These certification comes at a time when most
shipbreaking yards at this recycling unit near Bhavnagar have been battling issues
of pollution and contamination for last three decades.
Two ship-breaking yards from Alang in Gujarat have
become the first ship recycling facilities in entire South Asia to be issued
Statements of Compliance (SoC) by Japan’s leading classification society,
ClassNK, for taking steps for safer and greener ship recycling.
These certification comes at a time when most
shipbreaking yards at this recycling unit near Bhavnagar have been battling
issues of pollution and contamination for last three decades.
The owners of these yards — RL Kalthia Ship Breaking
Pvt Ltd and Priya Blue Industries Pvt Ltd — were issued the SoC about ten days
ago after verifying that the facilities are in line with the Hong Kong
International Convention for Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships,
2009 (HKC). The owners of these yards now feel that they hold an edge over
other shipbreakers in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan in attracting ships from
Japan which is home to some of the biggest shipping lines in the world like
Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd (K-Line), NYK Lines and others.
“Though this is a small step, this certification is
definitely a piece of encouragement for shipbreakers at Alang who have been
battling environment-related issues for so long. It has been issued by one of
the best classification societies in Japan who are known to have very high
standards and go a long way in dispelling doubts about the method of
shipbreaking practised here. The Japanese have personally visited Alang a
number of times to check these two yards before issuing the certification,”
says Captain Sudhir Chadha, port officer from the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB)
who is one of the topmost state government representative at Alang.
Both the yards were found to have “Carried out
substantial improvements to their facilities in a bid towards safer and greener
ship recycling.” ClassNK not only reviewed the plans prepared by both the
yards, but also conducted on-site inspections before issuing the SoC.
“We have invested a lot of time and money to improve
the infrastructure within our yard. During the last 18 months, we have built
impermeable concrete flooring that prevents seepage of oil, built drainage
lines that is connected directly to the treatment and storage disposal created
by GMB, built chain pits, replaced oxygen cylinders with a large tank, we have
ensured that there is absolutely no spillage of oil or chemicals on the
beachfront where the ship is broken,” said Rakesh Gupta, director of Priya Blue
Industries Pvt Ltd which is one of the two yards that has spent over Rs 1.5
crore in upgrading its infrastructure and look visibly tidy and clean in
comparison to the neighbouring yards.
Two more ship recyclers from Alang — Shree Ram Group
of Industries and Leela Ship recycling Pvt Ltd — are currently in the process
of being audited by Class NK for compliance certification, said officials from
GMB who felt that yard owners were certifying their activities with an aim to
attract more ships from Japan that own large fleets in excess of 2000 ships.
“Though Hong Kong International Convention for Safe and Environmentally Sound
Recycling of Ships is yet to be ratified by European Union, the ship-breakers
in Gujarat definitely stand a chance to get priority from ship sellers in
Japan,” Captain Chadha said.
Chetan Patel, owner of Shree Ram Group of Industries
which has applied for similar certification says, “The ship owners in Japan and
other places are under tremendous pressure from environmental organisations in
their respective countries to stop dumping old ships in ship-recycling yards in
Asia where people think environmental laws are flouted. We want to tell the
ship owners in Japan and Europe that at Alang we follow environmental norms and
old ships are broken in an organised manner. In short we feel that Class NK
certificate holders from Alang will be given priority when they will go for
buying ships.”
Source: indian express.
11 October 2015
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