In the 4th version of European List of ship recycling facilities published today, the European Commission has added six new yards to the List. These include 3 yards from the EU – in Italy, Finland and Denmark, and for the first time, 3 yards located outside the EU – 2 yards in Turkey and one yard in the United States. From 31 December 2018, the EU Ship Recycling Regulation requires all large sea-going vessels sailing under an EU Member State flag to use an approved ship recycling facility included in the European List.
European ship owners own 35% of the world fleet. A large percentage of these is being dismantled on beaches in South Asia, under conditions harmful to workers’ health and the environment. With the adoption of the updated List, the European Commission has taken an important step to help ensure that ships are recycled in facilities that are safe for workers and environmentally sound.
EU Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Karmenu Vella said: “The EU is committed to reducing the impact of EU shipping industry on the environment, including through better protection of environment and workers in ship recycling. The inclusion of the first yards located outside the EU is a major milestone and the recognition of very significant efforts and resources dedicated by the concerned yards towards this goal. The updated List will increase the recycling capacity of the European List, and give European ship owners a wider range of recycling options.”
The new yards in Turkey and USA have demonstrated that they fulfil the strict requirements for inclusion in the List and as a result will have access to the recycling of ships flying the flags of the EU Member States. In addition, another 24 yards located outside the EU have applied for inclusion in the European List of ship recycling facilities. The Commission is currently assessing how these yards comply with the requirements for such inclusion, as set out in EU rules on ship recycling. This work is ongoing; the applications are being thoroughly reviewed and site inspections conducted to check their credentials.
The Commission has also published a technical note on the analysis by the European Maritime Safety Agency of vessels dismantled in the last 5 years. According to this note, which was also discussed with the EU Member States at the expert group meeting on ship recycling on 3 October 2018, the EU flagged vessels scrapped annually over the period 2013-2017 amounted to 588.000 Light Displacement Tonnes[i] (LDT) per year. In comparison, the updated European List has now a total available recycling capacity of 1.72 million LDT.
[i] Light displacement tonnes (LDT) means the weight of a ship in tonnes without cargo, fuel, lubricating oil in storage tanks, ballast water, fresh water, feedwater, consumable stores, passengers and crew and their effects; it is the sum of the weight of the hull, structure, machinery, equipment and fittings of the ship.
Background
With the new update, the EU list of ship recycling facilities contains 26 yards. The EU list is regularly updated, to add more compliant facilities or to remove facilities which have ceased to comply. To be included in the European List, any ship recycling facility irrespective of its location has to comply with a number of safety and environmental requirements. New yards located within and outside the EU might be included in the List in 2019.
