The European Commission has proposed adding two ship recycling facilities located in India to the 16th edition of the European List of Ship Recycling Facilities.
The Commission’s proposal includes, for the first time, two ship recycling facilities in India following an assessment under the EU Ship Recycling Regulation (SRR), said the World Shipping Council (WSC).
According to the Commission, these facilities have demonstrated compliance with the requirements set out in article 13 of the Regulation and therefore qualify for inclusion on the European List.
European Shipowners | ECSA have been advocating for the inclusion of compliant Indian yards since the entry into force of the EU Ship Recycling Regulation (SRR).
Beyond its practical significance for European shipowners, the proposal sends a strong political signal: non-OECD yards that meet the SRR’s safety and environmental requirements can and should be recognised.
“This is a long-awaited and very welcome step, which rewards the investments these yards have made to meet EU standards,” said Sotiris Raptis, secretary general of European Shipowners | ECSA. “We now count on policymakers to swiftly finalise and adopt the List so that the two facilities can be approved without further delay, and we hope to see more compliant non-OECD yards making the List in the future. Addressing the capacity challenge is essential if the European List is to work as an incentive for safe and environmentally sound ship recycling worldwide.”
In June 2026, ECSA and the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) published a study on the gaps between the EU Ship Recycling Regulation and the IMO Hong Kong Convention, which highlighted the progress made globally since the Convention’s entry into force and called for facilitating the inclusion of non-OECD yards on the European List as a priority for the EU.
The IMO Hong Kong Convention (HKC) entered into force on 26 June 2025 following its adoption in 2009, also regulating the issue of ship recycling.
More than 110 Indian yards holding Hong Kong Convention (HKC) Statements of Compliance issued by IACS member classification societies.
According to some estimates, more than 16,000 ocean-going ships will require recycling over the next decade, which is more than double the number of ships recycled globally in the ten years leading up to 2025.
India has dismantled over 8,500 vessels across four decades, recovering more than 67 million tonnes of steel.
GMS, a large buyer of ships for recycling, has called on the European Commission to approve qualified Indian ship recycling facilities for inclusion on the European List under the EU Ship Recycling Regulation (EU SRR).
The Commission’s continued refusal to list Indian yards relies on the Basel Convention’s Ban Amendment, according to GMS, which restricts hazardous waste exports from OECD to non-OECD countries. GMS argues that this legal framework was drafted decades before India’s yards underwent their current transformation.
“We welcome the updated European List of Ship Recycling Facilities because it reflects a practical and performance-based approach to sustainable ship recycling,” said Simon Bergulf, vice president, environment and climate at the World Shipping Council (WSC).
“These yards have invested heavily to address the findings and recommendations arising from European Commission inspections, demonstrating a clear commitment to meeting the EU’s stringent standards. Their inclusion would mark an important milestone, showing that one of the world’s principal ship recycling regions can successfully comply with the requirements of the EU Ship Recycling Regulation. We hope these facilities will act as trailblazers, encouraging other yards in the region to follow the same path.”
“Liner shipping companies are committed to recycling ships responsibly. For large ocean-going vessels, there are only a limited number of facilities worldwide with the capability and capacity to undertake this work. The Commission’s proposal helps expand the availability of approved recycling capacity while maintaining the high standards that the Regulation is intended to achieve,” concluded Simon Bergulf.
