The European Commission adopted the 11th edition of the European List of ship recycling facilities. The updated list includes three new yards located in Türkiye. The Commission has also extended the date of expiry of inclusion of two listed yards located in Denmark and one listed yard located in Italy. The European List now contains 48 ship-recycling facilities, including 38 yards in Europe (EU, Norway and UK), 9 yards in Türkiye and 1 yard in the USA. Several yards on the European List are also capable of recycling large vessels.
As part of the implementation of the EU Ship Recycling Regulation, the Commission will continue and increase the monitoring of compliance of the yards on the European List with the conditions set out in EU legislation, including, when necessary, through unannounced inspections.
European ship owners possess around 40% of the world fleet. Many of these ships are being dismantled outside the EU, mainly in South Asia, under conditions that are often harmful to workers’ health and the environment. Since 31 December 2018, the EU Ship Recycling Regulation has been requiring all large sea-going vessels sailing under an EU Member State flag to use an approved ship recycling facility included in the European List of ship recycling facilities.
The European List is regularly updated to add further compliant facilities or to remove facilities that have ceased to comply. To be included in the European List, any ship recycling facility, irrespective of its location, has to comply with a number of safety and environmental requirements. For facilities located in the EU, competent national authorities must check that all the relevant conditions are met, and then inform the Commission that the facility should be listed. Ship recycling facilities located in third countries and intending to recycle ships flying a flag of a Member State have to apply to the Commission for inclusion in the European List. The Commission then evaluates and checks how these yards comply with the requirements in the Regulation and proposes their inclusion in the European List when these requirements are met.
The Commission is carrying out the evaluation of the Ship Recycling Regulation. An Open Public Consultation took place in the first half of 2023 and targeted consultations of different stakeholders’ groups are still ongoing.