Is a scrap ship waste? ....BIMCO, 2006

Ships have a finite life, but have always been recycled. The “wooden walls” of the old sailing ships were, after they had been dismantled, sold on as building materials, oak ribs and beams being particularly prized. While modern steel ships have less obvious utility, practically every part of a redundant vessel retains some value, whether as steel scrap, to be melted down and refashioned into new steel products, or as with pumps or machinery, to be sold on as second hand units. Non-ferrous materials, such as brass fittings or the manganese bronze propellers of a ship will be of particular value to the buyers of ships to be dismantled. There is very little that can actually be classified as “waste”, suitable only to be burned or put into a landfill.

Ships have always been sold for demolition, and an international business has grown up, with the actual dismantling, which is highly labour intensive, tending to take place where labour costs are lowest. There is little dismantling being undertaken in the developed world, which means that ships have to be steamed, or towed to the yards of the Indian sub-continent, or to China, where this particular expertise is now centred.

Controversy has arisen over whether ships being sold for dismantling and recycling can be classified as “waste”. It is an important issue, with many hundreds of ships being traded internationally in this fashion at the end of their lives. An international agreement, the Basel Convention, was devised to prevent the developed industrialised world simply dumping its waste on poor countries. There had been a number of notorious cases where toxic or even radioactive waste had been dispatched to poor countries desperate for funds and willing to import this valueless or even dangerous material. Basel signatories agreed that this was highly undesirable and that such a trade should be stopped.

But some years later, questions began to be asked about the health and safety of those who worked in the subcontinental dismantling yards, where ships were run up onto open beaches and taken to bits by thousands of workers in what were considered quite dangerous conditions. Moreover, the pollution around these sites was observed to be severe. It was then suggested by environmentalist groups and certain governments that ships being traded for this recycling business were de facto, waste under the terms of the Basel Convention, and the trade prohibited, or at the very least all hazardous or noxious items such as asbestos or chemicals removed before the ship is sent internationally for demolition.

The shipping industry does not believe that the Basel Convention applies to ships, but although the industry has little influence over the scrap trade, it is trying its best to see that ships are dismantled in a safe and environmentally friendly manner. It also believes that much can be done to ensure that ships are properly prepared for demolition, with full details of hazardous materials being made available. New and future ships will also be more readily “recyclable” than existing vessels and a new legally-binding International Maritime Organization convention will hopefully govern the ship recycling trade.

Source: BIMCO. Date: 28.02.2006

https://www.bimco.org/Corporate/Education/Seascapes/Questions_of_shipping/Is_a_scrap_ship_waste.aspx