According to a new study, scrap steel generated during ship dismantling can provide an abundant supply to the EU steel sector while supporting decarbonization efforts.
The transition to greener steel production is crucial to achieving the EU's carbon neutrality goals, as the steel sector plays an important role in the bloc's industrial strategy.
Increasing the consumption of steel scrap, especially in electric arc furnaces with a large amount of scrap, is one of the ways to decarbonize, since this generates less CO2 than using primary materials and traditional blast furnaces.
Decarbonization in the EU and the steel industry may be facilitated by access to a virtually unused source of high-quality scrap obtained from the disposal of end-of-life ships, according to a report by the Belgian non-governmental organization Shipbreaking Platform, the Sandbag analytical center and researchers from the University of Tuscia.
About 70-95% of the ship's weight can be recycled into high-quality scrap metal, and it is estimated that only 1% of European ships are recycled in the EU, which, according to the report, makes increasing ship recycling capacity critically important.
Forecasts show that in the next decade, the number of ships that will be disposed of within the framework of the EU and the European Free Trade Agreement will exceed 700 units per year between 2032 and 2036.
Scrap metal production is expected to exceed 10 million tons per year during this period, peaking at 12 million tons in 2033. This will account for about 15% of total scrap consumption in the EU in 2024, and its use is expected to increase significantly in the coming years.
The organizations call on the EU to improve transparency and data on ships that have expired, as well as policies aimed at ensuring that ship recycling is carried out in accordance with the highest standards of safety and environmental protection.
Legislation such as the Closed-Loop Economics Act and the Industrial Accelerator Act should also explicitly support sustainable ship recycling, the report says.
The report also says that the EU should close existing loopholes in EU Ship Recycling Regulations that apply to EU-flagged vessels and that can be circumvented through "flag changing practices" - where shipowners change a ship's flag before decommissioning to avoid stricter regulations.
Most ships are being dismantled in South Asia due to higher prices, with India and Bangladesh becoming the two largest destinations in the world in 2024.,
