Global Marketing
Systems, Inc (GMS), the world’s largest cash buyer of ships for recycling, has
welcomed the announcement that German owner, Hapag-Lloyd, will no longer sell
vessels to recycling yards that do not comply with strict environmental
regulations and guidelines.
Dr Anil Sharma, President and CEO of GMS, applauds
a company of this stature taking the lead with its ship recycling policy and
says: “It will be good to see, well ahead of proposed regulations entering in
force, many more companies following this example by providing their ships with
Inventories of Hazardous Materials and by ensuring that their ships are
recycled in line with the guidelines of the IMO’s Hong Kong Convention for the
Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, 2009.” “This will ease the
entry into force of the Hong Kong Convention because recycling yards around the
world will realise the need to be prepared and to invest in safety and
environmental protection improvements.”
Dr Sharma advises caution, however, in
managing what is effectively a whole used way for the industry to do business.
“At this early stage, shipowners must target their custom towards recycling
yards in all areas of the world, including India, China and Turkey. Whilst
there are yards in, for example, China, that now comply with many regulations,
we feel it important for the industry to recognise that there are many more
recycling yards around the world, and in particular India, that are making
moves to implement meaningful and incremental improvements in processes, and
thus driving a groundswell of support for the Convention.” An ardent proponent
of green ship recycling, GMS formed part of the deliberations leading to
formulation of the Hong Kong Convention.
Through its Responsible Recycling initiative, and its in-depth
experience on the ground, GMS has seen first-hand that yards cannot make the
necessary improvements alone and that they need to work in partnership with
shipowners to develop environmentally sustainable solutions that the industry
can be proud of.
At the forefront of this commitment, GMS appointed Dr Nikos
Mikelis to the role of Non Executive Director, with the remit of assisting GMS
in developing synergies with ship recycling facilities and ship owners that are
committed towards green and responsible ship recycling. Dr Mikelis has pursued a long and
distinguished career in shipping wherein most recently he was the Head, Marine
Pollution Prevention & Ship Recycling Section for the International
Maritime Organization (IMO).
Dr Mikelis explains: “We work with recycling yards
in India, for example, that are currently implementing improvements to safety,
to environmental protection, and to social welfare.” “The owners of these yards
need – and deserve – to be supported by the custom of quality shipowners, so
that their businesses can prosper and so that they can become examples to be
imitated by the rest of the recycling industry in their country. If, on the
other hand, these yards are not positively favoured by the socially responsible
shipowners, then how will safety, environmental and welfare improvements be
fuelled in the countries that need them most?”
Concluding, Dr Mikelis stresses:
“The only way that international standards for ship recycling will make sense
in the future is for the standards to be implemented and enforced globally, so
that a single international standard applies to ship recycling, in the same way
that there is one MARPOL standard for pollution prevention for all ships,
regardless of flag or area of operation. The same must happen to ship recycling
and for this reason, all socially responsible recycling yards – wherever in the
world they are located - deserve the industry’s support.”
Editors note Global
Marketing Systems, Inc (GMS) was founded in the USA in 1992 after it started
acquiring naval vessels for scrap from the US Maritime Administration in
Washington DC and has since grown into becoming the world’s largest Cash Buyer
of ships for recycling. Over the years
it has succeeded in helping to modernize the ship recycling industry and,
through its efforts, has done much to strengthen the credibility and
transparency of the global demolition sector.
GMS is the world’s FIRST ISO 9001
certified Cash Buyer with a proven track record spanning over two decades. And
with more than 2,500 deals under its belt, it has grown to become the leader of
the ship recycling industry.
Many of
the world’s largest ship owners sell their vessels exclusively to GMS. In 2012
alone the company recycled over 16.5 million DWT (ie roughly 300 ships) or
nearly one third of the world’s fleet sold for recycling.
GMS has invested considerable resources into
green recycling and continues to support ship recycling yards around the world
in both an advisory and financial capacity. Recently, with technical assistance
of GMS, four ship recycling yards in Bangladesh were able to obtain
Certification for ISO 9001, 14001, 18001 and 30,000.
GMS is also the FIRST and
ONLY Cash Buyer to develop a Green Ship Recycling Program (GSRP) together with
Germanishcer LLoyd (GL) to meet the highest standards of Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) in the ship recycling industry.
GMS continues to lead the
ship recycling industry with innovative and practical solutions. Over the
years, it has become the acknowledged ‘voice’ of the recycling industry in
international fora. GMS has offices in the USA, Germany, Dubai, China,
Singapore, and Japan as well as exclusive representatives in all five of the
major recycling markets including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China and Turkey.
Source: BYM Marine
Environment News. 14 August 2014
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