16 December 2014

USA. Sharma at number 40 in Lloyd’s List Top 100

Dr Anil Sharma, president and chief executive of Global Marketing Systems (GMS) Inc, is listed at number 40 in the annual Lloyd’s List top 100 of the most influential people in shipping 2014.

As head of the world’s largest cash buyer of ships for recycling, Dr Sharma is not afraid to be at the forefront of pushing the industry to move to responsible recycling. 

At a time when the viability of beaching is being challenged, GMS is a leading light in outlining the complex issues involved to industry forums, regulators and other stakeholders.

GMS sells one in every two ships to Bangladesh recycling yards, and one in every three in India/Pakistan, buying more than 200 ships for scrapping each year. Dr Sharma says he is keen for the industry to clean up its act in a sustainable and measured way.

Although the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships 2009 convention has yet to enter into force, as key countries have not ratified it, GMS is working to establish the green codes of conduct enshrined within the code as proof the industry can lead by example.

The company has also provided technical assistance to a handful yards in Bangladesh so they can meet their own international standards, and show compliance with convention guidelines. Nearly half of India’s yards are already compliant.

So far in the January through to November period, 826 vessels of 31.2m deadweight tonnes have been scrapped, on track to be the lowest levels by volume since 2010. India remains the biggest destination for ships to be recycled, with about 26% of vessels for scrapping ending up at its yards.

In spite of the fall in prices in fourth quarter of this year, the average scrap price for tankers in 2014 has been about 10% higher than 2013. GMS recently made headlines when non-executive director Dr. Nikos Mikelis, a former IMO official for recycling, challenged European regulators to see first-hand the improvements made on the Indian sub-continent in scrapping, in order to offset moves to ban the practice of beaching ships.

With recycling likely to be one of the hot topics at the forthcoming European Shipping Week in March next year, Dr Sharma is hopeful that European Union legislators will recognise how much has already been achieved through the work that GMS has started.

Dr Sharma has previously featured in the Top 100 in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. Editors note Global Marketing Systems, Inc (GMS) was founded in the USA in 1992 after it started acquiring naval vessels for scrap from the US Maritime Administration in Washington DC and has since grown into becoming the world’s largest Cash Buyer of ships for recycling.  Over the years it has succeeded in helping to modernize the ship recycling industry and, through its efforts, has done much to strengthen the credibility and transparency of the global demolition sector.

GMS is the world’s FIRST ISO 9001 certified Cash Buyer with a proven track record spanning over two decades. And with more than 2,500 deals under its belt, it has grown to become the leader of the ship recycling industry.   Many of the world’s largest ship owners sell their vessels exclusively to GMS.

In 2012 alone the company recycled over 16.5 million DWT (ie roughly 300 ships) or nearly one third of the world’s fleet sold for recycling GMS has invested considerable resources into green recycling and continues to support ship recycling yards around the world in both an advisory and financial capacity.

Recently, with technical assistance of GMS, four ship recycling yards in Bangladesh were able to obtain Certification for ISO 9001, 14001, 18001 and 30,000. GMS is also the FIRST and ONLY Cash Buyer to develop a Green Ship Recycling Program (GSRP) together with Germanishcer LLoyd (GL) to meet the highest standards of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the ship recycling industry.

GMS continues to lead the ship recycling industry with innovative and practical solutions. Over the years, it has become the acknowledged ‘voice’ of the recycling industry in international fora. GMS has offices in the USA, Germany, Dubai, China, Singapore, and Japan as well as exclusive representatives in all five of the major recycling markets including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China and Turkey.

Source: bym news. 15 December 2014
http://www.bymnews.com/news/newsDetails.php?id=141457

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