In addition to the current discussion on reducing CO2 emissions, perhaps the most controversial issue in the shipping industry is that of scrapping ships. SWZ|Maritime’s July/August special gives you the ins and outs of ship recycling, from recycling methods and legal aspects to stories from the field, including the scrapping of cruise ship Costa Concordia.
The discussion on ship recycling has been dragging on for decades with parties with shipping interests on one side and NGOs and politicians on the other. On May 5, the European Shipowners’ Association (ECSA) organised a webinar on ship recycling that once again turned into a discussion between deaf parties who absolutely do not want to listen to each other as they do not want to understand each other’s interests.
The approach of the European Union to force European shipowners to have their ships dismantled at facilities approved by Europe (34 European, eight Turkish and one American yard) seems to have little effect because dismantling is simply much more expensive in Europe than on the Indian subcontinent (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh). European shipowners are thus caught between legislators and the competition, which makes much more money from scrapping ships on the beaches of India, Pakistan, or Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, in shipbuilding and shipping circles, the need remains great to find solutions for a socially responsible, environmentally friendly and commercially viable way of scrapping. SWZ|Maritime tries to contribute to this quest with this July/August edition, which consists almost entirely of a special on the various aspects of ship recycling.
Guest editor Martijn van Wijngaarden
The coordination was done by Martijn van Wijngaarden, who, as a trained shipbuilder and longtime maritime consultant, has earned his spurs in the shipbuilding industry, especially in the offshore segment. An important job was the supervision of the demolition of one of the largest Dutch vessels ever, the crane ship Hermod, at a shipyard in China. In addition, he advised demolition yards in Alang in the possibilities of improving their business activities.
He arranged articles on a multitude of aspects: the different methods of recycling, the market players, the stakeholders, the legal aspects and stories from the field. Next to the Hermod, the story of the demolition of the unfortunate cruise ship Costa Concordia and that of a Dutch dredger are told. And articles on how ship scrapping can be better organized and that contribute to a realistic approach to the problem of how to scrap ships in a socially and environmentally acceptable way.
One of his articles has been published exclusively online, namely on the recycling of the Dutch dredger Amstel. Read it here.
The resources used for this special (also published as a Resources page in the magazine) are given in clickable hyperlinks below.
Conventions and regulations
- Basel Convention implementation for ship dismantling
- Basel Ban Amendment implementation
- Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships
- European Union Ship Recycling Regulation
- European List of Ship Recycling Facilities
- European Union Waste Shipments Regulation
- European Union Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive
Guidelines
- IMO MEPC Guidelines (6) for implementing Hong Kong Convention
- EMSA IHM Best Practice Guidelines
- EMSA PSC inspection guidelines to enforce EU SRR
- Ship recycling guidelines for devising a strategy in compliance with complex regulatory framework, Standard Club, October 2020
Books
- The Recycling of Ships by Dr. Nikos Mikelis, GMS. Second edition, October 2019
- ILO Safety and Health in Shipbreaking, Guidelines for Asian Countries and Turkey, 2004
Reports
- The Current Picture and the Future Vision of the Ship Recycling Industry, WMU, Y. Urano, 2012
- Preparatory survey on the ship recycling yard improvement project in India, final report, JICA, 2017
- Ship Recycling, An Overview, OECD Policy Paper No. 68, April 2019
- BIMCO report on the European List of Ship Recycling Facilities, Marprof, December 2020
- Litehauz reports on Composites in Shipping, February 2021
Webinars
SWZ|Maritime
- Verbod sloopstranden stuit op verzet, A.A. Oosting, SWZ|Maritime 09-2016
- Design for Recycling, R.J. Berendschot, SWZ|Maritime 09-2016
- Noorse reders en Boskalis wijzen de weg in strijd tegen sloopstranden, A.A. Oosting, SWZ|Maritime 09-2015
- Shipbreaking Innovations in Asia, A.M. van Wijngaarden, SWZ 04-2004
Later this year, our archive will be available again to subscribers. This way, these SWZ|Maritime ship recycling articles can be accessed.
The Guardian
Public information platforms
- NGO Shipbreaking Platform Annual Lists
- SRTI Progress and Annual Reports
- Demogate market services platform
Recycling documentaries
Recycling project movies
- Dockwise Vanguard loading Hermod
- Recycling Rijndelta time-lapse at SSN
- Decommissioning of the M/V Kaami at Kishorn port
- Costa Concordia recycling timelapse Die lukrative Costa Concordia-Verschrottung | Wirtschaft kompakt
- Turkey’s ship-breaking business steams ahead as coronavirus sinks global cruise liner industry
- How $300 million cruise ships are demolished
- A ship disappears by recycling
- Shree Ram Group of Industries Alang – Green ship recycling
- Baijnath Melaram – Alang’s First Off Shore Crane
- Ship Recycling | 3 VLOCs beached within one week, GMS
Picture: Crane vessel Hermod positioned above carrier Vanguard, on her last voyage from Rotterdam for recycling in China (SWZ|Maritime’s July/August 2021 cover picture by Heerema Marine Contractors).
