Evergreen Marine Corporation (Taiwan) Ltd. has become a signatory to the Ship Recycling Transparency Initiative (SRTI) in order to share its aged vessels’ green recycling policy. The move is part of Evergreen’s avowed commitment to plan a completely sustainable life cycle for its vessels from design, construction, operation and ultimately to decommissioning.

The SRTI, hosted by the Sustainable Shipping Initiative, is an online platform via which members report information on their ship recycling policies and activities against a set of predefined disclosure criteria. In the interest of transparency, Evergreen and other participating shipowners can share their approach to this critical component of environmental and socially responsible ship operations. Cargo owners and financial stakeholders, in turn will have access to this information in order to make their own informed decisions.

In announcing its decision to join SRTI, Evergreen said “We have had a long-standing commitment to ‘Clean Oceans’. Embodied in this goal is a mission to ensure responsible and sustainable operations wherever they touch the environment, whether at sea or on land, and to care for the people we employ and the communities we serve.”

When planning its current fleet renewal strategy therefore, Evergreen not only requires strict recycling standards for those vessels being disposed of, but also incorporates state-of-the-art design into its newbuildings so as to minimize the impact of container shipping operations both on marine life, on port communities and on humanity worldwide.

In this regard Evergreen invests in measures that go beyond environmental regulations, for instance, the new 12,000-TEU class F-type vessels, of which the 1st in the series is already in service network since March of this year, are equipped with a Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) reactor system. Such technology ensures that the vessels meet MARPOL nitrogen oxide (NOx) emission Tier III standards, which is above the current Tier II requirements. In addition, Evergreen voluntarily ensure that all newbuildings and the ships already in service, no matter on which service trade they will be deployed, will be provided an Inventory of Hazardous Materials Part 1 (IHM Part 1) for Class approval and SoC for certification.

Such consideration of the environmental impact of a vessel’s operation throughout its life-cycle is the driving force behind the latest SRTI move. “When a vessel is decommissioned and recycling is planned, not only can valuable and reusable resources be recovered but potentially dangerous waste and pollutants must be processed properly.” Evergreen goes on to say. “Recycling operations with the highest standards of safety available must be utilized. “We are therefore pleased to share our recycling policies by joining SRTI and helping lead a growing industry initiative to demand more responsible ship recycling in the future.”

In a statement welcoming Evergreen, Andrew Stephens, Executive Director of the Sustainable Shipping Initiative said, “Evergreen Marine joins a growing SRTI family that includes like-minded shipowners who are holding themselves to account before key stakeholders, including clients, investors and the wider public. This includes an increasingly diverse range of stakeholders engaging on the topics of data and transparency, circularity, and the role of financial stakeholders in sustainable and responsible ship recycling in the absence of global regulation.”

True to both its name and the corporate philosophy established by group founder and chairman Dr. Y.F. Chang, Evergreen recognizes its ecological obligations and will continue to maintain the best possible care in sustaining an ‘ever green’ global environment.