European Parliament supports ship recycling fund

Europe – The EU should financially reward responsible and lawful ship scrapping, the European Parliament’s environment committee stated in a vote last week. It argues that such a move will prevent companies from sending old ships to cheaper but unsafe facilities in the developing world. The environment committee backed the concept of a recycling fund, which is to be financed through a levy on all large ships journeying to EU ports as well as anchorages. There are currently three options for implementing the levy; owners could pay an annual fee, a per-visit fee or make a one-time payment in advance.

It is said that the yards allowed to claim payments from the fund is limited to certain facilities on a ‘European list’ officially approved by the commission. Whether they are located in Europe or not will not be a factor. The committee has so far conceived financial safeguards to guarantee that a sufficient sum enters the fund before claims can be made.

Facilities would only be able to claim a payment for recycling ships that have fulfilled the annual levy for at least twice, or the full upfront fee. This means that payments will not be available for recycling ships that have only paid the per-visit levy.

However, parliament rapporteur Carl Schylter told his MEP colleagues that the commission is unlikely to meet its aims unless compliance is financially beneficial.

The full parliament is scheduled to vote on the proposal in Strasbourg this May.

Source: ENDS Europe