Shipyard looking for recycling facility

Belfast’s Harland and Wolff shipyard is to try to succeed in a new venture which will involve tearing ships apart for recycling.

The yard will try to become the first in the UK licensed for the environmentally-friendly dismantling of old ships and oil rigs as soon as their time at sea comes to an end.
It has joined Golder Associates, the worldwide environmental company, to offer a new marine vessel and offshore structure recovery and recycling service.

New European rules on the dismantling of old ships mean that owners cannot have them driven onto beaches in the Far East where they are stripped for scrap without any safety or environment checks. Instead owners will have to pay for the dismantling of ships.
Harland and Wolff chief executive Robert Cooper highlighted what his group was trying to do.

“We have applied to the Environment and Heritage Service for a waste management licence to allow us to expand our acitivities into this important area,” he said.