Japanese ship docks in Bangladesh for green recycling

A Japanese ship, for the first time ever, has arrived in Bangladesh for green recycling. 

PHP Ship Recycling Facility (SRF) bought the ship from the Japan-based transportation company Nippon Yūsen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK).

The "Kamo", a Panama-flagged general cargo ship built in 1998 with 9,433 gross deadweight tonnage docked in PHP Ship Recycling Facility on 9 March and is currently awaiting the nod for dismantling. 

Photo: TBS

Although Japan is one of the top scrap ship sellers, coming in second place globally in 2020 with 30 scrap vessels sold, big companies – such as NYK which is now complying with the concept of green recycling – used to refrain from selling scrap ships to Bangladesh out of concern that they would circumvent environmental and safety regulations on the South Asian beaches in order to maximise profits, said ship breakers. 

"They did not send any of their ships to Bangladesh because they did not deem the shipbreaking yards to be up to par with environmental standards. They have been conducting a thorough audit at our yards for the past six months, and for the first time, a Japanese owner sent a ship for breaking and recycling according to Hong Kong Convention (HKC), with the KAMO, a new journey has begun for Bangladesh shipbreaking yards," said Mohammed Zahirul Islam, managing director of PHP Ship Breaking and Recycling Industries Limited.

"This is not only a matter of pride for me but also important for the Bangladeshi recycling industries. From now on, if other yards are developed following HKC, they will get Japanese vessels," said Islam. 

With the arrival of the ship, PHP SRF became the first yard in Bangladesh to receive a certification from NYK indicating that it complies with the company's standards for the protection of the environment, public safety, and human rights.

 In 2017, the yard achieved compliance with the Hong Kong Convention on safe and environmentally sound ship recycling.

"This is a positive development for Bangladesh because we are receiving ships from countries such as Japan, which are concerned about the environment and human health while dismantling. As most of the yards were out of compliance with HKC, our image was tarnished as a result of fatalities. This will help restore our image, the sector will recover, and more yards will be encouraged to go green," said Mohammed Abu Taher, president of Bangladesh Ship Breakers' Association (BSBA). 

Along with India and Pakistan, Bangladesh is one of the top three emerging countries in South Asia, where the majority of ships from across the world end up being demolished. Sitakunda has turned into a major hub for shipbreaking with around 150 yards employing over 35,000 people. Although major industries were blamed for their notorious safety violations that often resulted in fatalities, and environmental and biodiversity degradation. 

However, in recent years the green yards are paving the path for hope. Meanwhile, in this month- two more ship recycling yards, SN Corporation and Kabir Ship Recycling Facilities, have been certified as compliant with the International Maritime Organisation's (IMO) guidelines the HKC.

Mohammed Zahirul Islam said, "The PHP SRF wanted to prove despite the challenges, a state-of-the-art green ship recycling facility, comparable to those in other parts of the world, is possible in Bangladesh."

"The achievement is not a small feat. It is the culmination of 12 years of intensive hard work, building the facility's concrete floors and concrete slipway, procuring the best equipment and aggressively training staff to perform at the highest level of standards. All of which required an investment of $11 million, so far," he added. 

"When NYK's ship is dismantled in our yard they will send a supervisor to monitor the process," he continued. 

Covering an impermeable floor of 46,000 square meters at the edge of the Bay of Bengal, the PHP SRF has an annual recycling capacity of 160,000 MT LDT. In 2022 Bangladesh stood second in position dismantling 122 ships out of 443 dismantled ships gross deadweight tonnages globally. In 2021, Bangladesh stood first in position dismantling 254 out of 763 while in 2020 Bangladesh held the second position dismantling 144 out of 630 dismantled vessels globally.

When contacted, Mohammad Barkat Ullah, CEO of SN Corporation Ship Breaking & Recycling facility said, "This is really encouraging. Recently we have been awarded SOC from Class NK, which indicates a standard that meets high quality Japanese standard in Ship Recycling. We expect some Japanese owners will be interested to send their vessel for demolition in our yard soon."