Norway to invest $1.364m to make Bangladesh’s ship recycling yards eco-friendly

The government of Norway will invest $1.364 million in a project for transforming Bangladesh's shipbreaking yards into environmentally-friendly ones.

The Ministry of Industries, the Norwegian government and the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) will jointly implement the project titled "Safe and Environmentally Sound Ship Recycling Project (SENSREC) Phase-3".

Addressing an inception workshop on the project at a hotel in the capital on Wednesday, Industries Secretary Zakia Sultana termed Bangladesh's ratification of the Hong Kong Convention in June this year a great success, and said from now till 2025 no yards will be able to import end-of-life ships.

Citing a report by Marine Insight, she said Bangladesh will have to recycle 750 ships per year until 2032.

"In 2021, we recycled 272 ships. It is noted that now our annual recycling capacity is 10 million tonnes (approximately)," she added.
Zakia further stated that to meet the demand, the existing yards should be developed in line with Hong Kong Convention, which requires a lot of foreign investment.

"I believe that soft loans by banking channels can help incapable yard owners to transform their yards into Hong Kong Convention compliant. The ship-owning nations should come forward to help develop our existing yards," she stressed.

She said at present, only four of the country's shipbreaking yards are Hong Kong Convention compliant. Another five to six yards will become compliant by this year, and the number of such yards will be 20-30 out of 167 within next year.

Under the project, technical assistance will be provided for capacity building of the concerned government organisations, and for effective legislation and implementation of Hong Kong Convention, and for the establishment of a Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facility for the management of hazardous waste generated from the ship recycling industry.

Addressing the workshop, Norwegian Ambassador to Bangladesh Espen Rikter-Svendsen said, "It has been a long journey as we are entering Phase 3 of the project. Actually, Norway, in cooperation with the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), has been supporting Bangladesh for over a decade in the unique cooperation project."

Mentioning that pollution and carbon emissions are unsustainable, he added, "Shipping must get greener. Old and polluting ships must be replaced by new greener ones."

The ambassador further said, "Firstly, it is essential to rid the shipping industry of old ships in a sustainable way. Secondly, materials from recycled ships can be put to new use, thus contributing to the circular economy and the green shift that we need to make."

At the workshop, Mohammed Zahirul Islam, vice president of Bangladesh Ship Breakers and Recyclers Association, said currently Bangladesh has 108 ship recycling yards located in Sitakunda Upazila of Chattogram. Around 60 of the yards are in operation at present.

He added that the government should take initiative to create skilled manpower in the sector. Also, long-term soft loans are needed to build environmentally friendly ship breaking yards.

According to the shipping ministry, at present, the country has an annual ship recycling capacity of more than 10 million tonnes, and the average annual growth of the industry is around 14%.

Around 60% to 70% of the country's overall iron demand is sourced from the ship recycling industry.

The ministry said if the ship yards are not Hong Kong Convention compliant by 2025, no approval for ship recycling will be given to the yard owners.