The NGO Shipbreaking Platform have announced that 446 ocean-going commercial ships and offshore units were scrapped in 2023 with 325 of them being dismantled in Bangladesh, India or Pakistan.

In these days of trying to cut down on pollution, the way that most of these ships are dismantled has a dreadful effect.

These Asian yards do not comply with the requirements of European yards with respect to toxic fumes and waste leaks. In addition, six workers lost their lives last year and a further 19 were seriously injured at the yards in Chattogram (formerly Chittagong), Bangladesh alone.

European and international state that it is illegal to export hazardous waste from OECD to non-OECD countries. There is also the EU Ship Recycling Regulation which requires EU flagged vessels to only be dismantled in EU approved ship recycling facilities.

To get round this regulation around half of the ships that were sold for scrap last year changed their flags of registry to obscure countries who don’t need to comply with these laws.

The convenience flags of Cameroon, Comoros, Mongolia, Palau, St. Kitts & Nevis and Tanzania were commonly used to circumvent these regulations.

Flags of convenience are a huge bone of contention for nearly all shipping companies. A large number of ships have never or will ever visit their ‘home’ countries. How many ships registered in the Marshall Islands have ever been there?

This practice has to stop and everyone should be abiding by the same rule book.