Two years after applying for a ClassNK certification for internationally compliant shipbreaking, two Indian yards have been issued with statements of compliance (SoCs).
The SoCs were issued to yards belonging to Priya Blue Industries and Kalthia Ship Breaking, both located at Alang in the western state of Gujarat, and verify that the facilities are “in line with the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, 2009 (HKC)”, according to the class society.
ClassNK said the SoCs were issued “on purely technical verifications” and that the same criteria were applied to all facilities reviewed by it.
ClassNK clarified that in addition to on-site inspections, it had reviewed the yards’ Ship Recycling Facility Plans (SRFPs) and that the yards’ ship recycling processes had followed those plans.
“This marks the first time statements of compliance have been issued to ship recycling facilities in south Asia,” it said, adding that although the HKC had yet to come into force, both yards had “carried out substantial improvements to their facilities in a bid [to move towards] safer and greener ship recycling as well as developed the SRFPs required for a competent authority’s certification according to the HKC”.
In September 2013 a gap analysis was carried out on yards belonging to four Indian breaking companies, including the Shree Ram Group of Industries and Leela Ship Recycling.
This post was sourced from IHS Maritime 360: View the original article here.
