London - The
Sustainable Shipping Initiative (“SSI”) – a pioneering coalition of companies
from across the global shipping industry – is today holding its second
roundtable with key industry stakeholders to discuss the challenges and
barriers to achieving sustainable ship recycling, and how they can be overcome.
Improving the health, safety and environmental standards associated with ship
recycling is a key SSI work stream, and an important element of the SSI’s
recently launched Roadmap, which charts the key milestones which must be met to
create a sustainable shipping industry by 2040.
Held under Chatham
House rules, participants include members of the SSI, as well as
representatives from regulatory bodies, ship owners, ship breaking and ship
recycling companies, as well as NGOs, industry bodies and class societies; key
stakeholders from across the value chain who are central to developing
sustainable standards within ship recycling.
“This forum is an
example of how the SSI and its members are working together with the industry
to help facilitate understanding and change in key areas that will further
shipping’s progress towards sustainability,” said Alastair Fischbacher, CEO,
the Sustainable Shipping Initiative.
“Ship recycling is
a critical part of the shipping lifecycle, but also one of the industry’s most
contentious and complex issues, with diverse opinions on what should be done to
improve its sustainability. Our forum has been designed to stimulate open, and
transparent debate, so that we can work with the industry to find consensus and
common ground to develop tangible plans that can be put into action.”
While the Hong Kong
Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships (HKC) is
yet to be formally ratified, several yards in Alang, India, have received
accreditation with the standards of the HKC, which is a positive step. However,
this is a foundation to develop from, and significant progress needs to be made
in further improving safe, environmentally and socially responsible ship
recycling. The SSI is looking to encourage and support sustainable ship
recycling, which incorporates not only the requirements of the HKC but also
social best practice, environmental compliance and health and safety standards
which meet member and external scrutiny.
Alastair
Fischbacher concluded: “We are hopeful that progress will be made, and that we
can build on the momentum from 2015. We look forward to working with our
members, as well as those within the industry who are committed to developing
sustainable ship recycling practices. These kind of initiatives espouse what
the SSI was established for, and showcase the commitment and drive of our
members in actively engaging and collaborating with the industry to drive
change, and achieve our vision of a sustainable shipping industry by 2040.”
Source: AJOT. 9
March 2016
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