Texas Yard is US' First EU-compliant Shipbreaking Site

International Shipbreaking said it has become the first yard in the U.S. to gain EU Ship Recycling Regulation (EU SSR) accreditation, after investing $30 million in compliant infrastructure.

The Brownsville, Texas site, part of EMR Metal Recycling, can now help EU-based ship owners—as well as ships flying the flags of EU member states—to responsibly recycle their ships at end of life.

The regulations set standards for environmental and health and safety compliance which go above and beyond stringent U.S. regulatory requirements. The International Shipbreaking facility meets EU requirements that ships are completely recycled on hard surfaces to avoid pollutants such as chemicals from paints contaminating the soil and water.

As of 2018, 90.4% of the world’s end-of-life vessels were broken up on the beaches of Southeast Asia in rudimentary conditions, according to the NGO Shipbreaking Platform. The EU SRR aims to help responsible ship owners clean up their act and make the shipbreaking industry greener and safer. Increasingly, banks and investors are unwilling to fund shipping companies who cannot prove that their ships are recycled responsibly.

Chris Green, Senior Manager at International Shipbreaking Ltd LLC, said, “We have just received and safely moored our first EU ship recycling project, the MT Wolverine. There is a big future in this industry and, over the past year we have seen three times the number of inquiries from EU ship owners. This indicates the shipping industry is taking more responsibility for how their ships are recycled, rather than using the South Asian shipbreaking beaches.”

“International Shipbreaking has been safely recycling ships and marine structures since 1995. During this time over 100 vessels have been recycled, with an excellent compliance record,” Green added.

“We have a corporate culture of safety compliance and our very experienced staff completes due diligence, including safety and environmental assessments, before we even make a bid for a project. This allows our team to accurately estimate the cost of hazardous material removal/disposal and the revenue we will receive for the recycled metals. These ships contain extensive hazardous materials that require containment and removal. To think this operation could be conducted any other way is reckless and irresponsible. We hang our hat on compliance and providing our customers with a recycling service that they can be proud of.”