India’s ship recycling industry, centred at Alang, is pushing for formal recognition from the European Union as a compliant, green destination for end‑of‑life vessels, arguing that Brussels’ refusal to list Indian yards under the EU Ship Recycling Regulation (EU SRR) is now a question of politics, not standards.
GMS, the world’s largest cash buyer of ships for recycling, has called on the European Commission to approve qualified Indian facilities for inclusion on the European List, noting that “over 110 Indian yards already hold Hong Kong Convention Statements of Compliance issued by IACS member classification societies,” yet “not a single Indian facility has made the list” despite more than a decade of applications and at least 10 EC inspections.
India has recycled over 8,500 vessels in the past 40 years, recovering more than 67 million tonnes of steel, with Alang alone capable of handling 4.5 million LDT per year—more than the combined capacity of all EU‑approved yards today. A lifecycle analysis commissioned by GMS found that recycling steel at Alang emits about 58% less CO₂ than producing virgin steel, while more than 98% of ship materials are recovered; by contrast, many European yards melt most scrap and ship it back to Asia, adding transport emissions.
GMS also stressed that modern Indian plots now work on impermeable concrete floors with closed‑loop drainage and enforce mandatory Inventories of Hazardous Materials (IHMs) with state‑controlled waste disposal, showing that “compliance is about infrastructure and enforcement, not geography.” The main EU objection has been the Basel Convention’s Ban Amendment, which restricts hazardous‑waste exports from OECD to non‑OECD countries, but GMS argued that this rule predates India’s modernisation and its 2019 ratification of the Hong Kong Convention.
With BIMCO projecting some 15,000 ships needing recycling by 2032 and the current European List lacking the capacity to handle that volume, GMS has urged the Commission to resolve Basel–HKC conflicts through yard‑level assessments rather than blanket geographical bans and to finally recognise Indian yards that meet or exceed global standards.
