GMS, the world’s largest buyer of scrapped ships, has called on the European Commission to include qualified Indian yards on its approved list of ship recycling facilities.
The EU’s Ship Recycling Regulation, which includes the European List, was adopted to provide a regulatory framework for the recycling of large seagoing vessels sailing under an EU Member State flag. Approved yards can be anywhere in the world.
In a press release, GMS complains that, despite more than 110 Indian yards holding Hong Kong Convention Statements of Compliance, more than 35 formal applications and after at least 10 European Commission-led inspections and audits, not one Indian yard has been approved for more than a decade.
Political will
According to GMS, the continued absence of Indian facilities from the European List reflects a lack of political will rather than a lack of compliance with international standards. It argues that yards in Alang in particular should be included.
‘Modern yards in Alang now operate on impermeable concrete floors with closed-loop drainage systems,’ GMS argues. ‘Hazardous materials such as asbestos, PCBs and heavy metals are managed through mandatory Inventories of Hazardous Materials and disposed of via authorised treatment facilities.’
GMS trader Kiran Thorat says the yards at Alang have invested heavily, retrained thousands of workers and rebuilt infrastructure to meet international standards. ‘They have undergone repeated audits and received certification from leading classification societies, yet the European Commission continues to withhold approval without transparent justification.’
Future capacity
The company says India has dismantled more than 8 500 vessels over the past four decades, recovering over 67 million tonnes of steel. The Alang recycling cluster has an estimated annual capacity of around 4.5 million light displacement tonnes, exceeding the combined operational capacity of all facilities currently included on the European List.
The Baltic and International Maritime Council calculates that approximately 15 000 vessels will require recycling by 2032, far exceeding the current capacity available on the European List.
GMS is urging the Commission to approve qualified Indian yards, recognise the Hong Kong Convention as the primary global framework for ship recycling and resolve regulatory conflicts through facility-level assessments rather than geographic exclusion.
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