Page 42 from: November 2014

42 November 2014

EU puts squeeze
on Asian yards
Indian ship dismantlers have angrily denounced the EU’s planned

introduction of tougher regulations. Representatives of the world’s

largest ship recycling nation, attending Informa’s latest Ship Recycling

Conference in London, were equally dismissive of the Hong Kong

Convention in a stand-off that leaves ship owners questioning how

they will be able to dispose of end-of-life vessels in a safe and envi-

ronmentally responsible manner.

The provisions of the EU Ship Recycling Regulation (SRR) are impracticable and
amount to foreign intervention in India’s

affairs, according to Haresh Parmar, honorary

joint secretary of the Ship Recycling Industries

Association (India).

Alang on the coast of Gujarat in north-west

India, the world’s largest ship recycling site,

attracts particular criticism from the environ-

mental and health lobbies because most of the

ships dismantled on its beach contain hazard-

ous wastes such as PCBs and asbestos. Although

the latest international standards do not direct-

ly prohibit beaching, in effect they do so by

specifying that cutting should be carried out

on ‘fixed structures’ such as slipways and that

working surfaces should be impermeable.

Alang’s location and the small sizes of indi-

vidual plots made it difficult to comply, Parmar

argued at the recent Ship Recycling Conference

in London. ‘Our code is as good as Hong Kong

(the Hong Kong Convention) or the EU regula-

tion,’ he said, referring to a verdict of India’s

Supreme Court in 2006 which effectively laid

down a framework for how India’s ship recy-

clers should operate.

Beaching essential
The court decision related to the Blue Lady, a

French vessel sold to a recycler at Alang in 2006

after the Bangladeshi government refused entry

because of the hazardous waste it contained.

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) were

concerned that the vessel could not be disman-

tled in a safe and environmentally friendly man-

ner at Alang, and filed a petition to try to prevent

it, but the court decided the work could go ahead.

Parmar told the conference that India’s ship

recycling code covered all the requirements of

the Hong Kong Convention (HKC) and the

SRR, but made clear: ‘Beaching is our bread and

butter. No beaching, no industry in India.’

Ruling out Indian ratification of the HKC, he

said: ‘We can’t invest millions of dollars. No

discussion is possible.’

There was now regular monitoring of gas emis-

sions, sea water and the soil surrounding

Alang’s recycling sites, Parmar claimed. Clas-

sification societies had certified many yards as

‘green’ and meeting ISO standards. A method-

ology for double bottom cutting had been

devised to avoid contamination, and improved

systems were in place for cleaning tanks and

removing asbestos and radioactive materials.

Parmar stressed that workers were now thor-

oughly trained, and their health more closely

monitored. ‘There is improvement in the work-

ing culture but the industry is over-regulated,’ he

complained, contrasting India’s commitment to

responsible recycling with the situation in China.

Ship recycling facility plans
Junichi Hirata, deputy general manager at Class

NK’s practical R&D promotion division, said his

organisation had completed its analysis of five

ship recycling facility plans (SRFPs) as required

under the HKC, and was under way with eight

more. The process involved pre-assessment, study

of relevant legislation, gap analysis and the draw-

ing-up of improvement plans where required,

Hirata said. Gap analysis at the Alang facility

showed that the best recyclers were already pull-

ing vessels up onto an impermeable floor.

Primary block cutting in an inter-tidal zone was

not prohibited under the HKC, only the drop-

ping of blocks into the water. It was also neces-

sary to clean beaches as soon as possible after

pulling blocks over them. However, Hirata

pointed out that this was not allowed under the

EU’s SRR because it did not permit leakage in

inter-tidal zones, so new technologies or safer

locations would be needed.

S h i p b r e a k i n g By Martin Roebuck

India and the ship recycling impasse

Emilien Gasc: ‘Too many nuan-
ces to beaching.’

Haresh Parmar: ‘No discussion is
possible.’

RI-9_Shipbreaking.indd 42 10-11-14 16:49