CEMS-Dalian to open ship recycling centre in Chinese port

A delegation from Dalian, including city officials and industrialists, is in Ireland this week to meet with government ministers and senior level government officials as well as leading academics in environmental science and maritime engineering.

All manner of ship dismantling waste, including hazardous materials, will be recycled or disposed of to the highest standards of environmental safety at the new centre.

“We have formed a strategic alliance with a private Chinese company to design, develop and operate a state of the art ship dismantling and recycling facility with the latest technology,” explained John Cronin, founder and chairman, CEMS-D.

“We aim to make this facility a global centre of excellence for ship dismantling and recycling and have received excellent support from the local and national Chinese governments.”

Shipping experts predict that 3.3pc of the world’s 89,000 vessel shipping fleet should be scrapped or recycled each year.  It has been projected that by 2014, 32 million tonnes should be scrapped annually.  However only 1,000 ships a year are currently being dismantled and it is a costly and slow exercise.  This has resulted in a backlog of ships for dismantling, and an opportunity that CEMS-D has identified in the market.

With ten of the top 20 busiest ports in the world, China has very significant demand for ship dismantling and recycling expertise.

In a related development, University College Cork (UCC) and Dalian University of Technology (DUT) China have signed a memorandum of understanding with a view to cooperation in a range of projects, initially in environmental sciences, coastal management, and maritime engineering. Further cooperation in areas such as food science and technology is envisaged in the future.