Marasi 28
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IN-FOCUS<br />
Implementing smart technologies<br />
in ship recycling<br />
By Dr. Kanu Priya Jain<br />
Coordinator, Responsible Ship<br />
Recycling, GMS (Dubai)<br />
The ship’s lifecycle has four main<br />
stages – design, construction, operation<br />
and recycling. Most stakeholders<br />
tend to focus more on the<br />
first three stages rather than the<br />
last stage, despite its importance in<br />
balancing the demand and supply of<br />
maritime transportation services. In<br />
the present era, the shipping industry<br />
is gradually starting to focus on<br />
digitalization using new and emerging<br />
technologies such as blockchain.<br />
It is not uncommon to hear terms<br />
such as digital disruption and digital<br />
innovation within the context of the<br />
shipping industry. However, the focus<br />
is more on the operations stage<br />
followed by design and construction<br />
stages of the ship’s lifecycle. Unfortunately,<br />
the recycling stage is untouched<br />
by these developments.<br />
The main reason for such a prejudice<br />
is the fact that the ship recycling<br />
industry has traditionally been conventional<br />
and reluctant to improvements.<br />
Not long ago, one could see<br />
yards dismantling end-of-life ships<br />
using minimal equipment and obsolete<br />
methods. However, within the<br />
last few years, the conditions have<br />
drastically changed in the global ship<br />
recycling industry, especially in India.<br />
Although there is no hint of digitalization<br />
or other new technological<br />
trends, the yards in India are upgrading<br />
their infrastructure and operating<br />
procedures in line with the IMO<br />
Hong Kong Convention. We, at GMS,<br />
being a responsible stakeholder, are<br />
facilitating and supporting these improvements<br />
as far as possible within<br />
our capacity.<br />
Presently, almost half of the active<br />
yards in India have voluntarily<br />
upgraded their facilities to obtain<br />
the Statements of Compliance (SoC)<br />
with the HKC from IACS-member<br />
classification societies such as Class<br />
NK, RINA and IR Class. This effectively<br />
means a total of 61 yards in India<br />
currently hold SoC with the HKC<br />
and about another 18 to 20 are in<br />
the process of obtaining it. The major<br />
catalyst for such growth has been<br />
the setting of HSE standards specific<br />
to ship recycling yards by the IMO<br />
Hong Kong Convention.<br />
60 MAY - JUNE 2018
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