On 26th and 27th September, the NGO Shipbreaking Platform
participated in the “8th Annual Ship Recycling Conference”, an industry event
held in London every year. An array of speakers shared their expertise on clean
and safe ship recycling, and presented solutions for ensuring, for instance, proper Inventories of Hazardous
Materials or safe asbestos removal. Despite the expertise available, the
conditions on the ground however have not yet changed substantially and a vast
majority of end-of-life vessels are still broken without the necessary
precautions for workers and the environment.
POINTING FINGERS
Ship owners, cash buyers or yard owners present at the
conference continued blaming each other for the lack of safe and green ship
recycling. Ship owners, represented by the German Ship Owners Association and
the International Chamber of Shipping,
argued that the cash buyers to whom they sell their ships are
responsible for choosing a dismantling yard, and that the ship-owning community
anyways cannot afford being responsible for clean and safe recycling in times
of economic downturn.
Cash buyers claimed similarly that their profit margins
would go negative should they have to pay for safe and green recycling. Since they
are primarily facilitators or ‘middle men’ helping ship owners to obtain the
highest price for their vessels, the cash buyers argued that it should be up to
the ship owners to demand green and safe recycling and for the yards to provide
green and safe dismantling methods. The Indian yard owners on the other hand
blamed the ship owners for not even providing a proper Inventory of Hazardous
Materials and complained that investments in better methods did not bring them
more business.
In the meantime, all three – ship owners, cash buyers and
yard owners - make profits at the expense of the health and lives of workers,
the environment and the livelihoods of the surrounding communities.
“Everyone who earns money in the shipbreaking business needs
to pay his share for making the sector clean and safe,” said Patrizia
Heidegger, Executive Director of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform and invited
speaker at the Ship Recycling Conference. “The primary responsibility however
lies with the ship owners: they economically benefit from their ships over
years, they take the decision to sell the vessel for demolition and they
dictate the practice used for dismantling by the price they demand for their
ship. If ship owners demand clean and safe ship recycling, they can have it”.
The Platform is seriously concerned to hear that ship owners
even questioned their responsibility for providing an Inventory of Hazardous
Materials. The German Ship Owners Association questioned why the ship recycling
yards could not come up with an IHM prior to dismantling the ship instead.
"Apart from the fact that a proper IHM localising and
quantifying hazardous materials on board allows the recycler to understand what
he actually buys, if he can deal with the type and quantity hazardous wastes on
board the ship and to offer a price taking into account environmentally sound
management of these wastes, an IHM also allows for the safe operation of the
vessel and the safety of the seafarers on board during its operational use”,
Patrizia Heidegger comments, “this is the very least ship owners can do - and
the maritime industry has agreed on the necessity for an IHM years ago”.
INTERNALISING COSTS
Whilst the ship owners expressed unwillingness to reduce
their profit margins so that money can be invested in proper safe recycling and
hazardous waste management practices, all industry stakeholders seemed confident that the market will provide
for gradual improvements of ship recycling practices. Major cash buyer GMS
however informed the conference that only a measly 1% of the ship owners ask
for safe and green recycling.
In a panel debate on whether an economic incentive to push
ship owners towards green ship recycling is needed, Patrizia Heidegger shared the following six
arguments in favour of such a mechanism:
• In the current market situation the additional costs for
clean and safe recycling are the bottleneck for real improvements. Only a handful
of ship owners are currently willing to reduce the price they obtain for their
end-of-life vessel to allow for clean and safe recycling in return. An economic
incentive would cover the price difference.
• An economic incentive will ensure implementation of
‘polluter pays’ and the internalisation of costs that are currently being
externalised to people and the environment in developing countries.
• An economic incentive will ensure successful
implementation of any legislation that seeks to promote safe and green ship
recycling, and will prevent the flagging out prior to selling a vessel for
dismantling in an attempt to circumvent the law.
• An economic incentive covering all ships calling at EU
ports will create a level playing field as a large share of the global fleet is
dependent on trade with the EU. Such a mechanism could potentially also be
turned into an international instrument.
• A differentiated economic mechanism will in addition
implement producer responsibility and encourage green ship design.
• An economic incentive will have an immediate effect on
improving shipbreaking practices. This is crucial as it is now and within the
coming years that vessels built with toxic materials are and will be
decommissioned.
The European Commission (EC) is going to report on the
possibilities of an economic instrument at the European level and informed the
Conference that they will tender such a study very soon.
HIGH REGIONAL STANDARDS
Informing the Conference of the main elements of the newly
agreed text for a new EU Regulation on Ship Recycling, the EC highlighted that
the new Regulation will demand the use of Inventories of Hazardous Materials
for all ships – regardless of flag – calling at EU ports and will only allow
ships registered under the flag of an EU Member State to be dismantled in
facilities that meet the requirements set out in the Regulation. The EC will be
responsible for listing the facilities that are considered safe and
environmentally sound, and informed that they will shortly start working on a
Guidance note on how to interpret the requirements for ship recycling
facilities and on how to apply for inclusion on the EU List.
Regarding the requirements for ship recycling facilities the
EC stressed that the Regulation sets high standards and requires amongst
others, full containment of hazardous materials during the entire recycling
process, impermeable floors including drainage systems, leakage control - in
particular in intertidal zones, built structures and rapid emergency response.
Even if the Regulation does not mention the word
"beaching", it is unlikely that a beaching facility in South Asia
would qualify for the EU List, the EC stressed.
INDIAN GREENWASHING FAILS
25 Indian shipbreaking yards have obtained ISO 30.000
certification and claim this as proof of substantial improvements of their
operations. Tom Peter Blankestijn, one of the contributors to the development
of ISO 30.000 and the managing director of Dutch company Sea2Cradle, questioned
the validity of the certificates provided in India, and also Bangladesh, that
were issued within a couple of days only. He added that the certification of
these yards undermined the relevance of ISO 30.000 in distinguishing good
practices and the high requirements it is meant to promote.
Lloyd’s Register, a classification society, shared
scepticism as to whether the yards in Alang could meet the standards set out in
the newly agreed upon EU Regulation on ship recycling, emphasising particularly
the difficulties of containing hazardous materials on a tidal beach. Another
class society, ClassNK informed that they were currently involved in
undertaking a gap analysis on compliance with the requirements of the Hong Kong
Convention at four shipbreaking yards in Alang.
The NGO Shipbreaking Platform will be closely following the
outcome of the analysis. Experts at the conference broadly concluded that there
were still considerable improvements needed in India for its shipbreaking yards
to be considered safe and environmentally sound.
Other presentations included Dutch development bank FMO on
their project in Bangladesh, an update on the DIGEST vocational education and
training program, and lessons learnt from Swansea Drydock’s EA approval.
Source: NGO Platform on
Shipbreaking.
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