Ships calling at European ports will not have to pay a “ship recycling” licence fee from next year, the European Union (EU) has decided.
The idea was to introduce a licensing scheme for ships of all flags trading in Europe, with the funds raised being used to subsidise clean recycling.
The licence was viewed by politicians as an essential part of the EU ship recycling regulation (SRR), which will require European flag ships to be demolished at EU-approved yards from the end of 2018.
The funds raised would pay the difference between the higher prices paid to owners for demolishing ships at southeast Asian yards, and the lower prices for beaching at an EU-approved green recycling facility.
The idea had met strong opposition from shipowners, with the European Community Shipowners' Association and International Chamber of Shipping describing it as “unduly complex and widely impractical".
After conducting a study, the EU has now told industry stakeholders that it first wants to see how the regulation works before deciding on whether to introduce a licence fee.
Green shiprecycling lobby group NGO Shipbreaking Platform, which had been lobbying hard for the scheme, said it was disappointed by the decision.
It said the scheme would have stopped shipowners from flagging out to avoid the SRR and cast the scope of the regulation beyond European-flag ships.
NGO Shipbreaking Platform director Ingvild Jenssen said: “The huge benefit of the licence scheme is that it will also apply to non-EU-flag ships, meaning the scope of the EU’s SRR will be much wider and will truly be a driving force for change in the shipping industry.”
She says shipowners will find it easy to circumvent the EU’s SRR. “A return scheme for ships is needed to change the behaviour of shipowners that currently earn profits at the detriment of workers’ health and lives and the environment,” she added.
