Costly American shipbreaker urges owners to opt for 'sustainability'
SHIPOWNERS should pay more for "sustainable" recycling practices and boycott unregulated operations, said a leading American shipbreaker, reported London's Tanker Operator.
Less regulated scrapping beaches of Alang in northwest India have been the target of western environmentalists, who urge they be boycotted because of substandard working conditions.
More costly shipbreakers like GMS have chimed in. "We urge shipowners to take advantage of sustainable recycling services and choose sustainable yards," said Anil Sharma, CEO of GMS of Maryland, the world's only ISO 9001 (BV) certified cash buyer of ships for recycling.
Dr Sharma called on the industry to use those yards to support both the progress being made in those businesses and the thousands of families dependent upon them in regions where there are few other opportunities for employment.
"We are seeing significant growth in demand for HKC [Hong Kong Convention] compliant recycling from shipowners and the yards are reaping the commercial benefits," Dr Sharma said. 
He urged shipowners to ignore the higher prices they received from non-ISO yards and chose more costly but sustainable yards where they received less money for their scrap ships.
GMS has negotiated 3,000 ships for scrap since inception. The company has offices Hamburg, Dubai, Singapore, Shanghai and Tokyo.
GMS also has its own representatives in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, China and Turkey, for a total of 11 locations.