Page 35 from: Recycling International February issue | 2021
BUSINESS
35recyclinginternational.com | January/February | 2021
three more are expected to arrive this
year. They come from Britain, Italy and
the United States. ‘We purchased two
vessels from Carnival Cruise Lines, the
Carnival Fantasy and the Carnival
Inspiration,’ says Simsek ‘Our neigh-
bours are taking care of the other
three.’
LIMITED SHORE LINE
Simsekler Ship Recycling yard is locat-
ed on a 36 000 m2 piece of land,
sandwiched between fellow ship-
breakers. The company has a work-
force of 120 at the yard and 15 people
employed in management and the
office.
Simsekler can handle up to 100 000
tonnes a year. The yard’s shoreline is
just 105 metres long which limits the
number of ships that can be handled
at a time. ‘Currently, we have two
cruise vessels and a small oil tanker.
Each cruise vessel is 36m wide and
weighs some 30 000 tonnes. Together
these occupy 70 metres, leaving room
for a small, 30 metre tanker,’ says
Simsek, who grew up in ports and
shipyards and is a board member of
the International Ship Recycling
Association.
Simsekler claims to be among the first
ship recycling companies to install an
impermeable floor at their yard, ‘even
before a Hong Kong Convention
requirement came into force in 2009’.
TEAK FOR LOCAL HOTELS
It takes roughly a year to fully disman-
tle an average passenger cruise ship.
So what makes scrapping a cruise ves-
sel different from scrapping a cargo
ship? Compared to other types of ves-
sels, passenger ships need more time
for the dismantling process. ‘The rea-
son lies in the more complicated and
detailed construction and materials,’
explains Simsek. ‘A cruise ship has
many more compartments and is load-
ed with furniture, insulation, electrics
and electronic elements and these all
have to be taken out piece by piece.’
Compared to other vessels, most pas-
senger ships contain large amounts of
wood – mostly teak – and the Carnival
vessels are no exception. So far 100
tonnes of high quality teak has been
removed from the multi-story decks
and stairs and there are many more
tonnes to come. ‘It’s amazing how
much wood is used in these ships. All
of the walkways, open spaces and
most of the interior furniture is con-
structed with wood materials which
we sell to local hotels and carpenter
shops. Most is reused for flooring.’
With Turkey being the world’s biggest
steel scrap importer (19 million tonnes
in 2019), steel from the vessels easily
finds its way to nearby recyclers and
smelters which, according to Simsek,
‘are just 5-7 km from our yards’. Non-
ferrous metals are also sold to local
buyers, while the large amounts of
cables go to licensed facilities for spe-
cial treatment, as required by Turkish
environmental rules.
NOT A JOB WITHOUT RISK
Dozens of workers are involved in
removing walls, windows, floors and
railings so it’s safety first, both on
board and at the yard. For these rea-
sons, Simsek has to restrict the num-
ber of workers inside the vessel at any
one time. ‘It’s crucial to work accord-
ing to the proceedings of the ship
recycling plan. If we notice that the
plan is not going as we expect, we go
back to the drawing board and
reschedule everything with our envi-
ronmental engineers and technical
experts.’
TURKEY’S SHIP DISMANTLING DNA
Turkey’s ship recycling history goes back almost a
century, when the first vessel was scrapped in 1925
near Istanbul. However, the Istanbul area turned
out to be far from ideal for this type of industry. ‘It
can be quite risky towing a scrap vessel through
the dangerous and busy Bosphorus and the narrow
route at Canakkale,’ says ship recycler Orbay
Simsek.
In the 1970 all ship-dismantling activities were
moved 400 km south to the Aliaga peninsular
which has a direct connection to the Aegean Sea.
Today the Aliaga industrial zone is home to 22 ship
dismantling yards and recycling facilities, altogeth-
er processing more than 1 million tonnes of steel
scrap a year making Turkey the biggest ship recy-
cler in the Mediterranean.
Turkey’s ship dismantlers claim to comply with the
same international laws and environmental and
ecological rules as fellow ship recyclers across EU.
‘Our advantage is lower labour costs making us
more competitive,’ stresses Simsek. ‘Another thing,
Turkey does not have any problem with tides.’
‘ U n f o r t u n a t e l y, t h i s c r i s i s
h a s h a d m a n y v i c t i m s ’
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