Tag: ship- recycling

More months to meet tougher safety and environmental rules Bangladesh's High Court has agreed to allow ship breaking yards three more months to meet tougher safety and environmental rules on importing old ships to dismantle for scrap, a senior industry official said.Rights activists had urged the court to reinstate a year-long ban on Bangladesh's $1.5 billion ship scrap industry, saying its activities remained too dangerous for workers and too costly for the environment. The ban was lifted in March.Bangladesh, the top ship recycling nation from 2004 through 2008, hopes to bring in around 300 ships by the end of next year, up from 220 in 2009 before the ban, traders said. "The court allowed for importing and dismantling of old ships that ensures the safety and security of both workers and environment," Captain Salah Uddin, an adviser of the Bangladesh Ship Breakers Association told Reuters late Sunday."Now the government has more time to do a draft and that has to be submitted to the court and the court will examine it." The court ordered the Ministry of Industry to draft new regulations for importing old ships, and a government committee to monitor the industry to ensure compliance.Scrapped ships are the ...

For indefinite period early this month as the High Court re-imposed a year-old ban Prices of steel products, mainly that of mild steel (MS) rods are likely to soar in Bangladesh as the ship-breaking industry, the main source of the metal, is virtually out of operation for more than a year over environmental row, traders said. A metric tonne of MS rods is now being sold between Taka 54,000 and Taka 61,000, depending on their grades in retail market.The ship-breaking was halted again for indefinite period early this month as the High Court re-imposed a year-old ban which it had lifted in May for two months under certain environmental pre-conditions.The output of the sector might be the lowest in 2011 as few ships were either dismantled or left half-done due to the ban on ship-breaking, following litigations filed by a leading group of environmentalists.In Bangladesh, one of the top ship recycling nations from 2004 through 2008, scrapped ships have been the main source of steel to meet the country's requirement of some four million metric tonnes a year.In 2010 only 130 ships were dismantled to retrieve 1.3 million tonnes of steels for re-use or recycling in 800 steel re-rolling mills ...

The situation is rather tight given the disparity in prices Hopes of increased shipbreaking activities bringing about a semblance of balance between limited demand and over supply of shipping tonnage are not likely to hold good for long as the industry in the sub-continent, considered to be world's largest region for shipbreaking, is fighting a battle amidst low demand and declining prices of steel."The situation is rather tight given the disparity in prices that are prevailing in local and foreign markets," said Vishnu Gupta , president of Alangbased Ship Recycling Industry Association .Considering the many factors that determine the performance of the industry, Mr Gupta is not optimistic about the shipbreaking sector coming to the rescue of shipping industry by absorbing some of the extra tonnage that it is saddled with due to heavy influx of newbuildings.Local markets in the Indian sub-continent continued their descent to coincide with the monsoon and an enormous over supply of vessels, the sales board showed a marked sign of slowdown, noted a recent recycling market commentary by Global Marketing Systems , Inc (GMS). Demolition data of tankers and bulk vessels globally seems to paint a different picture, however.The year so far has reported a ...

Iit was considered too dangerous to scrap An ageing boxship lost in a collision was written off and sunk despite a deal having been done with breakers.A 31-year-old containership was deliberately sunk because it was judged too dangerous to scrap. The 2,314-teu MSC Chitra (built 1980), declared a constructive total loss following a collision in Mumbai port nine months ago, had been sold for demolition following its release by port authorities.According to brokers, a deal had been struck with Indian breakers at $472 per ldt, earning owner Mediterranean Shipping Corp (MSC) around $7m. But the ship never made it to the breakers yard.Sources say there were serious concerns over whether the MSC Chitra was in a suitable condition to complete the trip to Alang.

Aims to develop a commercial solution for the recycling of ships Following the adoption of a new "green" ship recycling contract by BIMCO's Documentary Committee in Vancouver on 6 June, Documentary Officer Mr. Wayne Zhuang has been invited to introduce the new form at the 3rd Asia Shipping Recycling &SNP Summit in Shanghai from 30th June to 1st July.This is a tremendous opportunity for BIMCO to explain to the Asian sector of the industry the thinking behind this initiative to develop a commercial solution for the recycling of ships in an environmentally responsible manner prior to the coming into force of the Hong Kong Convention.Mr. Zhuang will also take the opportunity at the Conference to provide an update on the current revision of the internationally used contract for the sale of second hand vessels, SALEFORM 93.Close consultation with the industry prior to the revision revealed a need for a modest revision of the agreement to incorporate commonly made amendments and to add greater clarity to some of the provisions. The project is now close to completion and those attending the Conference will be able to hear first-hand about the proposed amendments to this important document.Source: BIMCO

Court decision allowed the industry to restart the import of scrap vessels Bangladesh's vast ship-breaking yards are roaring back into business, after the easing of strict environmental regulations that brought the major industry to a halt for much of 2010.A High Court ruling on March 7 reversed a series of 2010 court verdicts -- fought for by environmental activists -- that required vessels to be cleared of all hazardous material such as asbestos before being imported for scrap."Finally, we can see the end of our long legal problems," Hefazatur Rahman, president of the Bangladesh Ship Breakers' Association, told AFP, calling the ruling a victory for the industry.The court decision has allowed the industry to restart the import of scrap vessels and 50 ships are now waiting to be broken at Sitakundu, the country's southeastern ship-breaking hub.The ships are worth over $250 million and will yield 500,000 tonnes of iron plates, Rahman said."The country's construction industry is booming and we estimate ship breakers will import ships that will yield a record three million tonnes of steel plate this year," he said.Steel from recycled ships supplies some 60 percent of Bangladesh's total steel needs. The court, which also addressed fears over worker ...

The ship contains many tonnes of hazardous asbestos, toxic paints and fuel residues After being banned in Bangladesh, a toxic-laden ship, Probo Koala, is headed towards Indian shores for dismantling, a global group of activists called 'NGO Shipbreaking Platform' has warned.The ship, a 1989-built oil carrier cargo vessel weighing 31,255 tonnes now named Gulf Jash, was banned from entering Bangladesh waters recently after environmentalists in neighbouring countries warned the government about it.The ship has been in the thick of controversy in Africa and Europe. Its previous owner, a company called Trafigura, tried to offload its on-board toxic material in Amsterdam. It was detected in time and when the authorities imposed heavy charges for proper disposal, the company decided to instead send the ship to Africa.After trying its luck in Nigeria, the company finally found a dealer in Ivory Coast to dump the chemicals off board. Hundreds of tonnes of toxic chemicals were poured into the country's largest city, Abidjan. NGO Shipbreaking Platform said the toxic dumps lead to the death of 16 people and thousands of people falling ill.The company had to reportedly settle cases out of court by paying out 30 million pounds to the victims and nearly 100 ...

It is important to keep the ship-breaking industry alive re safety and non pollution Industries Minister Dilip Barua said this week the government will formulate policy guidelines for an environment-friendly ship-breaking industry.Ship-breaking industry of the country is now under the grip of a severe crisis following High Court ban on its operation that led to closure of some re-rolling and steel mills. The fate of investment worth Tk 55 billion already been made by different banks in this industry is also becoming risky.Business leaders claimed that due to High Court ban on import and dismantling of scrap vessels, about 300 re-rolling mills and 50 steel mills were closed down over the last several months. A good number of non-government organisations (NGOs) are propagating against dismantling of scrap vessels in Bangladesh citing the cause of environment pollution. Rod and steel traders bitterly criticised their role saying that such NGOs were conspiring to destroy the country's prospective ship-breaking industry by raising some 'irrelevant' environmental issues.They claimed that the businessmen involved in the sector were counting financial loss worth around Tk 320 million daily due to such anti-industry activities by these NGOs. The ship breakers of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan have floated a ...

Workers found reluctant ta talk Mystery shrouds the accident at a ship breaking yard in Sitakunda upazila yesterday.Reporters and police rushed to the Seiko Steel Limited Ship Breaking Yard at South Sonaichhari of Baro Aulia under the upazila in the afternoon hearing the news of death of at least two workers at the yard but they only found nominal injury to a worker.Managing Director of the yard Md Nazim Uddin claimed that it was nothing but a rumour.He said a worker named Jahir, 30, was hurt in the toe while pulling an iron plate at around 11:30am.Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Sachin Chakma of Sitakunda said he rushed to the yard after hearing the news but found there had been no accident.Most of the workers were found reluctant to talk with the reporters who visited the yard yesterday afternoon.They even expressed their ignorance about the injury to Jahir.Three new ships were imported at the yard two months back for scrapping, said Nazim Uddin.Source: Daily Star

Pakistan looks to recycle more tonnage "Pakistan looks set to recycle more tonnage this year than Bangladesh, as a freeze in ship demolition for most of this year has allowed Gadani breakers to compete more aggressively for vessels.In the year to date, Gadani breakers have bought at least 3.9m dwt of tonnage for demolition, according to data from Clarkson Research Services. This is just shy of the 4.3m dwt Chittagong yards have dismantled,and if uncertainty continues in Bangladesh this figure could stay flat further into this month."Source: Clarkson Research Services