The EU may approve two Indian ship recycling facilities, allowing them to accept EU-flagged vessels and increasing competition for Turkey's Aliağa region.
The European Commission has proposed the inclusion of two Indian ship recycling facilities in the list of EU-approved facilities. If the decision is finalized, Indian facilities will be able to accept EU-flagged ships directly for the first time. This development could signify new and strong competition for Turkey's Aliağa ship dismantling region, which is currently represented by 10 facilities on the list.
The European Commission has proposed the addition of two Indian facilities to the 16th update of the EU Ship Recycling Facilities List. The proposal has not yet been finalized. For the facilities to be included on the list, the Commission's decision-making process and the necessary administrative approvals must be completed.
The current list, published in February 2026, includes 41 facilities. Of these, 30 are located in Europe, 10 in Turkey, and one in the United States. All Turkish facilities on the list operate in the Aliağa region.
The European Community Shipowners' Associations (ECSA) has supported the Indian proposal, stating that facilities outside the OECD that meet environmental and occupational safety standards should also be recognized. ECSA argues that this step will alleviate the issue of large ship dismantling capacity on the EU list.
In contrast, the NGO Shipbreaking Platform claims that the 'beaching' method, where ships are dismantled on the shore, is insufficient in terms of environmental and worker safety. The organization has previously objected to both the inclusion of Indian facilities on the list and the retention of some Turkish facilities using the 'landing' method in Aliağa on the list.
If the proposal is accepted, it is expected that Indian facilities will compete with Aliağa due to lower labor costs, steel sales revenue, and high purchase prices. This is a commercial inference based on existing data. The real impact of the competition will be seen when the annual capacities of the facilities to be included on the list, the sizes of the ships they can accept, and the environmental standards they will implement are disclosed.
Source: SeaNews Türkiye
