Ship-breaking industry in dire straits due to ‘red’ category

CHATTOGRAM, Sept 07: Ship-breaking industry in Chattogram which was categorised as 'red' by the Department Environment (DoE) on April 26 this year is yet to be categorised as 'orange'.
As a result, the industry is suffering a lot and supply of scrap iron for the re-rolling mills in the country is being hampered.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Ship Breakers and Recyclers Association (BSBRA) urged the government to re-categorise the ship recycling industry (SRI) as 'orange' from the current 'red' classification last month.
Sources said BSBRA expressed concern that the ship-breaking industry has been classified as 'red' again without taking any opinion from the stakeholders and the Ship Recycling Board.
Md Abu Taher, president of BSBRA, said, "Environmental Conservation Rules-2023 has classified the ship-breaking industry as 'red', making it mandatory to obtain a second round of clearance from the office of the Director General of the DoE for each ship prior to division; so there will be an additional delay of one and a half to two months in getting permission for a ship breaking work."
"Also, industrial entrepreneurs are afraid of being subjected to additional complications and harassment," he added.
Meherul Karim, chief executive officer (CEO) of KSRM Group, told The Financial Express that Kabir Ship Recycling Facilities, a ship-breaking yard of Kabir Group obtained certificate of 'Green Yard'.
The yard received certificate as 'green yard' from three different international certification bodies. He said, "A total of four recycling yards have obtained green certification while dozens are in the pipeline."
"Owners had been working for developing their ship-breaking yards and upgrading those as safe and environmentally sound ship recycling yards under the Hong Kong Convention (HKC) for a long time. But, unfortunately, the industry was categorised as 'red' by DoE," he said.
He added, "Yard owners incurred huge losses for delay in obtaining environmental clearance from the DoE. Chattogram office of DoE cannot issue the certificate and yard owners have to come to Dhaka office. The owners need an additional one to two months only to perform the procedures."
The owners of ship breaking yards alleged that while the industry is moving forward to meet HKC and environmental compliance, putting the industry into 'red' category has pushed it into dire straits.
They demanded simplifying the process of classification of ships by reclassifying them from 'red' class to 'orange' (B) class.
The Ministry of Forest Environment and Climate Change published the Environment Protection Regulations-2023 on April 26 last, reclassifying the shipwreck industry from 'orange' to red'. As a result, entrepreneurs of this industry are in trouble now.
Meanwhile, a 14-member delegation of the Japanese Ship-owners' Association (JSA) came on a 4-day visit to the port city in May last.
The delegation visited six ship-breaking yards in Sitakund including three green yards, PHP Ship Recycling, Kabir Ship Recycling Facilities and SN Corporation.
The team was led by Keiji Tomoda, vice president of the Japanese Ship-owners Association. Keiji Tomoda said, "Government support can help exhilarate the development of ship-breaking industry in Bangladesh which has a bright future. Ship-breaking industry of Bangladesh has been developing very rapidly. Many of the ship-breaking yards have upgraded their technologies and are trying to comply with the Hong Kong Convention."
Ship-breaking industry was eslablished in 1970 in Sitakunda area of Chattogram.
Around 40,000 workers are engaged in the ship-breaking industry here. Average more than 30 lakh tonnes of scrap ships are imported by Bangladesh annually which is more than 25 per cent of total scrap ships of the world.
Total turnover of the ship-breaking industry is around Tk 50billion (Tk5,000 crore) per year.
A total of four types of old vessels are scrapped in the shipyards of Sitakunda. The vessels are turbine tanker (TT), motor vessel (MV), steam vessel (SV) and fishing trawler (FT). Of them, scrapping of turbine tanker is very much dangerous.

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