee meeting in Dhaka, on 2 July. The SENSREC Project Phase II - Capacity Building, implemented by IMO and funded by Norway, will focus on legal and institutional analysis of ship recycling.

The video by National Geographic provides an insight into working conditions in one of the world's largest ship recycling yards. Shipbreaking is considered as one of the world's most dangerous jobs. Men desperate for work demolish ships in grueling conditions, braving the threat of being crushed or stabbed by steel sliced from the hulls.

On Monday, the EU member states’ experts on ship recycling met in Brussels to discuss the latest developments, six months ahead of the application of the 2013 Ship Recycling Regulation, with a special focus on China's recent decision to stop the import of end-of-life ships for scrapping, which is expected to affect shipbreaking industry.