By David Loosley, BIMCO Secretary General & CEO This opinion piece first appeared in TradeWinds In February, the European Commission adopted the 15th edition of the European List of Ship Recycling Facilities. The list now contains 41 facilities of which 30 are in the European Union (EU), Norway and the UK, 10 are in Türkiye and one is in the United States. Once again, the EU member states have voted to support the Commission’s recommendation to not add any recycling facilities in South Asia despite a significant transformation at many yards in the region. Today, over 110 Indian recycling yards hold a Hong Kong Convention (HKC) Statement of Compliance, issued by International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) members. In addition, 23 yards in Bangladesh have been authorised to conduct ship recycling by their national authorities as per HKC requirements. And yet, for the 15th time, and despite several Commission-led inspections and audits, none of the yards appear on the EU list. In fact, not a single Indian yard has been approved by the EU. From the point of view of BIMCO and our Ship Recycling Alliance - which includes representatives from ship recycling associations, facilities, cash buyers and shipowners - the omission of South Asian facilities on the list is no longer just an administrative detail. Some of these facilities achieve, or even exceed, the EU standards. The omission, we believe, is therefore a stark reminder of how limited the EU ship recycling regulation is when it comes to creating real, tangible benefits where it is needed the most. The EU list aims to set higher safety and environmental standards globally. The truth, however, is that this intention stops at Europe’s borders because ships flying an EU member state flag must be recycled at a facility on the EU list. In 2024, around 80 percent of global ship recycling tonnage was processed in South Asia, regardless of EU policy. The reality is that the regulation is not preventing ships