APSEZ is looking to tap potential arising
from global regulations on environmentally safe and sound ship recycling
Bengaluru:
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ) has received environment and
coastal regulation zone approvals from a top government agency for setting up a
ship recycling facility at its port in Mundra, Gujarat.
By
getting into the ship recycling business, India’s biggest private port
developer is looking to tap potential arising from global regulations on
environmentally safe and sound ship recycling, which will limit the number of
facilities where end-of-life ships can be dismantled unless they conform to
these rules.
The
Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) in the ministry of environment, forest and
climate change approved an application filed by APSEZ at its meeting on 29
June, according to the minutes of the meeting reviewed by Mint.
APSEZ
too confirmed the approval.
The
proposed facility, spread over 40.7 hectares, will recycle ships of up to
16,000 light displacement tonnage (LDT) or 80,000 dead weight tonnes (DWT)
cargo carrying capacity. About 0.3 million tonnes of material is expected to be
recovered from recycled ships at the facility every year.
LDT
refers to the weight of the ship excluding general cargo, fuel, water, ballast,
stores, passengers, crew, but with water in boilers to steaming level. One LDT
is equal to 1 tonne.
The
facility, to be located in Mundra taluk of Gujarat’s Kutch district, is
hundreds of nautical miles away from Alang-Sosiya in the state’s Bhavnagar
district, home to the world’s largest stretch of ship-breaking beaches.
The
beaching method of breaking ships practised along a 12-km stretch of
Alang-Sosiya is often criticized for its lax safety and health aspects. Under
the beaching method, ships are first grounded during high tide and then
dismantled, posing hazards to workers and the environment.
To
be sure, ship recyclers in Alang-Sosiya have started upgrading their facilities
to conform to global rules. Five of the 167 ship recycling yards located in
Alang-Sosiya—R.L. Kalthia Ship Breaking Pvt. Ltd, Priya Blue Industries Pvt. Ltd,
Leela Ship Recycling Pvt. Ltd, Shree Ram Group and Shubh Arya Steel Pvt.
Ltd—have been certified by global ship verifiers for compliance with the Hong
Kong International Convention (HKC) for the Safe and Environmentally Sound
Recycling of Ships, that was adopted by the International Maritime Organization
(IMO), the global maritime regulator, in 2009.
A
further 17 yards have been appraised and audited by global agencies for
compliance certification, according to the Gujarat Maritime Board, which
oversees operations at Alang-Sosiya.
The
IMO’s Hong Kong International Convention is, however, yet come into force
because it has not been ratified by 15 states—representing 40% of world
merchant shipping by gross tonnage (capacity) and a maximum annual ship recycling
volume not less than 3% of the combined tonnage of the states.
The
five yards have also applied to the European Commission to be included in its
list of approved ship recycling facilities where ships flying the flag of a
European Union (EU) member state can be sent for dismantling.
The
European Commission will draw up a list of ship recycling facilities by
December this year that have demonstrated compliance with the ship recycling
regulation published by the EU in 2013. While the IMO convention does not
prohibit dismantling of old ships by the beaching method, the ship recycling
regulation published by the EU seeks to ban this method of dismantling ships.
“More
and more yards in Alang are getting interested in getting HKC compliance
certification,” said Simos Dimitriou, an executive at GMS Inc., the world’s
largest cash buyer of ships for dismantling. “The five HKC-certified yards are
getting ships for recycling which none of the others can buy because of owners
who are more into corporate social responsibility,” he added.
“The
HKC-compliant recycling yards are getting ships at lower rates. Yards that are
strictly green are getting ships at 5-10% lower rates. They are seeing the
benefits. Sooner or later there is going to be a requirement for other yards to
be like those five,” Dimitriou said.
Yards in Alang-Sosiya recycled 249 ships in
the year ended March 2016, turning out nearly 2.43 million tonnes of steel.
Source: live mint. 28 July 2016
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