APSEZ gets Govt's approval to set up ship recycling facility at Mundra Port

AHMEDABAD: Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ) has received environment and coastal regulation zone approvals from  Government agency for setting up a ship recycling facility at its Port in Mundra, Gujarat.

By getting into the ship recycling business, India’s biggest private port developer is looking to tap potential arising from global regulations on environmentally safe and sound ship recycling, which will limit the number of facilities where end-of-life ships can be dismantled unless they conform to these rules.

The proposed facility, spread over 40.7 hectares, will recycle ships of up to 16,000 light displacement tonnage (LDT) or 80,000 dead weight tonnes (DWT) cargo carrying capacity. About 0.3 million tonnes of material is expected to be recovered from recycled ships at the facility every year.

The facility, to be located in Mundra is hundreds of nautical miles away from Alang-Sosiya, home to the world’s largest stretch of ship-breaking beaches.

Ship recyclers in Alang-Sosiya have started upgrading their facilities to conform to global rules. Five of the 167 ship recycling yards located in Alang-Sosiya have already been certified by global ship verifiers for compliance with the Hong Kong International Convention (HKC) for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, which was adopted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the global maritime regulator, in 2009.

Yards in Alang-Sosiya recycled 249 ships in the year ended March 2016, turning out nearly 2.43 million tonnes of steel.

Source: - Dailyshippingtimes.com