NGO Shipbreaking Platform board member
Merijn Hougee has collaborated with Dutch dredging and marine company Boskalis
over several months to develop a comprehensive ship recycling policy.
Boskalis has decided for clean and safe
dismantling of its obsolete fleet in a Mexican ship recycling facility with
which the ship owner has established a close partnership. Boskalis, which has
been recognized by the NGO Shipbreaking Platform as an industry leader,
reported about its progress in its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report
2014.
“This is a best practice example”, says
Patrizia Heidegger, Executive Director of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform.
“Boskalis has shown how a ship owner can quickly improve ship recycling
practices by taking the matter in one’s own hands. Other shipping companies
should follow suit. We hope Boskalis will continue to lead by example and live
up to the standards they have set for themselves. We are looking forward to
continued collaboration and welcome further proposals by other shipping
companies looking to improve their practices.”
According to NGO Shipbreaking Platform
board member Merijn Hougee, Boskalis’ approach to dismantling is a testimony to
how serious the company is about applying the international conventions to its
recycling activities.
“The Boskalis technical superintendents on
site showed passionate commitment to the clean and safe recycling of the
vessels,” he says. “They took abstract principles and turned them into
practical applications and invested time to find a dry-dock facility on the
other side of the world which clearly has the potential to meet the highest
international standards. I encourage Boskalis to keep sharing their knowledge
to help the yard progress and to communicate transparently about their recycling
practices since this sets a positive example in the maritime industry.
Ultimately, this approach will help to transform a historically ‘dirty’
shipbreaking industry into a recycling industry with a positive image.”
When the need arose for the sustainable
dismantling of three dredgers in Mexico, Boskalis found a local yard that was
willing to change its working methods in order to meet Boskalis’ strict
requirements for clean and safe ship recycling.
At first, Boskalis could not find a
suitable yard on the Pacific coast of the American continent which was ready to
dismantle a ship in a sustainable way in line with the Hong Kong Convention and
Boskalis’ own standards. The dilemma was shared with the NGO Shipbreaking
Platform, and it was decided that Boskalis would seek a yard that had the
potential to become compliant with Boskalis’ standards. After visiting several
possible yards, ISP/Amaya Curiel yard located in Ensenada on the Baja peninsula
was chosen by Boskalis’ local experts.
“Our yard was only two years old when we
were approached by Boskalis in 2013 to dismantle their vessels,” says Roberto
Curiel, owner of ISP/Amaya Curiel. “We were interested in new opportunities and
were willing to make improvements. The first prerequisite for Boskalis was that
the yard had to have a large hard surface. We already had a concrete dry dock
for repairs. The second requirement was that the yard had to be willing to
allow Boskalis experts to supervise the dismantling process.”
An independent audit was instructed by Boskalis
and was carried out by classification society Germanischer Lloyd. Subsequently,
in 2014 the pilot project to dismantle the ships “Para” and the “Mercurius” was
carried out. Based on the lessons learned from these two vessels, the
dismantling procedures were further improved.
In December 2014, during the scrapping of
the cutter suction dredger “Amstel”, Merijn Hougee, a board member of the NGO
Shipbreaking Platform, visited the yard with representatives from Boskalis and
met with yard owner Roberto Curiel and experts from the University of Baja
California.
“A thorough preparation of a vessel is
critical to sustainable dismantling,” says Alberto Prado, Fleet Manager at
Boskalis. “No one knows our equipment better than Boskalis and by sharing the
know-how we contribute to the success of the dismantling. As a standard policy,
we make an Inventory of Hazardous Materials (IHM) on all vessels. In the case
of the Amstel, we also decided to remove hazardous materials ourselves and
cleaned all the oil and fuel tanks before the ship was towed to Ensenada. We
also removed parts from the vessel that could be reused on other ships within
the Boskalis fleet. Once the ship was in dock, we had two of our own technical
superintendents on site to monitor the progress. During this time, we made
suggestions on how the dismantling could be improved which frequently was of a
procedural nature.”
Roberto Curiel explains: “Boskalis wanted
third party certification of the work. Although we are used to working with
certification from local authorities, the Boskalis demands were stricter. As a
result, scientists from the Marine Science department at the University of Baja
California were brought in to monitor air, water and soil quality and the
disposal of hazardous materials.”
Boskalis also sent two engineers to
supervise the work. “They were very dedicated and had a high regard for
compliance with international principles,” comments Roberto Curiel. “Sometimes
in the beginning that was stressful for our employees. But the Boskalis people
were willing to discuss and explain why certain things had to be done. These
discussions were constructive. Working with Boskalis has raised our awareness
about the environment. It gave us the experience to work in a different, more
responsible way.
"The whole world is moving in the
direction of environmental responsibility. We want to be in the forefront in
our country. I see the industry going in that direction over time, with more
oversight and restrictions, and that is how it should be. Boskalis gave us the
opportunity to improve our operations by sharing their knowledge and showing us
what is going on in the wider world.”
Martijn Schuttevaer, Director Corporate
Communications at Boskalis, adds: “When we decided to have our vessels
dismantled at the Amaya Curiel yard, we knew that the yard did not meet all of
our requirements. The decisive factor was the potential of the yard and the
commitment from the owner. I am pleased we were able to share what we
accomplished in Mexico with the NGO Shipbreaking Platform.”
Source:
sand
and gravel. 17 April 2015
http://www.sandandgravel.com/news/article.asp?v1=19510
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