Dutch banks ABN AMRO, ING and NIBC together with the Scandanavian SEB and DNB have pledged their commitment to introduce Responsible Ship Recycling Standards (RSRS) for their ship financing endeavours.
The announcement came as the NOR-Shipping trade fair kicked off in Oslo on Tuesday 30 May.
The banks took the opportunity of making this announcement during the biannual industry gathering in order to raise awareness with the intention of including more banks into the initiative. The Norwegian fund, KLP, who in 2016 commissioned a report by the International Law and Policy Institute on shipbreaking, had also already taken a stance to reject beaching practices.
The collective move by leading banks to include ship recycling conditions on loans is a positive step to imposing responsible practices on ship owners. It includes financial institutions with large shipping portfolios.
The NGO Shipbreaking Platform has categorically stated its support for the move.
Abiding by the law
Ingvild Jenssen, Founder and Director of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform said: ‘We welcome the leading role taken by the banks to ensure a departure from the unnecessarily dirty and dangerous practice of beaching, and expect that investors and clients of shipping that are increasingly pushing for higher standards for ship recycling will join the initiative.’
The organisation’s support is based on the premise that when there is pressure for change coming from shipping financers, who understand that they have a direct tangible impact on the shipping industry, ship owners will feel the urgency to recycle responsibly off the beach rather than find loopholes in the law.
