- India aspires to raise its share in the global ship recycling business to at least 50 per cent, union minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Tuesday.
- Ports, Shipping and Waterways Minister Mandaviya was addressing the Maritime India Summit 2021′, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
- India aspires at least 50 per cent of global ship recycling business after passing of the Recycling of Ships Act, Mandaviya said in his welcome address.
- Indian Register of Shipping (IRClass), an international ship classification society.
- High safety standards are key to doubling India’s ship recycling capacity by 2024, an ambitious target set by Indian government in the recent Union Budget 2021-22.
A recent news article published in The Week and IRCLASS highlights that India seeks to raise share of global ship recycling business to 50%.
Global ship recycling business
The country’s share in the global ship recycling business is around 30 per cent at present.
He said the maritime sector in India is being propelled in a bid to make this sector a key pillar of transport, trade and infrastructure.
Currently, India recycles 70 lakh gross tonnage of ships per annum.
Mandaviya said that the Indian government is all geared up for facilitating and grounding the investments in the maritime sector.
E-book release
Earlier the Prime Minister released an e-book of Maritime India Vision-2030′.
Maritime India Vision 2030 aims to make the Indian Maritime Industry at par with top global benchmarks in next 10 years.
The Prime Minister also unveiled the e-plaque of Sagar-Manthan’: Mercantile Maritime Domain Awareness Centre (MM-DAC). It is an information system for enhancing maritime safety, search and rescue capabilities, security and marine environment protection.
Addressing the event, Mandaviya said it is one of the biggest virtual summits in the world, with over 1.7 lakh registered participants from more than 100 nations. He said more than 400 memorandum of understanding (MoUs) are being signed during the three-day event.
Roadmap for India’s Maritime Sector
The Summit will visualize a roadmap for India’s Maritime sector for next decade and will work to propel India to the forefront of the global maritime sector.
Minister of Transport of Denmark Benny Englebrecht, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan among others were present on the occasion.
Denmark is the country partner for the three-day summit.
Ministers from seven countries will be participating from countries like Russia, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Denmark, Iran, Afghanistan, Armenia, the statement said.
Ambassadors from 24 countries will be participating in India’s biggest Maritime event. Over 110 companies are participating in the virtual exhibition, including ports, maritime states and private companies.
Sustainable ship recycling
IRClass has been a strong supporter and an advocate for sustainable ship recycling with an office in Alang, India since 2016. With IRClass’ presence and active promotion of higher safety standards in Alang, fatalities from ship breaking incidents saw a significant reduction in the last two to three years. As of today, 40% of recycling yards in Alang, have ISO certifications including ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015, ISO 30000:2009 and ISO 45000 from IRClass Systems and Solutions Pvt Ltd (ISSPL), an entity promoted by Indian Register of Shipping.
Certification Body accredited by EU
IRQS (division of ISSPL) is a Certification Body accredited by EU approved Dutch Accreditation Council – Raad voor Accreditatie (RvA) (IAF member) and has been instrumental in enhancing safety of workers and environmental protection via implementation of Health Safety Environment Quality and Ship Recycling management systems.
Standards to ensure ship recycling facility
The ISO 30000:2009 standard is specific to ensure a ship recycling facility develops and implements procedures to allow for a safe and environmentally sound ship recycling operations in accordance with national and international standards.
This standard also contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations to promote development while protecting the planet.
Mr Arun Sharma, Executive Chairman of IRClass said: “India has the world’s largest ship recycling operations, and it is imperative we have a rigorous process in place to ensure that these operations do not pose any unacceptable risks to human health, safety and our environment. IRClass also recognises the fact that use of steel from recycled ships provides an alternative means of steel availability thus ensuring reduced GHG emissions during steel production.”
“So far, the stringent training evaluation process by IRClass together with the collective efforts of all stakeholders has resulted in a 90% reduction in fatal accident in the year 2019 when compared 2018 fatal accident statistics. We are proud to see this trend continue into 2020 when Zero fatal accidents were recorded in Alang.”
The Hong Kong Convention
The Hong Kong Convention has been a game changer for Indian yards and IRClass is proud to issue the Statement of Compliance to over a dozen ship recycling yards in Alang after thorough verification.
In addition, IRClass was the first classification society to be identified as an Independent Verifier and the first to initiate training programmes at Alang to raise the awareness of the workers and supervisors about the risks involved in ship recycling industry.
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