India now has some “world class” demolition yards after rapid improvements made in recent years, a senior member of the New Zealand military has argued.
New Zealand last year scrapped the navy oiler HMNZS Endeavour at JRD Industries in Alang, becoming the first vessel believed to have been broken and recycled under the strict Basel waste export convention.
Chris Calvert, programme director for fleet disposals in the New Zealand Defence Force, told the TradeWinds Ship Recycling Forum today that the process was a baptism of fire.
“As an outsider your market is very scary,” he told delegates at the event, being held in Hong Kong on the tenth anniversary of agreement of the Hong Kong Convention on ship recycling.
Calvert, who admitted his background in the air force did not give him a grounding in the demo process, faced intense social and political pressure to get it right.
“As a government, we couldn’t afford to get it wrong,” he said.
New Zealand had an obligation to comply with the Basel convention since it was a signatory to that agreement, and the HK Convention has yet to come into force.
Compliance with the Basel convention required detailed scrutiny of yards, compliance with rigorous standards, and close partnership with the Gujarat Maritime Board to oversee acceptable waste disposal.
JRD "superb"
The vessel was sold to JRD in New Zealand, but under the terms of the contract the yard was obliged to let the country supervise the project and implement any request action.
“JRD was a superb company,” he said. There were several other yards in Alang he was confident were also capable of completing the task successfully.
All material from the ship had to be tracked. Some 60% was sold for reuse into Alang’s $1bn resale market, 39% was recycled, with only 1% sent to landfill.
“That’s an amazing outcome in my opinion,” Calvert said.
“I’m very proud of this project, New Zealand is proud. This shows that this industry can do some good things, although it can do better in some areas.”
He added: “You can’t say ‘Alang is bad’. You need to be selective. Some are world class yards.”
There are now 77 yards in India compliant with the HK Convention, 13 of which applied to be on the list of European Union approved recycling yards.
However, the HK Convention’s entry into force remains some way off. Only eight of the required 15 countries have signed to be contracting states, and they account for only 21% of the world fleet, compared to the 40% demanded.
It will not enter into force until two years after the thresholds are met.
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