Best practice example
for clean and safe ship recycling an inspiration for responsible owners
Brussels, 16 April 2015
– NGO Shipbreaking Platform board member Merijn Hougee has collaborated with
Dutch dredging and marine expert Boskalis over several months to develop a
comprehensive ship recycling policy. Boskalis has decided for clean and safe
dismantling of its obsolete fleet in a Mexican ship recycling facility with
which the ship owner has established a close partnership. Boskalis, which has
been recognized by the NGO Shipbreaking Platform as an industry leader,
reported about its progress in its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report
2014.
“This is a best practice
example”, says Patrizia Heidegger, Executive Director of the NGO Shipbreaking
Platform. “Boskalis has shown how a ship owner can quickly improve ship
recycling practices by taking the matter in one’s own hands. Other shipping companies
should follow suit. We hope Boskalis will continue to lead by example and live
up to the standards they have set for themselves. We are looking forward to
continued collaboration and welcome further proposals by other shipping
companies looking to improve their practices.”
According to NGO
Shipbreaking Platform board member Merijn Hougee, Boskalis’ approach to
dismantling is a testimony to how serious the company is about applying the
international conventions to its recycling activities.
“The Boskalis technical
superintendents on site showed passionate commitment to the clean and safe
recycling of the vessels,” he says. “They took abstract principles and turned
them into practical applications and invested time to find a dry-dock facility
on the other side of the world which clearly has the potential to meet the
highest international standards. I encourage Boskalis to keep sharing their
knowledge to help the yard progress and to communicate transparently about
their recycling practices since this sets a positive example in the maritime
industry. Ultimately, this approach will help to transform a historically
‘dirty’ shipbreaking industry into a recycling industry with a positive image.”
Case study
When the need arose for
the sustainable dismantling of three dredgers in Mexico, Boskalis found a local
yard that was willing to change its working methods in order to meet Boskalis’
strict requirements for clean and safe ship recycling. At first, Boskalis could
not find a suitable yard on the Pacific coast of the American continent which
was ready to dismantle a ship in a sustainable way in line with the Hong Kong
Convention and Boskalis’ own standards. The dilemma was shared with the NGO
Shipbreaking Platform, and it was decided that Boskalis would seek a yard that
had the potential to become compliant with Boskalis’ standards. After visiting
several possible yards, ISP/Amaya Curiel yard located in Ensenada on the Baja
peninsula was chosen by Boskalis’ local experts.
“Our yard was only two
years old when we were approached by Boskalis in 2013 to dismantle their
vessels,” says Roberto Curiel, owner of ISP/Amaya Curiel. “We were interested
in new opportunities and were willing to make improvements. The first
prerequisite for Boskalis was that the yard had to have a large hard surface.
We already had a concrete dry dock for repairs. The second requirement was that
the yard had to be willing to allow Boskalis experts to supervise the
dismantling process.”
An independent audit was
instructed by Boskalis and was carried out by classification society
Germanischer Lloyd. Subsequently, in 2014 the pilot project to dismantle the
ships “Para” and the “Mercurius” was carried out. Based on the lessons learned
from these two vessels, the dismantling procedures were further improved.
In December 2014, during
the scrapping of the cutter suction dredger “Amstel”, Merijn Hougee, a board
member of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform, visited the yard with representatives
from Boskalis and met with yard owner Roberto Curiel and experts from the
University of Baja California.
“A thorough preparation
of a vessel is critical to sustainable dismantling,” says Alberto Prado, Fleet
Manager at Boskalis. “No one knows our equipment better than Boskalis and by
sharing the know-how we contribute to the success of the dismantling. As a
standard policy, we make an Inventory of Hazardous Materials (IHM) on all
vessels. In the case of the Amstel, we also decided to remove hazardous
materials ourselves and cleaned all the oil and fuel tanks before the ship was
towed to Ensenada. We also removed parts from the vessel that could be reused
on other ships within the Boskalis fleet. Once the ship was in dock, we had two
of our own technical superintendents on site to monitor the progress. During
this time, we made suggestions on how the dismantling could be improved which
frequently was of a procedural nature.”
Roberto Curiel explains:
“Boskalis wanted third party certification of the work. Although we are used to
working with certification from local authorities, the Boskalis demands were
stricter. As a result, scientists from the Marine Science department at the
University of Baja California were brought in to monitor air, water and soil
quality and the disposal of hazardous materials.”
Boskalis also sent two
engineers to supervise the work.
“They were very
dedicated and had a high regard for compliance with international principles,”
comments Roberto Curiel. “Sometimes in the beginning that was stressful for our
employees. But the Boskalis people were willing to discuss and explain why
certain things had to be done. These discussions were constructive. Working
with Boskalis has raised our awareness about the environment. It gave us the
experience to work in a different, more responsible way. The whole world is
moving in the direction of environmental responsibility. We want to be in the
forefront in our country. I see the industry going in that direction over time,
with more oversight and restrictions, and that is how it should be. Boskalis
gave us the opportunity to improve our operations by sharing their knowledge
and showing us what is going on in the wider world.”
Martijn Schuttevaer,
Director Corporate Communications at Boskalis, adds: “When we decided to have
our vessels dismantled at the Amaya Curiel yard, we knew that the yard did not
meet all of our requirements. The decisive factor was the potential of the yard
and the commitment from the owner. I am pleased we were able to share what we
accomplished in Mexico with the NGO Shipbreaking Platform.”
CONTACT US
Patrizia Heidegger
Executive Director of
the NGO Shipbreaking Platform
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