National Authority For Recycling Of Ships

On 15^th October, 2020, the Central Government notified the Directorate General (DG) of Shipping as National Authority for Recycling of Ships under the section 3 of the Recycling of Ships Act, 2019.

NARS will be set up in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
The location of the office will benefit the Ship Recycling yard owners situated in Alang, Gujarat which is home to Asia’s largest ship breaking and ship recycling industry in the world.

As an apex body, DG Shipping is authorized to administer, supervise and monitor all activities relating to Ship Recycling.
It will look after the sustainable development of the Ship Recycling industry, monitoring the compliance to environment-friendly norms and safety and health measures for the stakeholders working in the ship recycling industry.
It will be the final authority for the various approvals required by the Ship-Recycling yard owners and State Governments.

On 13^th December, 2019, the Recycling of Ships Bill, 2019 received the President's assent and became an Act.

Key Features

It restricts and prohibits the use or installation of hazardous materials, which applies irrespective of whether a ships meant for recycling or not.
Restriction or prohibition on use of hazardous materials would not be applied to warships and non-commercial ships operated by the Government.
Ship recycling facilities are required to be authorized and ships shall be recycled only in such authorized ship recycling facilities.
The Act also provides that ships shall be recycled in accordance with a ship-specific recycling plan.
It imposes a statutory duty on ship recyclers to ensure safe and environmentally sound removal and management of hazardous wastes from ships.

Hong Kong Convention for Ship Recycling

Also known as the Hong Kong Convention (HKC), it was adopted at a Diplomatic Conference held in Hong Kong, in May 2009.
Under Ship Recycling Act, 2019, India has acceded to Hong Kong Convention for Ship Recycling under International Maritime Organization (IMO).
DG Shipping is India's representative in IMO and all the conventions of IMO are being enforced by DG Shipping.

India is home to one of the largest ship breaking facilities in the world with over 150 yards along its coast.
On an average, close to 6.2 Million GT is scrapped in India every year, which accounts for 33% of the total scrapped tonnage in the world.

Safety Issues

Inadequate safety controls, badly monitored work operations and high risk of explosions create very dangerous work situations.
Lack of coordination for work procedures, basic risk-reducing or eliminating measures are often ignored and ultimately accidents occur.

Health Related Issues

Exposure to other heavy metals found in many parts of ships such as in paints, coatings, anodes and electrical equipment can result serious health issues such as cancers.
Workers have very limited access to health services and inadequate housing, welfare and sanitary facilities which further exacerbate the plight of the workers.

Waste Management Issues

Management of solid wastes generated in ship breaking is a major concern in India.
Although these wastes constitute only around 1% of dead weight of a ship, the total amount in millions of tonne, make these wastes difficult to handle, posing a major risk both to health and environment.

Water Pollution

Water body, primarily the marine environment gets polluted in terms of suspended solids, nitrates, phosphate, heavy metals, oil and grease from bilge water.

Air Pollution

Various air pollutants like furans and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), fine particulates are released during the breaking process of ship.
It further contributes to air pollution from various ship breaking processes.

Given the current high human and environmental costs, it seems likely that ship owners and breakers, state mechanisms and international legislation will each need to continue to evolve and increase their cooperation to fill the gaps.
Ship owners from their side need to incorporate a sustainable social and ecological responsibility as well when it comes to the recycling of their vessels.
A well balanced global list of compliant facilities can only remain when the facilities on it receive a good and constant flow of end-of-life vessels.
With the back drop of sustainability issues, this industry has the potential to be the prime economic activity in India.