Section of oil drilling rig being offloaded at the recycling facility in Zhoushan China
Brussels, December 18, 2014 – Two leading Chinese ship recycling yards have applied for inclusion of their facilities in the future EU list of Ship Recycling Facilities.
The official documents for the application were presented yesterday in Brussels to Mr. Julio Burgués, Head of the Unit Waste management & Recycling of the European Commission’s Directorate General for Environment by Mr Li Hongwei owner of Zhoushan Changhong
International Ship Recycling Co., Ltd and Jiang Xiagang Changjiang Shiprecycling Yard.
With a capacity of respectively 100 vessels (1.1 million Light Displacement Ton) and 120 vessels (1, 2 million LDT) these two yards are the largest ship recycling facilities in the world.
The application follows the new Ship Recycling Regulation of the European Commission
which was adopted in November 2013.
Mr. Li stated that his goal is to serve all ship owners around the globe with the highest
possible standards and that sufficient green recycling capacity ‘no longer is subject to
discussion but a reality’. In addition Li stated; “We welcome the initiative of the European
Union and invite them to audit and inspect our yards at any given time. We are pleased to
improve and invest further to achieve the highest level required”.
The ceremony at the Berlaymont office of the European Commission in Brussels was
attended by Tom Peter Blankestijn of company Sea2Cradle who have assisted a significant
number of leading ship owners to recycle their vessels at the facilities in China. Mr.
Blankestijn stated “With the experience of executing close to a 100 projects these yards have
developed into the best in the world offering the highest standards on Health Safety and
Environment in the industry.”
Front Row. B.Veldhoven L.Hongwei, J.Burgués Second Row T.Kam, T.P.Blankestijn, W.Rozenveld P.Wessman
Last row B.Cieleszynski, E. Gasc, Y. Zhiping, J. Heath
The quality level of details of waste handling and waste disposal, now incorporated in the Ship Recycling Facility Plan (SRFP) , is the basis of today’s EU application. “We are very proud that these are the first yards, also from outside the OECD, to apply for EU approval”, says Blankestijn, emphasizing that working together with Lloyds Register was of great benefit to achieve this quality level of the yard procedures.
Although the internal process towards publication of the EU list is still
ongoing representatives of the DG Environment of the European Commission, who had visited the yards in 2013, stated to be very pleased with the application of the Chinese yards to the EU list of Facilities.
The European Union itself was complimented by Secretary General Bernard Veldhoven of the International Ship Recycling Association (ISRA) for their legislative work. “Europe has shown us that when there is a political will, legislation can change the dynamics of an industry in a relatively short period.”A second compliment from ISRA went to mr Li Hongwei for creating a huge ship recyclingcapacity in China and offering ship owners the green alternative for phasing out their ships. It is expected more members of the International Ship Recycling Association (ISRA), amongst them yards in Turkey, will follow the application process.
About Sea2Cradle
Sea2Cradle provides the maritime industry with broad experience and vast expertise in the
field of safe and environmentally sound recycling of ships and floating structures. The offer a
range of services to those who want to achieve early implementation of the IMO’s Hong
Kong Convention and the EU’s Ship Recycling Regulation and work with selected ship
recycling facilities, ship owners, brokers and other stakeholders in a commitment to improve
the quality of recycling of ships with the aim of zero accidents and zero pollution.
