Danish shipping giant Maersk Group has not lowered its standard or changed its responsible ship recycling policy after the engagement in Alang, India, the company said in response to reports that beaching is “undermining its credibility as a responsible ship operator.”
“The development in recent years in Alang have seen a number of certified yards capable of recycling to our standards. In our view, it is essential to support this development – and we do that most effectively by bringing our ships to be recycled responsibly in Alang,” Maersk Group, Head of Group Sustainability Annette Stube said.
She added that the company considers the engagement in Alang as “an opportunity to change the industry for the better.”
Maersk had recently announced its plans to create more responsible recycling options in Alang. The company said it would help the ship recycling yard to upgrade facilities and practices to comply with the company’s standards.
“The aim of the EU legislation should be to raise the standards where the vast majority of the world fleet is recycled. This is by no means accomplished by the suggested legislation as it fails to support the development and improvement we have witnessed in Alang.
“We strongly encourage the EU Commission to reconsider its position as an unfortunate consequence of the suggested legislation is the exclusion of the yards where more than 70% of the world’s fleet is recycled,” Stube said.
In mid-May, Maersk sent two of its container ships, the Maersk Wyoming and the Maersk Georgia, to India’s Shree Ram yard in Alang for recycling.
The company said that it reached a deal for the landing of the first two vessels at the yard, which is certified to the standards of the Hong Kong Convention.
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