The Pitfalls of Recycling Ships:

Ships and shipping have been subject to regulations which seek to minimise pollution and environmental damage for many years. Issues such as the quality of the fuel used by ships and the disposal of ships waste whether it be rubbish or dirty water slops are strictly governed.

Traditionally at the end of a ship’s working life it ends up on the beaches of India, Pakistan or Bangladesh having been sold for scrap. The ship is then painstakingly broken apart by local workers on local beaches where they are run up at high tide. This is profitable work but dangerous and dirty. It has also come under scrutiny because it is considered environmentally damaging - to the beaches & the workers involved.

The shipping industry has recently attempted to regulate the recycling of ships. The Hong Kong International Convention for the safe and environmentally sound recycling of ships 2009 was adopted in May this year. It is to be known as the Hong Kong Convention. It seeks to regulate the operation of any recycling facilities, their registration and to agree an appropriate enforcement mechanism for clean ship recycling. The Convention has not yet been turned into law. The Convention remains open for ratification by member states from September 2009 to August 2010.

The UK authorities appear to have "jumped the gun” and not waited for the Hong Kong Convention to be ratified. On 7th August 2009 the liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier "Margaret Hill” was detained by the Environment Agency in the UK as she attempted to leave English waters to head abroad for scrap dismantling. The Environment Agency claimed they detained the vessel because they were concerned that it might contain hazardous materials such as asbestos. It was also on its way to be broken up in a non OECD country i.e. a country which is not a party to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. India, to where the ship had been ordered, is not in that particular club.

The 50,700 ton LNG is still in Southampton. However its ownership has no connection with this jurisdiction nor is the flagged with the British Shipping Registry. The Environment Agency relied upon the Basel Convention to detain the ship. That convention deals with the movement of hazardous wastes and their disposal internationally. Some commentators have expressed concerns that a defunct gas carrier cannot be defined as "dangerous goods or hazardous waste”.

Thousands of ships pass through the English Channel and English ports every year en route to various destinations including the scrapping beaches in India and Pakistan. Commentators have assumed that the action against the "Margaret Hill” by the UK Environment Agency was a 'one off' but there has been no official statement about any future action.

The official statement from the Environment Agency about the action against the "Margaret Hill” says "There are rules in place to ensure waste ships do not end up in developing countries and cause damage to people and the environment. The Environment Agency will only give permission for a waste ship to be exported if it is going to an authorized recycling site in a country that wants to accept it and has the necessary agreements in place”. The commercial reality is that most of the world’s dead ships are scrapped in "developing countries”.

Meanwhile the ship, which remains under detention in Southampton, can be viewed from Lester Aldridge’s Southampton office. Governments across the world are being encouraged to ratify the Hong Kong Convention as quickly as possible.

Further information about either the Basel or Hong Kong Conventions can be obtained from Linda Jacques at LA Marine.

Source: Lester Aldridge. 9 August 2009

http://www.lester-aldridge.co.uk/news/news/the-pitfalls-of-recycling-ships-1544/

Ship Recycling: the Un-green Job?

Recycling is a good thing, right? Well, it depends. Recycling helps to reduce waste and pollution, conserves precious resources, and, by recovering scrap materials, allows secondary production of materials that requires far less energy input than producing them from scratch. For aluminum, the energy savings run as high as 95 percent; for copper 85 percent; plastics 80 percent; steel 74 percent; and paper 64 percent.

Chittagong Shipbreaking Yard.
Photo by: Tridib Ghose

But recycling jobs are often dirty, low-paid, and undesirable—a far cry from sustainable “green jobs” that are now so often talked about. Perhaps the most notorious example is ship dismantling.  It is a major employer in India and Bangladesh, employing many thousands of people, often migrant workers.

More than 80 percent of international trade flows via sea-lanes. Prior to the outbreak of the current global economic crisis, the world’s merchant fleet had expanded significantly. In 2007, the number of ships stood at 42,872 with a tonnage of 1,009.5 million dwt (dead weight tonnage).

The European Commission estimates that worldwide, between 200 and 600 large ships annually are broken up after having reached the end of their useful life. The International Maritime Organization puts the total number of ships demolished since 1990 at more than 10,000, but statistics are incomplete. The economic crisis has resulted in a glut of ships, and the New York Times reported in May 2009 that shipping companies were trying to sell more of them for scrap.

The shipbreaking industry is marked by great environmental and human health hazards, high accident rates, and poor working conditions including a lack of adequate protection for workers. The ships contain valuable steel and other scrap metal, but also many hazardous materials, including asbestos, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), toxic paints, and residual oil. Many workers are killed or injured each year, and the beaches where dismantlement takes place (this is typically not done at properly equipped shipyards) are liable to suffer contamination.

Following half a decade of negotiations under the auspices of the International Maritime Organization, an accord imposing some rules on ship recycling was adopted in May 2009. Among other provisions, the new “International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships” requires that vessels carry detailed inventories of hazardous materials, that decommissioning sites establish proper disposal procedures for hazardous materials as well as emergency plans, and that workers be equipped with protective gear.

But the shipping industry, allied with “flag of convenience” countries like Panama, Liberia, and the Bahamas, successfully opposed other important provisions. (“Flag of convenience” means that the nationality of the owner is different from the country of registration; this type of arrangement is often intended to evade taxes, wage standards, and other regulations.) Hazardous materials will not have to be removed by specially trained workers before a vessel can be dismantled, and there will be no international agency to watch over the industry’s practices. The agreement also does not require shipyards to substitute less toxic materials in shipbuilding.

Similar challenges need to be addressed in other parts of the recycling industry.  While the recovery and reuse of materials is central to a greener economy, it is important not to overlook the human element.

Source: Green Economy. Michael Renner. 5 August 2009

http://blogs.worldwatch.org/greeneconomy/ship-recycling-the-un-green-job/

India implements new measures to control imports of recyclables:

2 weeks ago, the Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests has issued a notification with immediate effect regarding the control of imports of recyclables, despite ongoing efforts made by BIR and BIR Ambassador for the Indian sub-continent Ikbal Nathani Group of Companies.

A joint BIR-ISRI visit to the competent authorities in India was made last May in Dehli to try and avoid the implementation of inappropriate controlling measures for non-hazardous recyclables. The new regulation requires to fill in a form and to produce a pre-shipment inspection certificate issued by an inspection agency in case of import of the following Basel non-hazardous wastes - which the Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests unilaterally considers to be hazardous.

• B 1010: all ferrous and non-ferrous metals scrap
• B 1040: electrical materials scrap not contaminated
• B 1050: mixed non-ferrous scrap, heavy fraction scrap not contaminated
• B 1100: metal-bearing wastes from smelting and refining
• B 1230: mill scaling from iron & steel manufacture
• B 3020: all paper and cardboard scrap/waste

The BIR had immediately alerted the BIR ambassador in India as well as the ISRI leadership for further action. Questions have already been raised at the E.U. Commission and with UNEP as the incompatibility of these new unilateral measures with the E.U. shipment regulation and the Basel Convention - who do not consider the above materials to be hazardous - are obvious.

Source: RecyclingPortal.EU (Sourced from Bureau of International Recycling). 3 August 2009

http://www.recyclingportal.eu/artikel/22634.shtml

Ship Recycling in Europe:

BIO Intelligence Service has carried out an assessment of the feasibility of defining criteria to identify green dismantling facilities and ships that are suitable for recycling.

The economic benefits and the social and environmental risks associated with the ship dismantling industry are the subject of intense debate around the world. Ship dismantling is a particularly complex problem and is very controversial, both because of the serious environmental and social consequences it generates and because of its economic impact in some countries. In recent years, this question has grown in importance on the international political agenda, particularly within the European Union.

This study was therefore launched to support the objectives of the European strategy for ship dismantling.

The main objectives of the study were twofold: to examine the feasibility of drawing up a set of criteria for identifying ships that are suitable for dismantling, and to draw up a list of “green and safe” dismantling facilities, in order to improve the conditions under which the ships are dismantled.

The study also provided an analysis of a number of criteria which, in close collaboration with the EU, could help to identify the ships to be dismantled and ensure that they are dismantled in safe and environmentally sound facilities. One key aspect was to determine whether the criteria could be considered a complete and reliable tool for developing the future lists of green facilities and ships ready to be dismantled.

The study also assessed the possibility of increasing the effectiveness of the application of the International Convention on the Recycling of Ships and the Regulation of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Waste, through the use of these criteria.

Source: BIO Intelligence Service. 2009

http://www.biois.com/en/menu-en/themes-en/environmental-risk-management/hl-risk/ship-recycling-in-europe.html

Maritime regulator to get JICA help in setting up RP shipbreaking industry:

The Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) announced that it is seeking the assistance of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in setting up the country’s shipbreaking industry.

Marina added that JICA has already presented its proposal on how the Philippines should design its shipbreaking industry and that it is confident that the country can set up the appropriate facilities in five years' time or in 2013.

It also stated that JICA is looking for an area in Mindanao as an initial shipbreaking site.

“JICA has already presented to Marina its proposed model for the shipbreaking and recycling industry and we see it as an appropriate model for the Philippines,” the agency further stated.

The Japanese Shipowners Association (JSA) earlier advised Philippine maritime authorities to look into the possibility of setting up its own shipbreaking industry as part of its efforts to combat the global financial crisis.

The JSA added that the ship dismantling is a vital industry nowadays as Japan and other large merchant navy operators is thinking of having their 5 to 10% of their existing fleets scrapped as a cost-cutting measure during the hard economic times.

The association added that shipbreaking industry is an “economic life saver” due to its ability to hire large number of persons needed for the job.

It also stated that a shipbreaking industry is not only useful during times of financial crisis but on good economic times as well as major merchant navies are continuously acquiring new ships to boost the efficiency and productiveness of their fleets.

There are around 5,000 Japanese merchant fleets of all categories from ordinary bulkers, chemical and ore carriers to the largest super tankers in the planet.

Bangladesh and India rank first and second, respectively, in the global shipbreaking industry.

Source: 12 June 2009

http://www.timawa.net/forum/index.php?topic=17661.0;wap2