Brussels — NGO Shipbreaking Platform board
member Merijn Hougee has collaborated with Dutch dredging and marine expert
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 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.”
“The Boskalis technical superintendents on
site showed passionate commitment to the clean and safe recycling of the
vessels,” judged Merijn Hougee. “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.”
Case study: In search of a suitable ship
recycling yard
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.”
Case study: Independent audit and meeting
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.
Case study: Inventory of hazardous
materials and re-use materials
“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.”
Yard owner 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.
Case study: Moving towards environmental
responsibility
“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: recycling portal. 17 April
2015
No comments:
Post a Comment