Green Recycling Initiative Seeks to Safely Scrap Vessels
Siba Ships, based in Italy, and Seaarland Shipping Management, based in the Netherlands, are inaugural investors in a $300 million Green Recycling Initiative (GRI) that aims to integrate ship owners’ needs to recycle ships in what it calls a more environmentally friendly manner for steel producers that want to be able to produce "ethically sourced" steel.
GRI is a Singapore-based company specifically formed to buy and recycle ships and to trade steel scrap on a global basis. It is run by Pearl Minerals and Metals Ltd., an Australia-based minerals fund.
GRI says its goal is to find up to 150 investors from the ship owning and steelmaking industries to help establish a fund to buy roughly 120 bulk carriers during the next two years. The initiative will look to have these vessels scrapped at established environmentally compliant ship recycling yards run by the International Ship Recycling Association while it builds its own recycling facility.
"Good ship owners want to recycle their ships ethically, and good steelmakers want to use ethically produced scrap," Mauro Balzarini, chairman of Siba Ships, says. "The bulk carrier market in particular now is ripe for major scrapping, and when the world economy gets moving again, demand for steel will take off quickly."
Brett Salt, GRI managing director, says the company will sign contracts with several EAF steel mills in Asia. GRI also is studying potential sites for recycling yards "to provide clean, cost-effective recycling using properly trained and protected workers," he says.
Oregon House Passes Scrap Metal Theft Bill
The Oregon House of Representatives has voted in favor of Senate Bill 570, which seeks to curtail scrap metal theft in the state.
The bill is similar to legislation that has been passed in other states, though it also requires payment for scrap metal to be made in the form of a check that is mailed to a proper address no earlier than three days after the transaction.
The bill, which is expected to pass the Oregon Senate, also would require scrap metal businesses to create and maintain records of purchase or receipt of metal property or other transactions related to metal property and would prohibit the purchase or receipt of certain types of metal that might be stolen. The bill also would require scrap metal recyclers to provide documentation of purchases to law enforcement officials and to separate and hold metal suspected to be lost or stolen for 10 days.
Explore the July 2009 Issue
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