Europe has the capacity and the technical know-how to
repair and maintain vessels and oil and gas rigs. There is a strong business
case for Europe to maintain and expand a specialised off–shore recycling
industry. Many floating oil and gas structures need to be decommissioned in the
coming years. Alongside this, the opportunities for the recycling of merchant
ships in EU yards will be augmented. Now it is the Commission that needs to
seize the opportunity and equip the Ship Recycling Regulation (SRR) with teeth
by introducing a financial instrument that encourages ship owners to recycle
their vessels in facilities approved by the EU.
Two consecutive events, organised by the European
Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and Members of the European Parliament
(MEPs) Margrete Auken (DK), Pascal Durand (FR) and Bart Staes (BE) of the EP’s
Green Group, have highlighted the need for the European Commission to act
urgently.
A financial instrument is needed to ensure
compliance with the EU Ship Recycling Regulation
While the EU’s 2013 Ship Recycling Regulation (SRR)
effectively bans “beaching” (ship-breaking on beaches) and lays down rules and
standards for safe and sustainable recycling of European ships, including
floating oil and gas structures, it fails in its purpose, in that international
maritime law facilitates the swapping of a ship’s flag. Indeed, end-of-life
ships are sold to scrap dealers known for using ‘flags of convenience’,
allowing ship owners to shrug off responsibility for proper ship recycling.
In its latest opinion on Shipbreaking and the recycling
society, the EESC advocated a financial incentive under the SRR to effectively
stop ship owners from circumventing the law by simply swapping the ship’s flag
to that of a non-EU state. “Now there is the momentum and right support from a
broad coalition of stakeholders to go ahead with introducing a financial
incentive under the Ship Recycling Regulation,” argued EESC member Martin
Siecker and EESC-delegate Richard Adams, with great conviction. “We need a
financial instrument that encourages ship owners to care for a dismantling of
their end-to-live vessels in a way respecting European standards.” The
financial instrument proposed by the EESC and now also supported by MEPs Auken,
Durand and Staes provides for a specific fee for each ship, held in escrow by a
major financial institution that would build up capital to finance safe and
sustainable recycling. The amount of the fee would be determined by a
combination of tonnage, type of transport, frequency of calling at EU ports,
design based on the cradle-to-cradle principle and the presence of toxic
materials on board. The capital is created by ship owners who, every time one
of their vessels calls at an EU port, pay the appropriate charge to the fund
linked to that specific vessel. At the end of the ship’s life, this fund could
be reclaimed if the ship is indeed recycled in an EU-approved yard and thus
used to make up for the loss of revenue stemming from going for responsible
dismantling.
European industry ready to seize the
opportunity – hundreds of jobs for Europe
Invited representatives of the recycling industry and
European ports have confirmed that they have the know-how to dismantle vessels
according to European laws and that they are willing to invest and create
sustainable jobs in Europe. Initiatives in this regard already exist in several
Member States and should be supported. “If the EU takes the Juncker plan
seriously, it has to grab such a chance for Europe’s industry and provide the
necessary legal instruments. Only then can ‘beaching’ come to a halt”, said MEP
Margrete Auken. Furthermore, this industry would provide Europe, and
particularly its steel industry, with raw materials, whose scarcity and high
and volatile prices are a cause for concern. Already fixed oil installations in
the North Sea need to be removed and recycled in Europe according to the OSPAR
rules.
Ship owners not enthusiastic
However, European ship owners expressed strong
reservations arguing that the IMO’s Hong Kong Convention set adequate standards
to eliminate the abuses that had been illustrated by participants in the event.
This was in spite of the clear evidence presented that HKC-certified ‘yards’
were not meeting even the lower level of compliance required. ECSA, the European
Community Shipowners’ Association, also suggested that EU yards had no capacity
to meet global demand and costs would be prohibitive. The concept of making
ship-owners pay to properly dispose of their end of life vessels was not
welcomed.
Europe needs to meet its moral obligation
Ship-breaking on beaches –
“beaching” – in countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and other
countries in South Asia, is the most dangerous job in the world according to
the ILO. In the EESC’s view, it is also one of the most inhuman. Still, over
the last thirty years the great majority of decommissioned vessels have been
transported there for “beaching” – rammed ashore where unprotected workers
strip it down in the inter-tidal zone, creating environmental havoc. “This needs
to be stopped as the EU does also have a moral duty to defend workers’ basic
rights abroad”, said Martin Siecker. “European shipping companies must follow
European standards, and the oil and gas sector which has operated in the North
Sea and other EU waters should be properly disposed of their assets in
facilities on the EU list of approved ship recycling yards” he concluded.
Source:
hellenic
shipping news. 01 July 2-17
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