BY AYSEL YUCEL
The scrapped ship tonnage arriving at the Aliaga ship breaking yard exceeded 45% in Q1, including younger and larger ships that no longer meet the new emissions targets of the European Union (EU) Green Deal and the International Maritime Organization (IMO). In total, 30 different types of vessels with a steel weight of 232,000 tonnes came to Aliaga in Q1 this year. The majority of these vessels were from European countries such as Greece, the Netherlands, Italy and Norway. In 2020, a total of 32 vessels with steel weight of 157,000 tonnes came to Aliaga for ship recycling. “More shipowners come to Aliaga every passing day the increasing number of facilities included in the EU list,” said Kamil Onal, President of the Ship Recyclers’ Association of Turkey (GEMISANDER). “Our year-end target is to dismantle nearly 900,000 tonnes of vessels,” said Onal. The sector’s year-end target exceeded 800,000 tonnes in January, but now more EU-flagged ships with larger tonnage are expected to come to Aliaga. The EU, which couldn’t meet the ship breaking demand of European shipowners with its existing facilities has accelerated the approval process of ship breaking yards in Aliaga.
