Maersk Group has
responded to criticism by NGOs over its changed ship recycling stance to take a
swipe at the European Commission.
Yesterday, the
Clean Shipping Coalition, a group of NGOs, said in a release that the Danish
line’s decision to avoid European environmental law on ship recycling by
flagging ships to non-EU flags “seriously undermines its credibility as a
responsible ship operator”.
Up until last month
Maersk had been recycling mainly in China where ships are not beached and the
dismantling is viewed as more environmentally friendly. However, following many
trips to Alang in India to study which yards there are capable of recycling
ships in a more environmentally friendly fashion, Maersk dispatched two elderly
boxships there last month.
Maersk’s decision
to resort to the low-cost method of beaching and to flagging out its ships
beforehand undermines not only the company’s position as a responsible industry
leader, but also European efforts to improve global conditions, the Clean
Shipping Coalition said.
Recent technical
guidelines for ship recycling facilities issued by the European Commission
stress that a beach is not an appropriate place for a high-risk heavy industry
involving hazardous waste management.
Sotiris Raptis,
shipping officer at NGO Transport & Environment, said Maersk’s Alang
decision showed “a cavalier attitude” towards the environmental impacts of
dismantling ships in the intertidal zone.
However, Maersk has
hit back. Head of group sustainability Annette Stube told Splash: “The aim of
the EU legislation should be to raise the standards where the vast majority of
the world fleet is recycled. This is by no means accomplished by the suggested
legislation as it fails to support the development and improvement we have
witnessed in Alang. We strongly encourage the EU Commission to reconsider its
position as an unfortunate consequence of the suggested legislation is the
exclusion of the yards where more than 70% of the world’s fleet are recycled.”
Source: splash247.
8 June 2016
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