Dr Anil Sharma,
president and chief executive of Global Marketing Systems (GMS) Inc, is listed
at number 40 in the annual Lloyd’s List top 100 of the most influential people
in shipping 2014.
As head of the world’s
largest cash buyer of ships for recycling, Dr Sharma is not afraid to be at the
forefront of pushing the industry to move to responsible recycling.
At a time when the
viability of beaching is being challenged, GMS is a leading light in outlining
the complex issues involved to industry forums, regulators and other
stakeholders.
GMS sells one in every
two ships to Bangladesh recycling yards, and one in every three in
India/Pakistan, buying more than 200 ships for scrapping each year. Dr Sharma
says he is keen for the industry to clean up its act in a sustainable and
measured way.
Although the Hong Kong
International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of
Ships 2009 convention has yet to enter into force, as key countries have not
ratified it, GMS is working to establish the green codes of conduct enshrined
within the code as proof the industry can lead by example.
The company has also
provided technical assistance to a handful yards in Bangladesh so they can meet
their own international standards, and show compliance with convention
guidelines. Nearly half of India’s yards are already compliant.
So far in the January
through to November period, 826 vessels of 31.2m deadweight tonnes have been
scrapped, on track to be the lowest levels by volume since 2010. India remains
the biggest destination for ships to be recycled, with about 26% of vessels for
scrapping ending up at its yards.
In spite of the fall in
prices in fourth quarter of this year, the average scrap price for tankers in
2014 has been about 10% higher than 2013. GMS recently made headlines when
non-executive director Dr. Nikos Mikelis, a former IMO official for recycling,
challenged European regulators to see first-hand the improvements made on the
Indian sub-continent in scrapping, in order to offset moves to ban the practice
of beaching ships.
With recycling likely to
be one of the hot topics at the forthcoming European Shipping Week in March
next year, Dr Sharma is hopeful that European Union legislators will recognise
how much has already been achieved through the work that GMS has started.
Dr Sharma has previously
featured in the Top 100 in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. 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 news. 15
December 2014
http://www.bymnews.com/news/newsDetails.php?id=141457
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