Teekay joins the Ship Recycling Transparency Initiative

The Canadian shipowner becomes the eighth to make public their approach to ship recycling, and joins AP Moeller-Maersk, the China Navigation Company, Wallenius Wilhelmsen and other major maritime players.

“Teekay is committed to helping the ship recycling facilities that we work with elevate their skills and performance to increase safety and sustainability,” said Kenneth Hvid, president and ceo, Teekay.

“Our employees are on-the-ground throughout the recycling process to perform regular inspections and audits and provide training to staff and workers. We have adopted a stringent process for ship recycling that goes above and beyond the Hong Kong Convention, and by being directly involved we can ensure this standard is met when recycling our vessels.

“With proper commitment and engagement, we believe responsible ship recycling is achievable,” he said.

“By disclosing their approach to ship recycling, Teekay demonstrates its commitment to being part of the solution,” said Andrew Stephens, executive director of the Sustainable Shipping Initiative that hosts the SRTI.

Stephens also pointed at a growing interest in more sustainable shipping practices and transparency from key stakeholders from other sectors including investors, retailers and manufacturers such as BMW and Scania. “Shipowners show increasing responsibility for their vessels throughout their entire life cycle – starting from the shipbuilding phase, through ship operations all the way through to dismantling and the recycling of steel and other ship components.”

The first SRTI report was launched at the Ship Recycling Forum 2019 in Hong Kong. Drawing on data collected through the SRTI online platform, the report clearly indicates that there is a growing commitment from shipowners to transparency and the provision of data on their ship recycling policies and practices. Industry insiders predict significant growth in numbers of disclosing shipowners as well as signatories to the SRTI.