EU shipowners call for sustainable recycling

In a position paper published earlier this week, the shipowners also called for a ‘smart application’ of the 2013 EU Ship Recycling Regulation (EU SRR) to act as a lever by incentivising ship recycling yards to upgrade towards compliance with the HKC requirements.

“We need to ensure that the Hong Kong Convention is ratified as soon as possible” said Patrick Verhoeven, secretary-general, European Community Shipowners’ Association (ECSA). “It places clear obligations on all operators and on all IMO parties to make sure that ship recycling does not entail any unnecessary risks to human health, safety and the environment”.

In addition, EU shipowners have issued recommendations to the shipping industry to ensure the proper recycling of their vessels, especially during the interim period before the entry into force of the KHC and full application of the EU SRR.

The safe and environment-friendly recycling of end-of-life ships is something that has become an issue over the past few years, and EU shipowners are therefore looking to help improve the international regulatory framework. But, the ratification efforts have slowed due to the entry into force criteria of the Convention, which require both major Flag States and Recycling States to commit to the HKC, leading to a ‘wait and see’ situation.

EU shipowners say the EU Ship Recycling Regulation, adopted in 2013, can become a valuable tool in bringing the world’s largest ship recycling yards closer to HKC standards by allowing them to apply for inclusion on the so-called EU List of approved recycling yards where EU flagged ships can be dismantled.

“We call on all shipowners to act in good faith and draw up plans to recycle their ships in a socially responsible and transparent way. In the first instance, this means that shipowners should ensure timely preparation or update of accurate Inventories of Hazardous Materials,” Mr Verhoeven added.

“We also encourage them to already make use of the EU List of approved recycling yards on a voluntary basis and to engage in constructive dialogue with all stakeholders” concluded Mr Verhoeven.