The European Union’s list of approved shiprecycling yards has come under attack from shipowners’ organisation Bimco.
It says that only nine yards among the 26 on the list are “realistically open” for shiprecycling.
“The list looks a little like protectionism and clearly disadvantages European shipowners,” said Bimco general secretary and chief executive Angus Frew.
He says it is hard to take seriously the list which came into force at the end of last year.
Frew says he called one of the “recycling yards” a few months ago and was told it hadn’t even started building the facilities.
The European Ship Recycling Regulation requires that EU-flagged ships must be scrapped at yards on the approved list, most of which are in Europe.
So far, only two Turkish yards and one in the US have been included.
None from the Indian subcontinent, where the vast majority of ships are scrapped, have so far been given the green light, leading to complaints of inadequate capacity for EU-flag vessels.
Bimco, which commissioned a study from Marprof Environmental in February 2019, says it appears that EU yards are allowed on the list without fulfilling uniform criteria. Individual states are responsible for approving.
But, says Bimco, “non-EU yards have to be inspected by European Commission appointed auditors according to clear criteria before inclusion on the list.”
Frew says that Bimco wants facilities to improve their safety and environmental performance but “if there is no path for non-EU facilities to get on the EU list, the regulation will continue failing to achieve this objective and simply be an act to protect the EU shiprecycling market.”
Bimco quotes IMO statistics showing that 98% of all tonnage in the world is recycled by India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Turkey and until now also China.
It says that the IMO’s Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships (HKC) needs to enter into force (10 years since it was adopted) and it is “essential” that recycling improvements in non-EU countries are recognised by decision makers in Europe.
The Bimco report analyses whether shiprecycling is the main function at each of the 26 approved yards.
But 13 are categorised as repair or other multi-function facilities where shiprecycling is a low priority.
“A commercial shiprecycling facility would be expected to be active and have shiprecycling as its market priority, main function and its primary business,” says the report.
Only nine facilities display these requirements. Some 17 do not and are consequently considered to be disqualified, including four not even considered active.
The Bimco report notes that 13 facilities in India have so far applied to be included on the approved list, eight in Turkey, two in the US and four in China.
Nine in total have so far been inspected or have inspections underway.
The EU regulation applies to ships of at least 500 gt.
