SSI launches online tool to help recycling

The Ship Recycling Transparency Initiative (SRTI) brings together key stakeholders from across the maritime industry and comes nine months after industry leaders first announced a collective effort to adopt a transparent, market-driven approach to make responsible ship recycling the norm.

Although the Hong Kong International Convention for the safe and environmentally sound recycling of ships has not yet entered into force despite its adoption in 2009, recycling is high profile in the industry.

“We are really proud to be launching the SRTI site this week,” said SSI co-chair Stephanie Draper. “The site is an opportunity for shipowners, cargo owners, investors and others to collectively demand transparency and through that better standards.”

In 2017, just 835 ships were recycled out of a world fleet of 50,000. Ship recycling is hazardous, carrying significant risks to the environment and workers. Despite these known risks the industry currently operates without internationally agreed standards nor is there global regulation in force.

The SSI hopes that the online platform will change this by allowing shipowners to share information on their approaches to ship recycling on a set of disclosure criteria.

“The SRTI is unique in that it tells a positive story, shining a light on what is actually possible in terms of responsible ship recycling,” said Andrew Stephens, executive director of the SSI.

Founding signatories include Lloyd’s Register; shipowners The China Navigation Company, Hapag-Lloyd AG, A.P. Moeller-Maersk, Norden, Stolt Tankers and Wallenius Wilhelmsen; financial stakeholders GES, Nykredit and Standard Chartered Bank; and NGO Forum for the Future.

The SRTI online platform can be found here.