Shipbreaking volumes grow in China

from:seatradeasia-online

Shanghai: Shipbreaking is accelerating in China, by common consent the world leader when it comes to recycling vessels in the most environmentally friendly way.
Jiangyin in the Yangtze river delta is the leading area for breaking in China. A spokesman from Changjiang Shipbreaking yard said recently, following the scrapping of 44 ships in the first quarter of this year, there are nine ships being scrapped now and another five ships will be dismantled before the end of this month.
The person said from October last year most of the ships scrapped by their yard are large bulk ships, car carriers, container ships and oil tankers mainly from Europe and Japan, with quite a few below the mandatory retirement age.
At present, there are 11 ship dismantling teams of Changjiang Ship-breaking yard are working overtime. The party secretary of Jiangyin Marine Board Xu Jiangsheng said the marine regulatory authorities are intensifying supervising on shipbreaking operations to ensure safety and non-pollution.
Following the recent IMO meeting in Hong Kong on improving shipbreaking practices China is well set to be a ship recycling centre as it has a policy not to beach ships, but to take them apart bit by bit dockside.
Many owners are hoping that some of the 200-odd greenfield shipbuilding yards in China will be converted into recycling yards. [25/05/09]