Indian Subcontinent Demo Hits Decade High
Indian breakers regained market share, while the Chinese lost share as domestic demand fell.
Acording to MANA, The Indian subcontinent’s (ISC) share of scrapping reached a decade high in 2016, despite increased calls for greener recycling.
The proportion of tonnage sold for scrap to ISC breakers rose to 79% last year, according to Clarksons.
ISC breaking yards recycled 656 vessels of a combined 40mdwt in 2016.
“Indian breakers experienced a resurgence after a comparatively slow 2015, with 340 ships of a combined 12.5mdwt recycled in 2016,” the shipbroker said.
“This led their share of total demolition to rise from 20% in 2015 to 28% in 2016 in dwt terms.”
India’s resurgence comes as the global scrapping industry experienced the third highest year on record in terms of tonnage demolished, with a reported 933 ships of a combined 44.4mdwt scrapped. This was a year-on-year increase of 14%.
Bangladeshi breakers saw their share of world demolition decrease from 35% to 31% over the same period.
However in deadweight terms they still represented the largest share of demolition activity, scrapping 199 vessels of a combined 13.6mdwt in 2016.
Clarksons said recycling volumes at Pakistani breaking yards were steady year-on-year in 2016, with 117 vessels of a combined 8.9m dwt recycled despite a series of fatal accidents.
China appears to have been one of the losers with 111 ships of a combined 4.9mdwt recycled in 2016, 11% of the world total, but a year-on-year decrease of 25% in dwt terms.