Shipping’s extremely divergent views on ship recycling were in plan view
this morning at the start of Danish Maritime Days, the week long set of
shipping events in Copenhagen.
Sustainable Shipping, a conference held at the Danish Shipowners’
Association headquarters, brought together owners, regulators and NGOs.
Anne Steffensen, director-general, of Danish Shipowners’ Association, got
the event off to a contentious start with a frank admission. “It is not good
enough that just three countries have ratified the Hong Kong Convention,” she
said, in reference to the International Maritime Organization’s 2009 ship
recycling rulings. Only Norway, France and the Congo have ratified the
convention to date.
“I am not proud that Denmark has not ratified it yet,” Steffensen, a
former ambassador to the UK, added.
Berit Halam, deputy head of division at the Danish Environmental
Protection Agency, said that ratification of Hong Kong Convention is under
preparation. “We have encountered some technical and legal issues that are
under clarification,” she said. By early next year, she said the government
would be in a position to present what she described as “a roadmap to
ratification”.
Emilien Gasc, the European Commission policy officer for ship recycling,
told delegates that with the European Union’s upcoming strict list of approved
facilities around the world: “Shipowners willing to do the right thing are no
longer alone. We will find the right facilities for you and control the right
facilities.”
“It is very clear that there are major issues,” Gasc said in regards to
standards at yards in South Asia.
Ingvild Jenssen, a special adviser to the NGO Shipbreaking Platform,
said: “Demand from shipowners themselves for sustainable ship recycling is what
will change the industry.” This demand would build up the necessary capacity of
decent recycling yards, she reckoned.
Nevertheless, Jenssen said there already existed enough capacity of decent
recycling yards. “There is a lot of underutilised capacity in China, in Turkey
and in Europe,” she said.
NGO Shipbreaking Platform wants to see all owners use just EU-listed
facilities.
A spokesperson for the Danish Shipowners’ Association commented: “In an
ideal world we would like to only recommend EU-listed facilities,” but that
this was unrealistic at present, the spokesperson maintained, and were this to
be case it would likely see lots of ships reflagging outside of Europe.
Danish shipowner Clipper detailed its views on shipbreaking via its head
of legal, Thomas Martinussen. Martinussen said he was looking forward to
getting the Hong Kong Convention ratified so as to level the playing field.
Having recently scrapped a 9,000-dwt MPP at Alang, Martinussen was keen to
stress the differing levels of quality at India’s main shipbreaking region.
“Yards at Alang are often criticised – but we believe that you do not
lump all yards together as there are huge differences at the yards in Alang,”
he said.
Sustainable Shipping is one of 81 events taking place
during Danish Maritime Days.
Source: splash 24/7.
5 October 2015
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