The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is making progress with national ship recycling regulations that are expected to be unveiled during 2022.
The move is said to be in line with UAE’s commitment to responsible ship recycling practices and comes at a time when numerous countries and industry players aim to make ship dismantling safer and greener.
In its latest circular, the UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure revealed it is in the process of formulating UAE’s Ship Recycling Regulations (UAE SRR).
“The purpose of the regulations will be to promote proper green ship recycling within the country and will be in line with the most stringent international ship recycling standard currently available in terms of environment and social governance,” the ministry said.
As explained, the UAE SRR will require all ship recycling activities to take place in a dry dock or equivalent infrastructures having impermeable flooring (no beaching).
Specifically, the regulations will be applied to:
The provisions of the regulations will not apply to ship under a gross tonnage of 500 and warships.
Although it plans to make ship recycling safer at a national level, the UAE has not yet acceded to the global treaty for safe and environmentally sound ship recycling — the Hong Kong Convention .
The convention is aimed at ensuring that ships, when being recycled after reaching the end of their operational lives, do not pose any unnecessary risk to human health and safety or to the environment.
The convention’s entry into force is expected 24 months after ratification by fifteen states, representing 40 percent of world merchant shipping by gross tonnage, combined maximum annual ship recycling volume not less than 3 percent of their combined tonnage.
Seventeen countries have so far ratified the convention, representing 29.77% of the gross tonnage of the world’s merchant marine.