December 2013 – On Thursday 5
December, just five days before the new EU Ship Recycling Regulation was
published, ship recyclers from Germany, France, the UK, the Netherlands,
Denmark, Lithuania, Spain and Sweden participated to the first green ship recycling
conference organised by the NGO Shipbreaking Platform to discuss the future of
their industry.
The Regulation, published on 10
December, is set to enter into force on 30 December and will be fully
applicable some time between 2015 and 2019.
Especially, implications of the
new EU Ship Recycling Regulation were discussed, including the opportunities
that would be provided by a financial incentive pushing ship owners towards
clean and safe ship recycling facilities, and to what extent Guidance Notes on
the new requirements for ship recycling facilities is needed.
During the meeting, the ship
recyclers and the Platform met with a representative of the European Commission
and expressed their disappointment with the new Regulation which only covers
the clean and safe recycling of EU-flagged ships. Most end-of-life vessels are
registered under non-EU flags and it is expected that the new Regulation will
provide a further incentive to flag out.
“European ship recyclers exist
and are willing to take in a much larger share of the global end-of-life
fleet,” said Ingvild Jenssen, policy advisor of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform.
“For years the shipping industry and European Commission have been repeating
that there is not enough clean and safe ship recycling capacity in Europe, and
that ship owners have no choice but to sell their end-of-life vessels to
dangerous beach-breaking yards in South Asia. We demonstrated with this meeting
that this is only because there has been no political will to recognise and support
the industry in Europe.”
Facilities around the world that
satisfy a list of requirements outlined by the new Regulation will be approved
and listed by the European Commission. EU flagged end-of-life ships will only
be allowed to use these facilities. European ship recyclers will have to
compete with facilities worldwide, and without EU support, they fear they will
be unable to do so. Without a financial incentive to encourage ship owners to
opt for better ship recycling in the EU, European ship recyclers expressed that
they would not be able to attract more business.
“We have been calling on the EU
to come up with a financial incentive to support green and safe ship recycling
for years,” said Ingvild Jenssen. “Without such a mechanism, ship owners will
find ways to circumvent the Regulation and continue to send their ships to
substandard yards where workers’ lives are put at risk and the environment is
severely polluted.”
NOTES
For more information, please
visit our European campaign page: http://www.shipbreakingplatform.org/european-campaign/
CONTACT
Ingvild Jenssen
Policy Advisor
NGO Shipbreaking Platform
+32 2 6094 420
Source:
NGO shipbreaking platform. 17 December 2013
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