Shipping Groups Push EU to Approve Indian Ship Recycling Yards

Major shipping industry groups are urging European policymakers to approve two Indian ship recycling yards for inclusion on the European Union’s approved list, setting up a clash with environmental groups that argue the facilities should be excluded because they use the controversial beaching method.

BIMCO, European Shipowners | ECSA, the International Chamber of Shipping, INTERCARGO, INTERTANKO and the World Shipping Council issued a joint statement Wednesday welcoming the European Commission’s proposal to add the two facilities to the European List of Ship Recycling Facilities.

The groups said the move would help address a shortage of approved recycling capacity as a growing number of ships are expected to reach the end of their operating lives over the coming decade.

“The inclusion of these two facilities is an important step towards resolving the structural capacity shortage on the European List,” the groups said.

The proposal would add Shree Ram Vessel Scrap Pvt. Ltd./Shree Ram Shipping Industries Pvt. Ltd. and YSI Recyclers LLP, both located in Alang-Sosiya, Gujarat, to the EU list.

The European Commission determined after reviewing the facilities that both meet the safety and environmental requirements of the EU Ship Recycling Regulation. The two yards use the beaching method, in which ships are driven onto intertidal areas before being dismantled.

That finding has opened a wider debate over whether upgraded South Asian beaching yards should qualify under European environmental standards.

Shipping groups argue the decision should be based on whether individual facilities meet EU requirements rather than where they are located or the recycling method they employ.

They said the Indian yards have made significant investments in infrastructure, worker safety and environmental management since the adoption of the Hong Kong Convention in 2009.

“Inclusion on the European List should be determined solely on whether a facility meets the EU SRR’s safety and environmental requirements, based on objective assessment and inspection,” the groups said.

The issue is becoming increasingly important for shipowners as the industry prepares for a wave of vessel retirements.

More than 95% of global ship recycling currently takes place in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Turkey, according to the industry groups. All four countries are parties to the IMO’s Hong Kong Convention, which entered into force last year and establishes global requirements for safe and environmentally sound ship recycling.

But environmental campaigners strongly oppose adding the Indian yards. The NGO Shipbreaking Platform has urged the European Commission to reject the facilities, arguing that beaching ships on tidal mudflats makes it difficult to contain oil, hazardous materials and other pollutants.

“None of the beaching yards would be allowed to clone their operations on a tidal mudflat in the EU,” NGO Shipbreaking Platform Executive Director Ingvild Jenssen said in July. “Their inclusion on the EU List will set a chilling double standard and seriously undermine the EU’s own ship recycling sector.”

The group pointed to a heavy fuel oil spill at another Gujarat recycling facility in June as evidence of the environmental risks associated with beaching and has also raised questions about compliance with the Basel Convention governing international movements of hazardous waste.

Under the EU Ship Recycling Regulation, large seagoing vessels flying an EU flag can only be recycled at facilities included on the European List. The current list includes 41 facilities across EU member states, Norway, the United Kingdom, Turkey and the United States.

The proposed addition of the Indian yards would therefore mark an important expansion of the system into South Asia, where much of the world’s ship recycling actually takes place.

European shipowners have pushed for that change for years, arguing that excluding compliant non-OECD facilities limits recycling capacity and reduces incentives for yards elsewhere to invest in higher standards.

The six shipping organizations are now calling on European policymakers to move ahead with the Commission’s proposed update and approve the two Indian facilities.

The decision could ultimately become an important test of how Europe reconciles its own ship recycling rules with the global Hong Kong Convention — and whether upgraded South Asian yards using beaching can satisfy the EU’s environmental standards.

Subscribe for Daily Maritime Insights

Sign up for gCaptain’s newsletter and never miss an update

— trusted by our 106,507 members