ISRA Network

News item 8, Breaking news 15 December 2021 European Green Deal: Commission proposes to strengthen the protection of the environment through criminal law Press release by the European Commission 15 December 2021. Today 15 December 2021, the Commission has adopted a proposal for a new EU Directive to crack down on environmental crime, fulfilling a key commitment of the European Green Deal. The proposal intends to make protection of the environment more effective by obliging Member States to take criminal law measures. It defines new environmental crimes, sets a minimum level for sanctions and strengthens the effectiveness of law enforcement cooperation. It also obliges the Member States to support and assist people who report environmental offences and cooperate with the enforcement. This proposal will help to protect nature and natural resources, as well as public health and well-being. Main objectives of the proposal The proposal sets new EU environmental criminal offences, including illegal timber trade, illegal ship recycling or illegal abstraction of water. In addition, the proposal clarifies existing definitions of environmental criminal offences, providing for an increased legal certainty. The Commission proposes to set a common minimum denominator for sanctions for environmental crimes. Where offence cause or are likely to cause death or serious injury to any person, Member States have to provide at least for imprisonment of up to ten years. The draft directive also proposes additional sanctions, including the restoration of nature, exclusion from access to public funding and procurement procedures or the withdrawal of administrative permits. The proposal also aims at making  relevant investigations and criminal proceedings more effective. It provides for support of inspectors, police, prosecutors and judges through training, investigative tools, coordination and cooperation, as well as better data collection and statistics. The Commission proposes that each Member State develops national strategies that ensure a coherent approach at all levels of enforcement and the availability of the necessary resources. The proposal will help cross-border investigation and prosecution. Environmental crimes often impact several countries (for example the illicit trafficking of wildlife) or have cross-border effects (for example in the case of cross-border pollution of air, water and soil). Law enforcement and judicial authorities can only tackle these crimes when they work together across borders. The Commission will continue to support Member States by offering law enforcement practitioners and their professional networks a platform for strategic discussions and providing them with financial assistance. Finally, as environmental crime is a global phenomenon, the Commission will continue to promote international cooperation in this area. Relevant articles for ship recycling/exports of waste. Proposal for a DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on the protection of the environment through criminal law and replacing Directive 2008/99/EC. Article 3 Offences 1. Member States shall ensure that the following conduct constitutes a criminal offence when it is unlawful and committed intentionally (….): (f) the shipment of waste, within the meaning of Article 2(35) of Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council 40 when such shipment is undertaken in a non-negligible quantity, whether executed in a single shipment or in several shipments which appear to be linked; (g) the recycling of ships falling within the scope of Regulation (EU) No 1257/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council 41, without complying with the requirements of Article 6(2), point (a) of that Regulation.

News item 7,  2 December 2021 ISRA wants to congratulate FORNAES as a new member of the European Ship Recyclers (ESR), part of the International Ship Recycling Association. Due to this new member from Denmark, ESR is now totalling more than 600.000 tons of recycling capacity enabling the objectives of the EU SRR and the Green Deal. The annual meeting of ESR physicaly took place in Esbjerg. A very successful meeting due to the fact that physical presence stimulates cooperation. A variety of subjects were discussed, amongst them:   

• Illegal exports of end of life ships Of course the illegal exports of end of life ships is still a major issue , harming fundamentally the competition position of the ESR and ISRA members. ESR will come with more scrutinized elaborated figures concerning the capacity issue, both from the supply, as well from the demand side.
• Enforcement

• Safety

News item 6, August 2021 Hamburg prosecutor investigates beaching practices Unofficial translation by Google translate   Ships dumped illegally? Searches in Hamburg As of: 08/26/2021 7:58 a.m. Hamburg Journal   Raid on several shipowners and ship owners in Hamburg and the surrounding area: It is about the allegation of having disposed of ships illegally. According to the Hamburg public prosecutor's office, more than a dozen companies are being investigated on suspicion of illegally dismantling three old ships. It's about the "MS Florida I", the "MS Alexandra Rickmers" and the "MS E. R. Hamburg". The police searched a total of seven objects on Wednesday. It ensured "written documents and electronic data that are currently being evaluated". Ships made to Pakistan? Specifically, it is about the allegation that the entrepreneurs did not have the ships properly scrapped, but sold them, knowing that the buyers are taking the ships to Pakistan, "where they were driven to an unsecured beach and broken up there under environmentally hazardous circumstances", according to the prosecutor. The ships are said to have been dismantled on the beach, in particular the scrap value is of economic importance for the buyers. In the shipping industry, this procedure is called "beaching" after the English word for beach. Rickmers group of companies among the accused The Hamburg shipowner Erck Rickmers group of companies is also among the accused. Rickmers says it welcomes violations of environmental regulations. However, they are not aware of any violation and want to work with the investigators. More than 400 ocean-going ships are said to have been scrapped on beaches in South Asia in 2020 alone. Through intermediaries, scrappers buy up old ships and put them on the beach at full speed. Migrant workers then dismantle freighters, tankers and even cruise ships on the spot - good business for shipowners who do not have to pay for environmentally friendly disposal. All in all, ships worth around one billion euros are at stake every year. The international non-governmental organization "Shipbreaking Platform" has denounced environmental damage, human rights violations, child labor, illnesses and deaths as well as accidents in connection with the dismantling of old ships via "beaching" for years.      

Source: MAREX Danish Regulators Examine Maersk's Shipbreaking History Denmark's environment ministry is scrutinizing the demolition sales of four former Maersk-operated vessels and their subsequent recycling at Alang, Denmark environment minister Lea Wermelin told ShippingWatch. The vessels concerned were the boxships CECILIE MAERSK, CLARA MAERSK, CLAES MAERSK and THOMAS MAERSK. As an example, the Hong Kong-flagged CECILIE MAERSK was transferred to cash buyer NKD Maritime in February 2019, and the vessel was reflagged in Palau. AIS tracking provided by Pole Star shows that CECILIE MAERSK traded back and forth between Oman and Somalia in March 2019, after the recorded sale date; she made a final voyage to Alang several months later, arriving on the beach on May 16. She was categorized as broken up in May 2019, according to her Equasis record. The other three vessels encountered similar ends, with different cash buyers and end-of-life flag service providers. Since January 1, 2019, all EU-flagged ships over 500 GT have had to be scrapped at EU-approved recycling facilities under the terms of the EU Ship Recycling Regulation (SRR). The EU has yet to approve any facilities in South Asia. While none of the four vessels in question were EU-flagged after the EU SRR took full effect, they were EU-flagged until 2018. Wermelin's ministry is investigating whether the vessels' reflagging from Denmark to Hong Kong in 2018 (and subsequent demolition in 2019) may constitute grounds for an enforcement action. "It's unacceptable when ships end up on beaches, pollute the environment and pose risks for workers' safety. Ships must be handled on facilities that are made for the purpose and which protect the tidal zone from leakages and spills," said Wermelin in a statement to ShippingWatch. "This is also why the EU adopted the shipbreaking regulation [SRR]." Maersk was an early and outspoken proponent of the Hong Kong Convention (HKC) certification process for South Asian shipyards, which all utilize the beaching method of demolition. In 2016, with the support of the European Community Shipowners Associations, Maersk publicly announced that it would engage in business with Alang-based yards, beginning with recycler Shree Ram. Maersk assigned on-site staff at the yard to work on compliance and best practices for safety and environmental protection. Two vessels, the ex-U.S. flagged Maersk Georgia and Maersk Wyoming, went onto the beach at Shree Ram later that year. At the time, Indian scrap prices per LDT were approximately 25 percent higher than prices in China, the country with the next-highest-paying scrap market. (China has since discontinued the scrapping of foreign ships.)These transactions marked a change in perspective for Maersk. In 2013, Maersk's head of environment and CSR Jacob Stirling argued against beaching in general. "NGOs argue that beaching must end now. We agree," he wrote. "Taking ships to proper recycling yards like the ones in China will enable a far better recycling of the steel." The EU has yet to add Shree Ram or any other HKC-certified South Asian yard to its list of approved recycling facilities.    

News item no. 9, December 2020 Unofficial translation Source: Website of the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT), Netherlands   Quote: “The Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT) intervenes in the illegal transport of drilling platforms and the demolition of ships News release | 10-12-2020 | 09:05 Two drilling platforms that were transported to the port of Vlissingen earlier this year have to be returned to their country of origin, the United Kingdom. This is stated by the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT) because the transport has been in conflict with the rules of the EU regulation for the shipment of waste (WSR). The platforms contain hazardous (waste) materials and have been moved without a WSR permit. The platforms have already been partially demolished in Vlissingen at a company that does not have the appropriate permits. The intention was to then move the platforms to Turkey for further demolition there. The WSR prescribes that waste materials that have been illegally shipped must be returned to the country of export. The first platform has now been returned to England with the permission of the English environmental authorities. Enforcement action is taken against all parties involved (transport and dismantling).  End of life ships Earlier this year (October), the ILT also took action and made an official report against the illegal export of two container ships to India. This export is presumably in violation of the ban on sending dangerous substances from Europe to non-OECD countries. The ships belonged to an Icelandic shipping company and are believed to have been decommissioned against the rules as scrap ships in India.  Criminal law At the end of 2019, the Icelandic shipowner sold both container ships, with the agreement that the buyer would charter the ships until the Icelandic shipowner could renew its fleet with new ships. One of the obsolete ships was subsequently brought to India via the port of Rotterdam. Because the ships were transported via the Netherlands, it was possible for the Netherlands to ask Iceland to perform. The Functional Public Prosecutor's Office has asked the Icelandic Public Prosecution Service to prosecute the Icelandic company. Damage to people and the environment The ILT wants to prevent seagoing vessels and offshore installations from being scrapped on the beaches of, for example, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and / or Turkey. This results in unacceptable damage to people and the environment, because hazardous substances that are released during demolition must be properly processed. The ILT wants to prevent waste from being dumped in (non-OECD) countries with a vulnerable processing and supervision culture.” Unquote

The European Commission (EC) arranged a meeting on 26 November 2020 between the EC, the Member States and representatives of three NGO’s: ECSA, NGO Ship Breaking and ISRA. This was the fourth time the EC arranged such a possibility to exchange views. NGO Ship breaking (NGO SB) had two extensive interventions: clear and unambiguous figures about the amount of end of life vessels being illegal exported and for a major part beached. The other presentation of NGO SB concerned the export of  EU-flagged end of life vessels to EU-listed facilities. NGO SB pointed out that this conflicts with the Basel Ban, where exports of waste to Non-OECD countries is prohibited. Since end of life ships are defined of waste, exports are not allowed. ECSA referred to the possibilities for Indian recycling yards to get a place on EU-list of ship recycling facilities. ECSA emphasized the need for these facilities and repeatedly underlined the fact that the applicants concerned had found a way to deal with the intertidal zones. ECSA stated that downstream waste management and hospitals are elements that are not controlled directly by the applicants, but the applicants have to experience the negative impact in the process of application. ISRA, Board Member, illustrated with convincing figures that the present EU SRR is in practice not working properly. He made clear that a number of Member States do not act in conformity with the EU SRR. He referred letter of ISRA sent to Commissioner Sinkevicius, calling up to take action and to address a number of Member States to commence with a serious enforcement policy and to letters to some Member States which obviously ignore (partial) the EU SRR. The Head of the Waste department of the EC, Mr. M. Pelligrini welcomed the way the convincing figures were presented. He was very clear that these data and the open communication about these figures, can lead to targeted policy actions, either to be taken by the EC or the Member States involved. In this context, it was made clear that some Member States had received information from the EC concerning the enforcement of the existing EU SRR. The EC called upon and exchange of views between the ISRA and ECSA and also advised to talk with producers of steel (through electro furnaces) in the EC.    

Letters to the European Commissioner and some Member States ISRA repeatedly expressed its support to the policies of the European Commission on sound and safe ship recycling. This policy has led to an adequate regulatory frame work: together with the European Waste Shipment Regulation (EU WSR 1013/2006), the EU Ship Recycling Regulation (EU SRR 1257/2013); including the adjoining Technical Requirements (TR) and the Basel Convention, a clear judicial base is offered directing companies and Member States how to act when ships  are destined for dismantling. The majority of EU owned end of life ships –notwithstanding this framework– find their final destination on the beaches of South East Asia which is strictly forbidden. The shipping sector, like others, is significantly affected by the decreasing worldwide economic activities. In the case of COVID-19, a sudden and unprecedented disruption of shipping activities has caused some ship-owners to prematurely decide to end the economic life of their vessel(s), leading to a substantial increase of ships to be recycled. Although some shipowners take their responsibility now and send their EU-flagged vessels to EU approved ship recycling facilities, a far bigger number of shipowners find a way to evade the restrictive laws and end up with their ships on a beach. In numerous occasions ISRA emphasized the importance of enforcement as an essential component of the legal framework (EU-SRR and EU- WSR) and the important role Member States have to fulfill in this respect. The current situation, amplified by the specific economic circumstances at this moment, requires a firm answer preventing workers and environment paying the bill on the beaches of South East Asia. ISRA has called in various letters upon the Commissioner and a number of Member States to see that the important issue of enforcement is carried out properly.

Statement of the Chairman of the International Ship Recycling Association, Dr. Konstantinos Galanis All the members of the International Ship Recycling Association (ISRA) are pleased to learn that the European Commission has adopted the latest edition of the EU List of ship recycling facilities. The inclusion of additional facilities is another major milestone for safe and environmentally sound ship recycling according to the highest standards. The continuous increase of capacity that the EU listed facilities are offering is a proof that the implementation of investments, efforts and resources can be successful. Nevertheless, this can only be achieved if a ship recycling facility is concerned, committed and dedicated to the needful and strict technical requirements, rules and regulations that lead to the proper recycling for end-of-life ships.

News item no. 6,  October 2020   Ship Recycling Webinar Week organized by Riviera Maritime Limited Riviera organized three webinars in September on various aspects of ship recycling. The first session was strongly related with the (results) of the Ship Recycling Transparency Initiative (SRTI), primarily aimed at collecting and disseminating date on ship recycling. (SRTI organized three seminars over the past months, which were attended by board member ISRA, Dimitri Ayvatoglu and Director Reinoud Pijpers). During the second session of the Riviera Webinar, reconciling the Hong Kong Convention and the European push for regulation. Mr. Nikolas Panagakis (owner of Nick Environmental Services) held a strong argument against beaching practices. Dr Peter Glover (partner), with a strong judicial approach, gave a broad overview of the various aspects and steps of the IMO and the EU SRR. Although he emphasized the steps that were taken in the right direction, he concluded that beaching was still the major ship recycling method. He questioned the disappearance of this method. Reinoud Pijpers (ISRA)  concluded that the HKC is undeniable a good step in the right direction, but that the clear and unambiguous, independent of the country concerned,  EU regulation gives a better regime. He argued that shipowners promoting their business as sustainable should also apply this to the end of life situation of their fleet. Director ISRA also attended a webinar organized by Metalogic PMS, Steel Scrap Recycling Processes. During this webinar a lot of attention was given to the various aspects of scrap in general, with the common denominator that India has a shortage of scrap of around 6 mln-7 mln ton per year. ISRA made clear that the EU list for ship recycling facilities represented high global standards enabling individual yards to compete on an equal level of competition. European Commission ISRA will participate in a meeting in November, to be organized by the EU, in the presence of the Member States. Enforcement of the EU regulation will be one of the topics, in any case to be addressed by ISRA.