China National Shiprecycling Association (CNSA) has urged its members to fight illegal scrapping with maritime authorities in the country as they shift their focus to domestic tonnage.
Since 31 December, the Chinese ministry of ecology and environment has banned the import of foreign-flagged scrap vessels as part of Beijing’s efforts in waste management.
Critical year
In a Chinese New Year statement posted on the CNSA website, president Xie Dehua said: “2019 may be a critical year for the survival and development of our members…the most important thing is we need to keep the faith.
“As we need to focus on the domestic market rather than imports, we need to take the initiative in communicating more with the government departments in charge of transport and fisheries.”
“There were many aged ships in China engaged in scrapping activities that were not monitored by the authorities, so the shipbreakers that follow the [green recycling] rules could not win those businesses.”
“As the government continues to enhance the fight against illegal scrapping, there is still a large number of old ships that can go to Chinese scrapyards that focuses on safety and environmental standards.”
Import ban
Many industry officials have predicted the demise of China’s ship recycling industry following the import ban on foreign-flagged scrap vessels.
Formerly the world’s largest shipbreaking nation outside of the Indian sub-continent, Chinese shipbreakers has recorded no scrap deal so far this year, according to Clarksons.
The country demolished 22 ship with 421,600 dwt in 2018, compared with 144 vessels totalling 5.71 million dwt in 2017, Clarksons data shows.
While China granted operating licenses to a small number of shipbreakers for scrapping China-flagged tonnage, the weak demolition rates in China could curb their ability to sustain their business, GMS predicted at the end of last year.
