The European Commission has added eight new yards to the European list of ship recycling facilities.
The newest edition includes five Norwegian, two Danish and one Turkish yard to the list of facilities suitable for the dismantling of EU-flagged vessels.
The new yards in Denmark and Norway have been notified to the commission by the competent national authorities, while the non-EU yard applied to join the list and demonstrated that it fulfills the strict requirements for inclusion.
“The EU is committed to reducing the impact of EU shipping industry on the environment, including through better protection of environment and workers in ship recycling,” Karmenu Vella, EU Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, said.
“The updated list will increase the recycling capacity of the European list, and give European ship owners a wider range of recycling options.”
European ship owners own 35 percent of the world fleet. A large percentage of these is being dismantled on beaches in South Asia, under conditions which are often harmful to workers’ health and the environment.
From December 31, 2018, the EU Ship Recycling Regulation requires all large sea-going vessels sailing under an EU member state flag to use an approved ship recycling facility included in the list.
With the new update, the European list of ship recycling facilities currently contains 34 yards, representing a total available annual recycling capacity of nearly 2.4 million light displacement tonnes.
Also, another 28 yards located outside the EU have applied for inclusion in the European list of ship recycling facilities. The commission said it is currently assessing how these yards comply with the requirements for such inclusion. The European Community Shipowners’ Associations (ECSA) has recently called on the EU to give the audited South Asian ship recycling facilities “a fair chance” to get on the EU list.
A study commissioned by international shipping association BIMCO in April this year found that only nine shipyards, out of 26 at the time, on the EU list of approved recycling facilities were realistically open for ship recycling. BIMCO further argued that only three of the 26 demolition yards could recycle a large ship; Panamax size or larger.