Possible merits and demerits of Ship Recycling

All ships reach their end of life stage which could be either due to technical reasons of ship becoming very old and expensive to repair/maintain or due to commercial reasons where the freight market is so low that it is not sustainable to operate the ship. While commercial reasons are purely a result of market play which can differ on a case to case basis, technically, a ship reaches its end of life anywhere from 23- 35 years depending on type of ship.

Abandoning the ship is the most uneconomical and environmentally dangerous practice to follow. In spite of that we know that there are still many smaller ships around the world which are being abandoned. Recycling of ships is the only option that must be practiced by all Ship Owners around the world.

Here in this blog, we are going to discuss some of the merits and demerits / possible demerits of ship recycling.

Merits of ship recycling:

• Steel constitutes about 90% of the total light weight. Steel from ship is of great importance to the Steel industry as it is used in making of products for construction industry.
• Steel obtained from Ship recycling is of immense benefit to environment since fresh steel production is energy intensive. One ton of Steel production generates about 2 tons of CO2.
• Machinery, Equipment, Furniture etc are sold for re-use which results in further saving of energy which would have been consumed in making new units.
• Ship recycling generates direct employment by hiring thousands of workers for recycling of ships. In addition, it also generates indirect employment as it spurs many businesses which sell and transport the products from ship that are re-used.
• Since Ship Owners are able to sell end of life ships, it helps ship owners generate cash flows for an uneconomical asset. At the same time, it helps balance freight market since ship owners are better able to decide to recycle their uneconomical assets.

The demerits / possible demerits of the ship recycling as follows:

It needs to be well understood that there are demerits of every activity and processes in the world and the extent of de-merit is depends on whether the activity or process is carried out in the prescribed manner or not.

• There are some hazardous materials (asbestos, Polychlorinated biphenyls, ozone depleting substances, organotin compounds etc) that are found on board the ship that is sent for recycling. Such hazardous materials need to be carefully identified, removed, stored and disposed.
• Ship recycling involves handling very heavy objects, working at heights and cutting of ships generates fumes/gases which should not be inhaled. It is due to these reasons that ship recycling is considered a risky job. However, these can be mitigated by giving proper training to workers, using correct and calibrated equipment and providing personal protective equipment to workers while they are working on the ship.
• Oil and ship parts containing oily surfaces need to be handled with care so that they do not come in direct contact with land. This too can be mitigated by using cranes to lift the blocks from ship and putting these blocks on concrete floor so that oily contents do not seep into the land surface.

We can summarize that end of life ships must be recycled and it has been well demonstrated that by following ship recycling as per prescribed guidelines and industry best practices, all the possible demerits can be easily overcome with minimal impact to environment and ensuring safety of workers. The merits of Ship recycling out weight possible demerits.