European recyclers form ship dismantling group

Five of the European Union's approved ship recycling yards have signed an agreement to establish the European Ship Recyclers Group (ESR). The founding members of the ESR are the Port of Bordeaux, located in France; the Belgian-based recycling company Galloo Group; Smedegaarden, based in Denmark; Scheepssloperij Nederland, located in the Netherlands; and DDR Vessels, based in Spain.

In announcing the formation or the group, the five companies say their yards represent the best industry practices for ship recycling.

“Our first target is to create awareness of the recycling capacity in Europe, which today is over a million tons,” says ESR Chairman Peter Wyntin. “We have to ensure that our member yards are on the top of the shipowners’ list for dismantling their ships. Our message is a clear one: If we can handle them, let’s keep the EU-flagged ships in Europe.”

The ESR says it will speak as one voice with the European Commission, which is charged with implementing the new EU Ship Recycling Regulation. In the future, the group aims to unite all the green European recycling parties.

The five companies were part of the initial 18 companies that were included in the European Commission’s first version of the European List of ship recycling facilities. All companies included on the list fulfilled strict requirements and will have exclusive access to the recycling of ships flying the flags of member states of the European Union.

The commission also has received applications from yards located in third countries. The applications are being thoroughly reviewed and site inspections will be conducted to check their credentials.