Win-Win or Win-Lose Situation Assessment for Ship Recycling Sector of Turkey in terms of Green Maritime Industry Approach


Ölmez H.

2nd International Congress on Ship and Marine Technology, İstanbul, Turkey, 16 - 18 September 2021, vol.1, pp.1-11

  • Publication Type: Conference Paper / Full Text
  • Volume: 1
  • City: İstanbul
  • Country: Turkey
  • Page Numbers: pp.1-11
  • Karadeniz Technical University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Ships older than 25-30 years should not be operated on seas any longer according to the IMO regulation. Such old ships are generally replaced by new ones so that business processes remain profitable as well as reducing the risk of environmental and human life hazards after damages and accidents. One way to make the old ships still have an economic value is by conducting a process of recycling by taking and processing used ship materials. Ship recycling activities should not only comply with all regulations and pay attention to the safety of workers but also ensuring that there are no dangerous and harmful wastes polluting soil and the surrounding seas by providing proper facilities and proper work procedures. Due to the rising green industry all over the world, environmental awareness, occupational safety and worker health, the country that dismantles the ship, the ship dismantling facility and the ship owner who wants to dismantle their ship are under more pressure every year. Although such, ship breaking helps to stabilize the economy because the scrapped steel resulted from the activity could enter the market supply chain again. Scrap resulted from the activity of ship breaking is a high-quality steel which can be used as the raw materials for all metal industry. The global ship recycling industry dismantles yearly about 1250 large ocean-going vessels to recover steel and other valuable metals or recyclable items. Although it is recognized by the whole world that the shipbreaking industry is a harmonious part of the marine industry and is an industry established for a positive contribution to the environment, nearly all ship recycling activities are concentrated in five countries namely, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, China, and Turkey. The common feature of these five ship material recycling countries is that they have a great desire for scrap steel. Bangladesh, Pakistan and to a large extent India use the steel from recycled ships in mills where steel is rerolled so that it can be used directly, for example in urban construction. According to the World Bank, the contribution of steel from ship recycling to the steel production of the country is 50% for Bangladesh and 15% for Pakistan, while the figure for India is between 5% and 6%. It is known that China and Turkey mostly melt the ship scrap. However, it is notable that Turkey, which is asserted to be the largest importer of scrap steel in the world, satisfies just 2% of its needs with scrap from its ship breaking facilities. From this point of view, within the scope of the present study, in line with today's world maritime order and trends, considering its effects on the environment and human health together with its economic effects, whether the ship recycling sector is under a Win-Win or Win-Lose situation in terms of Turkey's Green Industry-Green Turkey policies was evaluated by using the SWOT analysis method and the results were examined.