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HANSA 04-2019

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Finanzierung | Financing

Finanzierung | Financing Investors push for responsible scrapping Breaking ships regardless of environmental conditions and safety issues is becoming increasingly difficult. Investors are cracking down on shipowners and recyclers who do not comply with standards, writes Felix Selzer While European owners have already come under pressure, Standard Chartered Bank pushes for more responsible scrapping practices among its ship recycling clients. In its Position Statement, the bank states that it »will only provide financial services to clients who have an environmental and social management system (ESMS) certified to the International Organisation for Standardisation standard ISO14001, the occupational health and safety standard ISO45001, or ISO3000 for Ship Recycling Management Systems.« A time-bound plan to comply with the requirements of the IMO’s International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling (Hong Kong Convention, HKC) is also required. The bank fears a reputational risk in case of failures of environment and social governance (ESG). »In order to minimise these risks or avoid them altogether, we believe in working with our clients to help them raise their performance in relation to E&S issues, and demonstrate to us that they are managing these appropriately,« Roger Charles, Director, Environmental and Social Risk Management, tells HANSA. »The HKC has not come into force yet; however, we have seen that the technical standards of the Convention and of its Guidelines are already having the expected positive effect on the recycling industry,« he adds. Interestingly, Standard Chartered Bank does not exclude the much disputed beaching method. »We believe that beaching can be developed to a level compliant with important international regulation, and will continue to work with both ship owners and recyclers to make a positive impact across the industry as a whole,« Charles states. »Satisfactory progress« Since 2013, Standard Chartered has engaged independent consultants Litehauz to conduct annual audits of its ship recycling clients. »They measure against 390 KPIs derived primarily from the Bangladeshi legislation and where relevant, international standards including the HKC,« Charles says. Between now and 2021, the auditor will make two visits per year to help the yards achieve their time-bound plans to comply with SCB’s standards. »As a result, several yards have conducted self-financed upgrade activities and/or participated in joint industry efforts. Improvements in infrastructure, procedures and organisational capacities are evident in several of the yards and the most recent audit showed that each is making satisfactory progress, but complete alignment takes time due to the sheer volume of investment and effort required,« Charles says. Other investors are cracking down on their shipping clients as well, most notably Norway’s state pension fund (Oljefondet). The over 1 tr.$ fund that invests the oil business revenues holds shares in over 9,150 companies, an average of 1.4% of all equity globally. Now the fund’s Ethics Council will check whether the companies in which it invests meet certain standards set by the government. At first the focus will be on the situation India. In 2018, Oljefondet and Norwegian KLP (Kommunal Landspensjonskasse) already excluded shipping companies Evergreen Marine, Korea Line, Precious Shipping and Thoresen Thai Agencies »based on an assessment of the risk of severe environmental damage and serious or systematic violations of human rights«. Pan Ocean is under observation. SCB has not yet actively excluded or blacklisted non-compliant companies from funding. »We aim not to be in this situation; our clients have clearly stated their commitment to invest in environmental and social protection, and this investment is taking place over a period of years. Naturally, there is some flexibility on the order in which a client tackles the actions needed, and progress is a partnership between clients and external specialists«, Charles explains, but adds: »If a client were to rescind their commitment to making such progress, we would treat this seriously and seek to understand their rationale. Ultimately, we would withdraw from the relationship if we could not re-establish progress.« Working on transparency In early March, the Ship Recycling Transparency Initiative (SRTI), that brings together leading shipowners, investors, banks, insurers, cargo owners and other key stakeholders, launched its first report. Presenting data 30 HANSA International Maritime Journal 04 | 2019

Finanzierung | Financing EU SRR to change the picture? Recently, Dutch shipping company Holland Maas was fined 780,000€ and paid a settlement of 2.2mill. € for scrapping a ship in India, based on the EU Waste Shipment Regulation. Dutch Seatrade had already been convicted in 2018. Since 1 January 2019, EU-flagged ships fall within the scope of the new EU Ship Recycling Regulation (EU SRR). They may only be recycled in facilities included in the European List of Ship Recycling Facilities. Beaching does not comply with the requirements. At the moment, this hardly seems to be a reason for EU ship recycling to celebrate. 26 facilities are on the EU list of licensed yards, 23 in Europe, one in the USA and two in Turkey. Nine yards located in Lithuania, Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Spain form the European Ship Recyclers group (ESR). ESR chairman Peter Wyntin of Belgian recycler Galloo in Ghent describes the EU yards’ market share as »marginal«. »Last year we have recycled 115,000 ldt at the ESR group yards against a total of 8mill. ldt scrapped globally. For 2019 I have two offers outstanding for EU ships in Ghent, a total of 5,000t. These are the only EU ships that are on the market today. Something must be wrong in the system,« he tells HANSA. »It all has to do with illegal exports and changing of flags.« Shipowners keep arguing that the EU-listed capacity is just too low to accommodate their scrapping needs. Wyntin counters: »Today, the capacity of the ESR member yards is 470,000t, the other EU-listed yards add 978,000t. In total we have close to 1.5mill. t of EU-licensed capacity available. On average there is 300,000- 400,000t of EU-flagged ships to be recycled annually.« Until last year 90% of the 400,000t recycled globally p.a. went to non-EU-licensed yards. »We were hoping that maybe only 10-20% of that would stay in Europe, meaning an extra tonnage of 100,000t. But it does not materialize. Maybe that will change later in the year,« Wyntin says. The five most important ship recycling countries in the world account for more than 90% of all recycled tonnage: Bangladesh, China, India, Pakistan and Turkey. In January, Turkey ratified the Hong Kong Convention that will enter into force 24 months after ratification by 15 states representing 40% of world merchant shipping by GT and a combined annual recycling capacity of at least 3% of total tonnage. The seven contracting states (Belgium, Congo, Denmark, France, Norway, Panama, Turkey) account for more than 20% of world merchant shipping tonnage. Their combined annual recycling volume over the last ten years amounts to 1,652,961GT (0.62% of their merchant shipping tonnage). collected through a questionnaire, it clearly indicates that there is a growing movement stepping up the pressure on owners to disclose their approaches to ship recycling. »We’re seeing increasing pressure on shipowners from key stakeholders including investors, retailers and manufacturers,« says Andrew Stephens, Executive Director of the Sustainable Shipping Initiative (SSI) that hosts the SRTI. »Conversations with cargo owners, lenders and insurance companies have highlighted that they too want more information on ship recycling to inform their decision-making.« Major vehicle manufacturers including BMW and Scania have recently signed up to the SRTI, demonstrating their willingness to be held to account for their supply chain. Financial stakeholders make up one third of those involved in the SRTI – including recent signatories MP Pension and PBU. The SRTI report also reveals how shipowners implement their responsible ship recycling commitments through the use of standard contracts such as BIMCO’s RECYCLECON for the sale of vessels for green recycling or explicit requirements for ship recycling facilities. 100% of disclosing shipowners monitor facilities’ compliance during the ship recycling process, mostly by way of ongoing supervision and assigning a company representative, follow-up onsite and spot checks. SRTI’s initial signatories include shipping companies China Navigation Company, Hapag-Lloyd, A.P. Moeller-Maersk, Norden, Stolt Tankers, and Wallenius Wilhelmsen; financial stakeholders GES/Sustainalytics, Nykredit and Standard Chartered Bank; classification society Lloyd’s Register and sustainability non-profit Forum for the Future. Recent signatories include BMW, MP Pension, PBU, RightShip, Scania and Teekay. Commenting on the SRTI, Standard Chartered’s Roger Charles says: »This is a positive step in encouraging more recycling yards to invest in improvements. However, we need more shipowners to demand and control high quality ship recycling.« n © IMO HANSA International Maritime Journal 04 | 2019 31

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