An Aegean town of Turkey has become the “ship demolition center” of Europe.
Izmir’s Aliaga town, which is known as Turkey’s one and only ship breaking yard, have been attracting numerous European firms since last year with its modern ship demolition facilities, officials told AA on Friday.
A total of 127 ships, mostly coming from European countries, were demolished at the ship breaking yard in Aliaga in 2009 while 187 vessels have been disposed in the region in the first 10 months of 2010, officials said.
Adem Simsek, chairman of Ship Recyclers’ Association of Turkey (GEMISANDER), said that ship demolition facilities in Aliaga had been modernized, remarkable activities had been carried out regarding health and safety conditions at work and a 10 million USD investment had been made for protection against pollution.
Simsek said European maritime firms preferred Aliaga ship breaking yard thanks to the Aegean town’s environment-friendly facilities.
The chairman noted that nearly 1,800 people were employed at Aliaga ship breaking yard, adding 152,757 tons of ships had been demolished in the region in 2008 while such figure had risen to 297,881 tons in 2009.
“During the first 10 months of 2010, 187 ships weighing 333,280 tons in total have been scrapped in Aliaga. Our goal is to reach 425,000 tons until the end of the year. We aim to recycle 98 percent of the ships sent to our region,” he said.
Simsek said 5-6 countries currently dealt with ship demolition, however, none of them made progress in terms of Europe’s environmental standards.
“Turkey is the only country among them which totally acts in accordance with environmental regulations and EU standards,” he noted.
Simsek also said that Turkey did not accept problematic and dangerous vessels, nuclear wastes or ships with asbestos for disposal.
AA
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