Ship Recycling: Important Strides Made Globally

Ship Recycling: Important Strides Made Globally

in Hellenic Shipping News 13/12/2023

The ship recycling industry regulatory and compliance status has improved significantly over the past couple of weeks, despite the fact that the market remains subdued. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Clarkson Platou Hellas said that “as we head deeper into December and towards the festive holidays, market activity remains limited with few ships being made available for a recycling sale and, looking at the ‘arrivals’ list at the recycling destinations in the Indian sub-Continent, it is evident tonnage is sparse by the lack of new arrivals. Price levels remain stable as per recent weeks for the time being from all recycling destinations. Meantime, following on from last week’s report where further ‘Green’ credentials were reported from certain areas in an effort to clean up the industry, there has been an announcement today where the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have introduced a strict ship recycling regulation with their intention to deliver more robust and extreme responsible ship recycling program to the ship recycling facilities in operation in the UAE”.

According to the shipbroker, “the UAE Ship Recycling Regulation (UAE SRR) appears to be on the outside, more severe than the EU SRR as it bans not only beaching, but also landing at an intertidal zone – the question is whether this will also apply to Turkey in addition to the Indian sub-Continent, or will it apply purely to the few UAE recycling facilities. From the initial reports perused through today, it would appear the new regulations, that will come into effect in June 2025, shall apply to:

(a) UAE flagged vessels.
(b) Foreign tonnage recycled in the UAE.
(c) Foreign ships where the decision to recycle was made while the vessel was in EAE waters.
(d) Foreign tonnage performing final last voyage for recycling directly from UAE waters.

Item (d) above could be of particular concern as the strategy behind this could stop all ‘as is’ deliveries to cash buyers (no change of ownership) in UAE waters prior to ballasting the final voyage to the recycling destination. Further clarifications should be known in the weeks ahead and what repercussions, if any will affect the global recycling destinations”, Clarkson Platou Hellas concluded.

Meanwhile, in a separate report, Best Oasis (https://www.best-oasis.com/), a leading cash buyer of ships, said in its weekly report, that ‘the current state of the ship recycling sector in India has shown a slight improvement compared to the previous week. Additionally, there has been a minor improvement in the local market. On the other hand, the situation in Pakistan has been very quiet this week, similar to the situation in Bangladesh. The current situation in Bangladesh is characterized by a sluggish pace, primarily attributed to a shortage of US dollars and the anticipation surrounding the upcoming elections. Türkiye appears to be experiencing an upward trajectory, with few positive indicators observed. The European List of ship recycling facilities had its 12th edition adopted by the European Commission. Two yards situated in Türkiye and one yard in the United States are re-included on the amended list, following a five-year absence.

Source: Best Oasis

Five listed yards in Norway and one listed yard in Finland have also had their inclusion dates extended by the Commission. Additionally, three establishments situated in Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway have been removed from the revised inventory due to their discontinuation of activities related to ship recycling. At present, there are 45 ship-recycling facilities on the European List, 15 in the United States, 9 in Turkey, and 35 yards in Europe (EU, Norway, and UK). Saudi Arabia and Russia, the two largest oil exporting nations globally, issued a joint statement on December 7, urging all member countries of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) to participate in an agreement to reduce oil production for the sake of the global economy. The Russian President made an impromptu visit to Riyadh to meet with the Saudi Crown Prince. One of the main topics of discussion during the meeting was the potential for coordinated measures on the global oil markets”, Best Oasis concluded.
Nikos Roussanoglou, Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide