Texas shipyard granted EU ship recycling accreditation

The International Shipbreaking site in Brownsville, Texas, USA is the first US shipbreaking site to achieve the EU accreditation. It is now available for EU-based shipowners – as well as ships flying the flags of EU member states – to recycle their ships at end of life.

The regulations set standards for environmental and health and safety compliance which go above and beyond stringent US regulatory requirements. The International Shipbreaking facility meets EU requirements that ships are completely recycled on hard surfaces to avoid pollutants such as chemicals from paints contaminating the soil and water.

The EU SRR was introduced to help responsible shipowners clean up their act and make the shipbreaking industry greener and safer. Increasingly, banks and investors are unwilling to fund shipping companies who cannot prove that their ships are recycled responsibly, reported International Shipbreaking.

International Shipbreaking senior manager Chris Green said “We have just received and safely moored our first EU ship recycling project – Wolverine. There is a big future in this industry, and over the past year we have seen three times the number of enquiries from EU shipowners. This indicates the shipping industry is taking more responsibility for how its ships are recycled, rather than using the south Asian shipbreaking beaches.”

“International Shipbreaking has been safely recycling ships and marine structures since 1995. During this time over 100 vessels have been recycled, with an excellent compliance record.

Mr Green said “We have a corporate culture of safety compliance and our very experienced staff completes due diligence, including safety and environmental assessments, before we even make a bid for a project. This allows our team to accurately estimate the cost of hazardous material removal and disposal, and the revenue we will receive for the recycled metals. These ships contain extensive hazardous materials that require containment and removal. To think this operation could be conducted any other way is reckless and irresponsible. We hang our hat on compliance and providing our customers with a recycling service that they can be proud of.”

How shipowners dispose of end-of-life ships is likely to come under scrutiny from banks and investors as part of the assessment under environmental, social and governance. Sign up here for Maritime Environmental, Social and Governance Webinar Week.

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