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| RL Kalthia Ship Breaking Pvt Ltd |
Ship recycling yards in
India, Pakistan and Bangladesh need to be part of the global scheme of sound
ship recycling and those yards in Alang which have invested in fully upgrading
their facilities to meet the terms of internationally-agreed rules should be
rewarded by winning more business.
This was the view
expressed by Akihiro Tamura, Director of Shipbuilding Policy at the Japan
External Trade Organisation (Jetro), shortly after returning from a fact
finding trip to Indian recycling yards in Alang.
The four-day visit,
arranged in association with cash buyer Global Marketing Systems (GMS), was
attended by a 14 strong Japanese industry and government delegation, which included
officials from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism; the
Japanese Shipowners Association; Jetro; shipping companies K-Line and JX Ocean;
ClassNK; Japanese Labour Union; Japan Marine Science; as well as GMS.
The delegation visited
Alang with the intention of assessing the quality of beach recycling yards in
the region.
Welcoming the comments
from the visit, Nikos Mikelis, Non-executive Director of GMS, said it was up to
the shipping industry and the regulators to see the improvement in conditions
themselves. “We have already invited legislators from the European Commission,
maritime administrations, IMO, as well as global ship owner representatives to
visit the area and the invitation is still open.
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Shree Ram Vessel Scrap Pvt Ltd
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“Separately, the
International Maritime Organization (IMO) should be invited to hold a
workshop/seminar in India to not only raise awareness of the improvements which
have been made there but to inform and educate other yards as to what is needed
to conform to the terms of the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe
and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships,” he said.
Amit Malhotra, trader
and GMS representative in Japan, said the Japanese delegation was pleased with
the changing attitude of the SRIA (Ship Recycling Industries Association)
towards trying to understand and comply with the Hong Kong Convention. He said:
“If yards in India comply with the terms of the Hong Kong Convention and the
government of India ratifies it, then Japanese owners will have no concerns
sending their vessels to India.”
A strong theme running
through the visit of the Japanese delegation was to encourage India to meet the
standards of the Hong Kong Convention – something Mr Tamura said the four top
level yards in the region, Leela Ship Recycling, Priya Blue Industries, Kalthia
Shipbreaking and Shree Ram Vessel Scrapping, seem to be very close to achieving
already.
These yards have
improved their working procedures and have upgraded their facilities to include
concrete floors with drainage, bilge water pumps, protective clothing,
hazardous-waste disposal facilities as well as segregated work areas among
other things.
He said: “Our visit was
very fruitful in being able to see the actual situation on the ground and the
many improvements made in Alang. I am also impressed that they are very open to
visitors and we even visited some yards without any prior notification which is
important. And the workers were all wearing helmets and working clothes as well
as protective shoes.”
Japan is so supportive
of the Indian ship recycling sector that Japan is moving towards providing
Official Development Assistance to upgrade facilities and improve operations in
the region.
Nothing has been
officially decided yet but the next step will be to carry out surveys of the
yards to determine what support will be actually needed and to draw up an
agreement between both countries, Mr Tamura stressed.
“Of course we would like
to support larger numbers of yards in the region, but naturally there is some
constraint regarding budget and time. However, our ultimate wish and purpose in
providing assistance to India is to encourage the Indian government to move
towards accession to the Hong Kong Convention.
“The Indian recycling
industry plays a vital role in international ship recycling and in order to
ensure a sound and safe ship recycling industry, those beaching recycling
facilities in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh should be included into the global
scheme of sound ship recycling. We want the Indian recycling yards and we want
the Indian government to join the global recycling framework, or Hong Kong
Convention.”
Mr Tamura said he hoped
India would continue to be open to the outside world when it came to recycling,
and he wanted to send a more positive message to the outside world to invite “a
lot of people to come in and see their yards. I think this is important as is a
more intense monitoring of the environment in the area which would help to give
a better understanding to the outside world of what is being achieved by the
yards”, he said.
He added: “We have a
strategy that includes the Japanese government supporting Indian yards to
upgrade and also for ClassNK to support these yards through consultancy
services and ultimately certification. Japanese ship owners will be willing to
send their ships to “safe and environmentally sound” ship recycling yards in
India and other countries and the entry into force of the Hong Kong Convention
is a very important step to realising this goal. Our ultimate purpose is to
help all concerned to move towards accession to the Hong Kong Convention and
all our efforts will be focused in this direction,” he said.
Source: Hellenic shipping
news. 10 February 2015
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