The Ship Recycling Transparency Initiative (SRTI) launched its annual progress report, compiling disclosure information from twelve shipowners sharing their ship recycling policies and practices and providing updates on progress against the initiative.

Entering its third year, the SRTI has launched its first expansion of the disclosure questionnaire to reflect industry developments and ensure that shipowners are disclosing data against a set of robust, relevant questions, raising awareness of the current state of responsible ship recycling.

2020 saw the SRTI bring together the ship recycling community to discuss key topics for the industry: data and transparency; circular economy; and the role of financial stakeholders in demanding and enabling disclosure and accountability.

Andrew Stephens, Executive Director of the Ship Recycling Transparency Initiative, said: “We are glad to see awareness of ship recycling continue to increase, and in particular the increased interest and activity within the finance sector, where ship recycling is discussed in relation to the E, S, and G. While the SRTI community continues to grow, we recognise that ship recycling remains an invisible industry to many, and will continue to work on awareness raising around both the possibilities and barriers to a more responsible and safer ship recycling industry.”

Looking ahead, the initiative continues to engage, collaborate and partner with others, and has received funding from the Engineering X Safer End of Engineered Life project and the Danish Orient’s Fond, supporting the SRTI’s continued advancement and future development.

Susan Gourvenec, Engineering X Safer End of Engineered Life Offshore Structure & ShipsTheme Lead, said: “An important goal of the Engineering X Safer End of Engineered Life programme is to improve safety of decommissioning offshore structures and ships in those places where unsafe practices are most prevalent and present the greatest threat to safety of the workforce and the environment. We are pleased to fund the work of the SRTI and other research and community-building projects which are making such an important contribution to fulfilling our mission.”

The past month has seen three new signatories join the initiative across the insurance and shipowner sectors (in order of joining date): Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, NYK Line, and the American Hellenic Hull Insurance Company, bringing the total number of signatories to 29. NYK Line’s disclosure brings the total number of vessels covered by the initiative to over 3,400 across a number of segments including containers, tankers, bulk, vehicle carriers, and cruise.