Gold Magazine December 2013 - January 2014, Issue 33 | Seite 75

shipping

{business}

European
Parliament

backs plans
to halt reckless
scrapping of

old ships

P

lans agreed with EU ministers
to end the scrapping of
old EU-registered ships on
third-country beaches and
ensure they are recycled in
EU-approved facilities worldwide instead
were backed by the European Parliament
in October. Beaching ships to scrap them
jeopardises workers' health, safety and the
environment, say MEPs.
"I want to stress that this is not an attack
against India, Bangladesh or Pakistan – the
countries that currently practice beaching – but against the dangerous and highly
polluting practice of beaching itself, said
Swedish MEP Carl Schlyter, who steered
the legislation through Parliament. "This
regulation incentivizes these countries to
make the necessary investments in proper
ship recycling facilities – above all for the
sake of safe and environmentally-sound
jobs in their countries," he added.
In future, EU-registered ships will have
to be dismantled in EU-approved ship
recycling facilities which
must fulfil specific requirements, be certified and be regularly
inspected.
During the
negotiations,
Parliament
strengthened
the proposed
requirements,

inter alia by obliging ship-recycling businesses to operate in built structures, which
must be "designed, constructed and be operated in a safe and environmentally sound
manner". They must hold in hazardous
materials throughout the recycling process
and handle them and their waste only on
impermeable floors with effective drainage.
Waste quantities will have to be documented, and their treatment authorised only in
waste treatment or recycling facilities
Non-EU ships, as well as EU ones, will
be covered by the regulation insofar as they
will have to carry an inventory of hazardous materials when calling at EU ports.
Enforcement measures, including penalties,
are to be set by member states.
The Commission will have to report on
the feasibility of a financial instrument to
facilitate safe and sound ship recycling and,
if appropriate, present a legislative proposal
within 3 years of the entry into force of the
regulation.
The regulation will apply to ships at the
earliest two years and, at the latest, five
years after its entry into force, the eventual
date depending upon when the recycling
capacity of facilities on the EU list exceeds
a threshold of 2.5 million light displacement tonnes. The provisions on ship-recycling facilities will apply from one year after
the regulation enters into force (i.e. 20 days
after its publication).
The draft legislation was approved by
591 votes to 47, with 32 abstentions.

BOOK
REVIEW
Like A Virgin: Secrets
They Won’t Teach You at
Business School
By Sir Richard Branson (Virgin Books, 2013)

A

RRP: £9.99 (£5.18 from amazon.co.uk)
t 20, Richard Branson founded
Virgin Records, first as a mail
order record retailer, then as a
record store and, in 1972, as a
record company which, 20 years later, was
one of the top six in the world. The Virgin
Group now includes air travel, mobile,
financial, retail, music, Internet, drinks, rail,
hotels and leisure, with around 200 companies in over 30 countries. Sir Richard
Branson (he was knighted in 1999) gives
information and advice gained from personal experience, including plenty of tips
for managing, motivating and empowering
employees as well as for being innovative
and getting your company noticed without
having a huge budget (he suggests performing stunts to gain free publicity instead
of paying for ads, something that he has
frequently done over the past 40 years).
His writing style is informal, breezy and
easy to digest and, because he is telling
his own story, he comes up with thoughts
and ideas that are not found in the usual
business manuals or, indeed, at Business
School.

the international investment, finance & professional services magazine of cyprus

Gold 75