Korean Perspectives on Ship Recycling

Abstract: Ship recycling activities are mainly taking place in South Asian countries and China. A number of dangerous old ships scrapped in these countries are being sent from developed countries, including Europe. International regulations by the Basel Convention, the ILO and the IMO have been controlling the issues for several years and the EU recently presented a “Proposal on Ship Recycling” and is waiting for its adoption by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers. The Korean ship recycling industry is poor and small like in other developed countries, but Korea has large shipping and shipbuilding industries. The changing new ship recycling regulations will affect Korean ship industries in many ways, especially large European shipping companies would seem to put pressures on Korean shipbuilders. So Korean ship industry is required to identify problems related to the current Korean ship recycling issues and try to take appropriate actions.