EU urged to take action to end ‘dumping’ of toxic ships and support capacity building

Belgian NGO Shipbreaking Platform has called on the European Commission to take measures that will end the “dumping” of toxic ships and boost capacity for sustainable ship recycling.

The call follows the publication of the Commission’s evaluation of the EU Ship Recycling Regulation (EU SRR). The most pressing issue, as per the Commission, is shipowners who circumvent the regulation by switching to non-EU flags before recycling, allowing them to sell end-of-life vessels to cash buyers at steel prices that exceed EU rates who then dismantle the ships at South Asian yards where conditions more often than not fail to meet EU standards.

Providing feedback on the publication, the NGO said the evaluation identifies several issues that hinder the effectiveness of the EU SRR, including circumvention of the regulation through out-flagging and a lack of detailed EU standards for hazardous waste management and environmental monitoring, pointing out that the Commission, nevertheless, does not consider a swift revision of the EU SRR an adequate response.

Ingvild Jenssen, Director of the NGO Shipbreaking Platform, stated: “As identified in the evaluation, the EU SRR has not delivered the expected outcomes in terms of increasing the market share for sustainable ship recycling. With no immediate plans for a review of the EU SRR, we urge the Commission to effectively adopt alternative measures that will boost capacity for sustainable ship recycling and prevent European shipping companies from dumping their toxic ships on beaches in South Asia.”

As disclosed, the evaluation also announces an upcoming report on the feasibility of introducing a return scheme for ships trading in the EU to incentivize the use of EU-approved ship recycling facilities. Furthermore, it, reportedly, aims to clarify the application of corrective and punitive actions in cases where deficiencies are identified during ship recycling facility inspections and highlights unannounced inspections as an essential tool for ensuring the effectiveness of the EU SRR.

The NGO claimed that to prevent the loss of skills in both the maritime and circular economy sectors and to boost capacity for handling the increasing number of vessels expected to reach end-of-life in the coming years, the EU’s approach to ship recycling must uphold the ‘Polluter Pays’ principle and contribute to the general policy objectives of the European Green Deal, including optimized material recovery and zero-emission industrial activities.

“When formulating targets and policy measures under the Circular Economy Act, the Steel and Metals Action Plan, the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, and the new Clean Industrial Deal, ship recycling must be recognised as a key contributor to the decarbonisation of the European steel sector,” the NGO Shipbreaking Platform noted.

Additionally, the evaluation is said to find that the standards set by the EU SRR and their implementation are not sufficiently aligned with the EU safety and environmental acquis. Consequently, the Commission intends to develop clearer criteria for the EU approval of ship recycling facilities, the NGO Shipbreaking Platform pointed out, recommending incorporating measures to optimize material recovery from ships, particularly steel recycling operations.

“Clear requirements for environmental, health, and safety monitoring and reporting must also be established to ensure that all yards on the EU List operate fully in line with EU standards,” the NGO added.

Jenssen stressed: “Double standards have been identified, and they are unacceptable—if a practice is not allowed in the EU, it should not be approved on the EU List. There is no valid justification for allowing EU-flagged or EU-owned ships to be scrapped outside the EU under conditions that would not be permitted within the EU. Beaching—the scrapping of vessels on intertidal mudflats, as practised in all South Asian yards—is not allowed in the EU, nor does the cold re-rolling of scrap steel comply with EU standards.”

Commenting on the pressure the shipping industry is exerting on the EU to accept Indian beaching yards onto the EU List, the NGO Shipbreaking Platform warned that such a move would “blatantly undermine the EU SRR’s objective of creating a level playing field that benefits yards operating in line with the EU safety and environmental acquis. It would also seriously threaten the future of the EU ship recycling sector and the recent investments made to establish new ship recycling facilities based on industrial platforms that provide full containment.”

It is understood that the NGO Shipbreaking Platform supports the EU’s efforts to take international leadership in amending the Hong Kong Convention to align with the EU SRR while ensuring full and effective implementation of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Waste and their Disposal as it applies to end-of-life ships.

Jenssen said: “Efforts at the international level should not prevent the EU from addressing the issues that weaken the effectiveness of the EU SRR. Expanding the regulation’s scope to include beneficial ownership and introducing a financial incentive are both measures that could improve ship recycling regulations globally. The EU has a track record of taking the lead as an early adopter of safety and environmental measures, later championing their global implementation through the International Maritime Organization.”

According to the NGO, the ‘Polluter Pays’ principle and ‘Extended Producer Responsibility’ are fundamental principles of EU environmental policies and must also apply to the shipping sector.

“By holding EU-based shipping companies accountable—regardless of their vessels’ flags—many more ships would fall under EU regulations, ensuring alignment with broader EU corporate accountability policies,” the NGO argued, concluding: “The current opacity of ownership structures in the shipping sector poses several problems, and transparency regarding the European shipping sector’s Beneficial Owners should be ensured, starting with the public disclosure of ownership details for the 21,000 ships classified as EU-owned.”

To note, as per NGO Shipbreaking Platform, in 2024, 80% of the global vessel tonnage scrapped – meaning 255 out of 409 dismantled ships – was broken under unsafe conditions on the beaches of South Asia, primarily in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, all of which have ratified the Hong Kong Convention.

In 2023, the numbers were even more stark: out of 446 oceangoing vessels, some 85% of them were dismantled on the beaches of the aforementioned nations. Due to these practices, the NGO Shipbreaking Platform has repeatedly called for the EU to revise the SRR and extend it beyond the flag to ownership.