Most of the world’s ships continue to be scrapped in South Asia. According to the non-governmental organization Shipbreaking Platform, nine people lost their lives last year due to a lack of occupational safety.
The organization presented its results for the year 2024 recently. It also spoke of 45 injuries. One of the worst accidents happened in Chattogram (also known as Chittagong) in Bangladesh. An explosion occurred during the scrapping of an oil tanker, killing six people and seriously injuring another six.
A total of 409 ships were reportedly scrapped globally in 2024, 255 of them in South Asia alone. “Bangladesh remains the shipping industry’s top choice for scrapping, despite serious consequences for workers, local communities and fragile coastal ecosystems,” said a statement accompanying a list of ships, information on their owners, flags and scrapping locations.
Shipbreaking Platform, based in Brussels, is committed to clean and safe ship recycling. A lot has happened in the industry in recent years, with various recycling yards setting new and higher standards and implementing them. However, the organization, which is not without controversy in the shipping industry, is particularly critical of beaching, in which ships are still driven onto the beach at some locations and dismantled on site under precarious environmental and occupational health and safety standards.
Beaching also took place in India and Pakistan
In addition to Bangladesh, beaching also took place last year, particularly in India and Pakistan, according to the NGO. It also criticized Turkish shipyards, which had been removed from the list of EU-certified dismantling facilities due to non-compliance with standards, as well as a site in Canada. According to the list, other countries where ships have been scrapped include Denmark and the USA; Germany is not included.
Of the exporting countries, China was mentioned in particular. Over 50 Chinese ships have been scrapped in South Asia. This is despite the fact that the People’s Republic itself has issued an import ban on waste, has its own dry dock capacities for ship recycling and prohibits beaching in its own country. Shipping companies from Russia, Switzerland, the Philippines and South Korea have each sent over a dozen ships for beaching.
The Hong Kong Convention on Ship Recycling will come into force in June 2025. It is intended to raise standards worldwide. However, Shipbreaking Platform considers the agreement to be weak. It “does not provide the solutions needed for the industry’s transition to sustainable ship recycling“, explained Executive Director Ingvild Jenssen. She spoke out in favor of guaranteeing the principles laid down in the Basel Convention. The agreement regulates waste exports as a whole (not just the export of disused ships) and is already in force. The Brussels-based NGO is expecting proposals from the EU to tighten up the Ship Recycling Regulation. This applies to certain ships flying the EU flag. (PS)
