Shippers group reject EC recommendation that
vessels should have ship recycling license.
A report calling for any vessel calling at
any EU port have a ship recycling license has failed to generate support by the
shipping industry.
The report, Financial instrument to
facilitate safe and sound ship recycling, was written by Ecorys, DNV-GL and the
Erasmus University School of Law. The report, submitted and recommended by the
European Commission, looks into the possibility of introducing a financial
incentive to enhance safe and environmentally sound ship recycling practices.
The report notes that requiring a recycling license would incentivize
sustainable ship recycling efforts. The steps also would introduce a provide a
safe and environmentally sound recycling policy by many companies.
According to the report, ship recycling
license fees would be earmarked to cover the cost-gap between substandard and
sustainable end-of-life ship management. The capital amount accumulated during
the operational life of the vessel would be set aside for the ship and only
paid back to the last owner of the vessel as a premium if the ship is recycled
in a sustainable facility approved by the E.U.
The 2013 EU Ship Recycling Regulation
requires all vessels sailing under an EU flag to use an approved ship recycling
facility. A major shortcoming of the regulation, however, is that ship owners
can circumvent the law by simply flagging out to a non-E.U. flag.
The report notes, “Last year, Bangladesh,
where human rights abuses and pollution caused by shipbreaking activities are
known to be the worst, was the preferred destination for end-of-life ships. EU
owners account for around one third of the end-of-life tonnage beached in
substandard yards in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Thus, the EU is the single
largest market sending end-of-life ships for dirty and dangerous shipbreaking
and has a particular responsibility to regulate ship recycling.”
“EU shipping companies should not circumvent
E.U. environmental laws and not utilize practices that would never be allowed
in Europe,” says Sotiris Raptis, shipping and aviation officer at the
environmental group Transport and Environment. “EU flag-neutral measures, which
apply equally to all ships calling at E.U. ports, are necessary to increase
environmental protection.”
“We call on the European Commission to
follow-up this report with a legislative proposal,” says Stephane Arditi,
Products & Waste Policy Manager of the European Environmental Bureau. “The
effective implementation of European environmental policies has been dependent
on making the polluter pay. If the EU is serious about its commitment to
sustainable ship recycling, all ship owners trading in Europe need to be held
financially liable.”
To be effective in terms of recycling
behavior, the capital amount would need to bridge the revenue gap between the
revenues for a ship owner opting for ship recycling in compliance with the Ship
Recycling Regulation and the situation in which the ship owner opts for the
more lucrative option of non-regulation-compliant ship recycling.
However, ship owners have rejected the
proposals put forth in the report. In a statement, the ship owners claimed that
the licenses would undermine efforts made by the International Maritime
Organization (IMO).
In its statement, the ship owners group note
that if proposals to establish an EU ship recycling fund were taken forward,
they would cause serious problems with the EU’s trading partners, including China,
India, Japan and the United States.
The European Community Shipowners’
Associations (ECSA) and the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) – which
represent more than 80% of world merchant tonnage – insist that the concept of
the ship recycling license, developed by consultants for the European
Commission, must be firmly rejected.
According to a proposal now being considered
by the EC, the money that visiting ships would have to pay into a proposed EU
Fund, including those flying the flag of non-EU nations, would only be returned
at the end of the vessel’s working life, many years later, when it will
probably have a different owner, and only on condition that the ship is
recycled at a yard approved by the European Commission.
“As well as being unduly complex, widely
impractical and very difficult for the EU to administer, the establishment of
such a fund will be an affront to the international community, which has
adopted the Hong Kong Convention on ship recycling, whose standards have
already been incorporated into a similar EU Regulation” says ECSA Secretary
General, Patrick Verhoeven.
ICS Secretary General Peter Hinchliffe adds,
“Such a draconian unilateral measure, especially if applied to non-EU ships, is
likely to be seen by EU trading partners as anti-competitive interference into
the conduct of international shipping. There is a real danger that other
nations would apply retaliatory measures.”
ECSA and ICS argue that the EU should
concentrate its efforts on getting EU Member States to ratify the IMO Hong Kong
Convention, and to recognize the efforts being made by recycling yards in Asia
to gain certification in accordance with IMO standards. They insist these yards
should be given a fair chance to be included in the EU list of approved
recycling facilities that is being established under the EU Ship Recycling
Regulation.
Source: recycling
today. 12 July 2016
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