First wave of ship recycling rules goes into effect in Europe

EUROPE's new ship recycling regulation that came into effect on New Year's Day will have a direct impact on shore-based businesses and on shipowners.

Not all the European ship recycling regulation went live on January 1, 2014. Some parts are applicable after December 31, 2014, that are more in relation to the requirements of recycling facilities, either in the European community or outside it, to be included in the European list of approved facilities.

Most of the regulation, specifically those parts relating to hazardous materials inventories and shipboard certificates, come into force between December 31, 2015 and December 2018, depending on when the combined maximum annual recycling output of approved facilities is 2.5 metres light displacement tonnes, reports Lloyd's List.

Although it does not have much immediate impact on European owners, this latest European regulation goes a long way towards strengthening the Hong Kong Convention of the International Maritime Organisation on ship recycling.

The European Union has agreed the regulations in a manner likely to bring the EU flags as a group of signatories to the IMO convention, to come into force two years after its criteria is met.

Although experts do not expect the European regulations to have much immediate impact on how vessels can be scrapped, they warn shipowners to be aware of the immediate paperwork requirements and of the time it will take to prepare hazardous-material lists.

One factor of concern with the EU regulation was whether the regulations would be strong enough to ban beaching vessels, a common practice in some ship-breaking sites in India and Bangladesh, which offers competitive pricing against rival bases that use drydocks.

Groups such as the European Community Shipowners Association called for the European rules not to specify a ban on beaching. 

The wording of the EU regulation states that an approved recycling facility has to operate from a built structure and have a detailed map, including boundaries.

For now the new regulation does not include the proposal for a fee to be paid by ships calling at European ports to create a ship recycling fund to encourage green recycling.