Ship recycling plays a crucial role in the circular economy, enabling the recovery and reuse of valuable resources such as high-quality steel, which typically comprises between 75 and 85 per cent of a vessel’s weight. However, ships also contain hazardous materials, including asbestos, heavy metals, oil and mercury. Without strict regulatory enforcement, these substances pose serious risks to both human health and the environment.
At the international level, the International Maritime Organization’s Hong Kong Convention (HKC) will enter into force on 26 June 2025. While the EU SRR is recognised as a more stringent framework, it applies only to EU-flagged ships, leaving many European-owned vessels outside its scope.
The Commission’s report acknowledges key achievements of the EU SRR, particularly the establishment of an EU-approved list of ship recycling facilities that meet high environmental and occupational safety standards. This list includes yards in the EU, Turkey, the UK, and the USA. However, the report also identifies critical loopholes, including the widespread practice of shipowners re-flagging vessels to non-EU registries shortly before dismantling. This tactic allows them to bypass EU safety and environmental regulations, undermining the effectiveness of the legislation. The evaluation also highlights that inventories of hazardous materials (IHMs) are often missing or of poor quality, making it difficult to ensure safe recycling.
Shipowners argue that re-flagging is necessary due to insufficient capacity in the yards listed under the EU SRR. They advocate for expanding the list to include shipyards in non-OECD states, such as India, that claim compliance with international standards.
IndustriAll Europe has long pushed for stronger enforcement mechanisms to prevent shipowners from exploiting these loopholes at the expense of workers and the environment.
“Shipbreaking remains one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, and the European Union must take urgent action to close regulatory gaps that allow shipowners to circumvent their responsibilities,” said Isabelle Barthès, industriAll Europe’s deputy general secretary.
“Workers must be protected.”
In its latest revision of the European List of ship recycling facilities, the European Commission removed three yards, located in Latvia, Lithuania and Türkiye. IndustriAll Europe sees this as a failure, as reports have highlighted real concerns about working conditions in the ship recycling sector. Rather than simply removing sites from the list, efforts must focus on immediately improving occupational health and safety standards and environmental protections to enable these yards to regain compliance.
“The EU SRR is the flagship standard that the ship recycling industry globally should aspire to,” said IndustriALL Global Union sector director Walton Pantland.
“However, there are currently too many gaps in its coverage for it to be truly transformative, especially since almost 90 per cent of ships are broken in non-EU yards.”
IndustriAll Europe supports the full ratification and implementation of the HKC, but stresses that its standards must be reinforced and strictly enforced to match or exceed EU requirements. Fundamental to this is ensuring that all workers have the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining. True social dialogue at all levels is essential to improving working conditions and ensuring safe and sustainable ship recycling.
Photos: IndustriALL Global Union
Read Review of European List of Ship Recycling Facilities here