Maersk group assigns two obsolete vessels to Alang, India

Danish shipping firm Maersk has announced it will send two decommissioned vessels to a facility in Alang, India, that it says can comply with safety and environmental responsibility best practices.

“Out of a total of 768 ships recycled globally in 2015, 469—representing 74% of the total gross tonnage scrapped—were sold to facilities on beaches in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh with challenges to workers and the environment,” Maersk says in an announcement posted to its website in May 2016.

Previously the Maersk Group says its policy to “only recycle ships responsibly” meant it was only feasible to send decommissioned vessels to “a limited number of yards in China and Turkey.”

“By initiating recycling of vessels in Alang at responsible yards, we ensure further development of financially feasible and responsible recycling options to the benefit of Alang and the shipping industry,” says Annette Stube, head of sustainability at the Maersk Group.

“This development will take time, but we are determined to work with the yards for the long haul,” she adds. Following several audits at upgraded facilities in Alang in 2015, the Maersk Group says it has concluded that responsible recycling can be accelerated in the area, and steady improvements of conditions have been witnessed in ship recycling yards in Alang in the last couple of years.

“The Alang plans come at a cost for us, but we will invest money and human resources to ensure we can scrap our vessels in compliance with the Hong Kong Convention provisions (HSE) as well as international standards on labor conditions and anti-corruption,” says Stube. “We will also have staff on-site at Shree Ram [in Alang]. They will be working closely with the yard to further upgrade practices, processes and facilities to ensure that the recycling of our vessels complies with our standards.”

To accelerate the upgrade of more yards in Alang, Stube says the Maersk Group is working on building a broader collaboration with other ship owners to increase demand for responsible ship recycling and to find sustainable solutions. A first step is a dialogue with Japanese ship owners in collaboration with the Japanese Ship Owners Association (JSA) in the coming months, according to Maersk.