EWD Benli Recycling wants to be the first German company to enter the ship recycling business. The port of Emden is considered a suitable location.
The company Emder Werft und Dock (EWD) wants to be the first German company to enter the ship dismantling business in the port of Emden with its EWD Benli Recycling division. EWD managing directors Björn Sommer and Sebastian Jeanvré have now presented their plans to the “Ports and Shipping” committee of the Lower Saxony state parliament in Hanover.
The company, which has decades of experience in the repair and conversion of ships, sees the recycling of ships as an important new mainstay for the port of Emden. Jeanvré made this clear at the hearing.
EWD wants to recycle smaller ships
The core business of EWD Benli Recycling will be the dismantling of small units from government agencies, inland waterway vessels, coasters, small passenger ships and ferries, said Sommer. Emden is particularly suitable because the seaport is a storm-proof and approved average port on the north German coast.
“We have the right infrastructure here with sealed areas and modern dock and quay facilities as well as the appropriate cranes. We also have a motivated team of 150 employees. In the future, the recycling of ships could create more jobs,” says recycling expert Jeanvré, who has already implemented projects in ship, engine and aircraft recycling with his company ReLog.
Optimal logistics for further processing of the steel
In Jeanvré’s opinion, Emden is the ideal location for recycling ships: “Not only would this be a new branch of industry, but Emden is also ideally located in terms of logistics. Inland waterway vessels could transport the recycled steel to the steelworks in Bremen and Salzgitter for further processing in an environmentally friendly way via the Dortmund-Ems Canal and, above all, the Mittelland Canal.”
With a network from the Bremerhaven-based Benli Group, to which EWD has belonged since the beginning of 2020, the company reportedly has a broad range of expertise and also intends to dismantle industrial plants and wind turbines in the future.
Emden port development company supports plans
EWD is also receiving support from the Emder Hafenförderungsgesellschaft (EHFG). “We at EHFG are fully behind the plans of Emder Werft und Dock GmbH,” says Timo Siebahn, Chairman of the EHFG Supervisory Board. “The Emden shipbuilders at EWD know exactly where which screw and where which rivet is located on the ships.”
