An agreement has been reached for the Maersk Wyoming and the Maersk Georgia to be recycled at the Shree Ram yard in Alang, India, from late May 2016, launching the Maersk Group’s new recycling initiative.

“By initiating recycling of vessels in Alang at responsible yards, we ensure further development of financially feasible and responsible recycling options to the benefit of Alang and the shipping industry,” said Annette Stube, head of sustainability at Maersk. “This development will take time, but we are determined to work with the yards for the long haul.”

According to Maersk, the responsible recycling of ships was only feasible at certain yards in China and Turkey until recently, when the company conducted several audits during 2015 of improved facilities in Alang and announced in February 2016 that it would help them comply with industry standards.

“The Alang plans come at a cost for us, but we will invest money and human resources to ensure we can already now scrap our vessels in compliance with the Hong Kong Convention provisions (HSE) as well as international standards on labour conditions and anti-corruption,” said Stube. “We will also have staff on-site at Shree Ram. They will be working closely with the yard to further upgrade practices, processes and facilities to ensure that the recycling of our vessels complies with our standards.”

The Maersk Group will engage in dialogue with Japanese ship-owners in the coming months to increase collaboration on responsible ship recycling and sustainable solutions, with the aim of accelerating the upgrade of even more yards in Alang, according to the company.