RL Kalthia, Priya
Blue, Leela Ship Recycling and Shree Ram Group have been issued compliance
status, marking the first time such recognition has been given to ship breakers
in South Asia.
Bengaluru: Four of
the 167 ship recycling yards located on the coast of Alang-Sosiya in Gujarat’s
Bhavnagar district, the world’s largest stretch of ship-breaking beaches, have
won compliance status with a global regime that seeks to ensure that redundant
ships are disposed of safely and in an environmentally sound manner.
RL Kalthia Ship
Breaking Pvt. Ltd, Priya Blue Industries Pvt. Ltd, Leela Ship Recycling Pvt.
Ltd and Shree Ram Group have been issued compliance status, marking the first
time that such recognition has been given to ship breakers in South Asia.
It goes a long way
in dispelling doubts about the beaching method of breaking ships practised
along a 10-km stretch of Alang-Sosiya, often subject to criticism for its lax
safety and health aspects, said experts.
Under the beaching
method, ships are first grounded and then dismantled, posing hazards to human
beings and the environment.
The Hong Kong
International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of
Ships was adopted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in 2009. It
is, however, yet to come into force because it has not been ratified by 15
states, representing 40% of world merchant shipping by gross tonnage (capacity)
and a maximum annual ship recycling volume not less than 3% of the combined
tonnage of the states.
While the IMO
convention does not prohibit the dismantling of old ships by the beaching
method, a separate ship recycling regulation published by the European Union in
2013 seeks to ban this method of dismantling ships practised in Alang-Sosiya.
“This (compliance)
really does prove beyond doubt that not all beaching is bad,” says Anil Sharma,
the founder and chief executive officer of GMS, the world’s largest cash buyer
of ships for dismantling.
In the ship
recycling industry, a “cash buyer” is a trader who purchases a ship for “cash”
from the owners and delivers it to a ship recycling yard (ship recyclers).
Kalthia, Priya
Blue, Leela and Shree Ram carried out substantial improvements to their
facilities to ensure safer and greener ship recycling as well as developed the
ship recycling facility plans (SRFPs) required for a competent authority’s
certification, according to the Hong Kong International Convention.
“The EU ship
recycling regulation, however, is a big concern for us,” said Chintan Kalthia,
managing director at RL Kalthia Shipbreaking.
“EU regulations
don’t want beaching. The EU is also not sure how they want to go ahead,” said
Gaurav Mehta, managing director at Priya Blue Industries, which runs the
biggest of the four recycling yards that are compliant with the IMO convention.
Alang has attracted
criticism globally because of the frequent mishaps reported at many of the
recycling facilities that dot the coast in Bhavnagar district.
Some 470 workers
have died in accidents in Alang since it started demolition in 1983, according
to Mumbai-based The Tata Institute of Social Sciences.
But, the real
number could be much higher since deaths are under-reported. Since 1983, over
400 fires have broken out and since 2001, 141 fatal accidents and 301 non-fatal
ones have taken place. The ship-breaking industry in Alang-Sosiya employs close
to 50,000 people, both directly and indirectly.
The Alang
ship-breaking yards have dismantled more than 6,600 vessels till 2015 and
produce 4.5 million tonnes of re-rollable steel a year.
The EU ship
recycling regulation entered into force at the end of 2013, and its
requirements will be phased-in between 31 December 2015 and 31 December 2020.
A key aspect of the
EU regime is the development of a list of ship recycling facilities that have
demonstrated compliance with the EU regulation.
Once the list of
approved ship recycling facilities is compiled by the European Commission by 31
December 2016, ships flying the flag of a EU member state will only be sold for
recycling to facilities that are included in the list.
“The shipping
industry accepts its responsibility to promote safe and environmentally
sustainable disposal of ships in the world’s ship recycling yards, the majority
of which are located in developing countries,” said Peter Hinchliffe, secretary
general of London-based International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), a global trade
body that represents more than 80% of the world’s merchant fleet.
In January, ICS
issued transitional measures for shipowners selling ships for recycling’ to
help comply with the IMO’s Hong Kong convention ahead of its entry into force
and the separate EU regulations that has already taken effect.
“Adherence to these
transitional measures should be seen as a sign of good faith prior to the entry
into force of the IMO regime. But they will also help companies avoid falling
foul of the separate EU ship recycling regime which started to take effect on
31 December,” Hinchliffe said.
Indian ship
recycling facilities are not able to comply with EU regulations because they do
not accept the beaching method of ship recycling, said Kalthia.
“We are not clear
what exactly EU wants and whatever their final FAQs ask and demand from yards,
I’ll have to check and verify the gaps in my facility. If there are gaps, I’ll
work to fill those gaps, if possible, within the method I’m using for ship
recycling in India (read beaching),” said Kalthia.
Source: live
mint. 12 February 2016
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