NamasteIndia Circularity: Old Ships Are Now Linked to New Ships
June2026, NamasteIndia has created a policy loop between old vessels and new vessels.
Under the scheme, shipowners recycling vessels at Hong Kong Convention-compliant Indian yards can receive a creditnote equivalent to 40% of the vessel’s fair scrap value. The note can be redeemed against new vessel construction in India, subject to a 5% cap on the new vessel cost and defined validity.
Process
→ compliant recycling yard
→ recovered steel and materials
→ credit note
→ new shipbuilding in India
India has also launched a Unified Ship Recycling Portal to support the credit-note mechanism and improve transparency, governance and processing.
NewRegulatoryBase
The Hong Kong Convention entered into force on 26 June 2025. It brings ship recycling under a stronger compliance framework covering:
Inventory of Hazardous Materials
authorised recycling facilities
ship-specific recycling plans
worker safety
environmental controls
certification and reporting
India’s 2026 ship-recycling framework strengthens this direction by aligning yard operations, hazardous-material handling, worker safety and reporting with a formal compliance system.
The global market is highly concentrated. Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Türkiye together account for over 91% of global ship-recycling activity, with Bangladesh and India leading the market.
India’s position is anchored by Alang_Sosiya in Gujarat, one of the world’s largest ship-recycling clusters.
Key facts:
Bangladesh continues to lead by recycled tonnage.
India remains a top global player and major South Asian recycling hub.
More than 110 Indian recycling yards hold Hong Kong Convention Statements of Compliance.
No Indian ship-recycling yard is currently on the EU European List, while the latest EU list includes 41 approved facilities across Europe, Türkiye and the US.
Alang saw only one ship beached in May 2026, the lowest monthly intake since operations began in 1983.
How the world approaches ship recycling:
IMO: Hong Kong Convention as the global baseline.
Europe: EU-flagged large vessels must use approved facilities on the European List.
Türkiye: regulated regional recycling hub with multiple EU-listed facilities.
South Asia: volume centre, but under scrutiny for beaching, worker safety and hazardous waste.
India: large recycling base, HKC-compliant yards, credit-note linkage and domestic shipbuilding opportunity.
The fact pattern is clear.
India has scale.
India has compliant-yard capacity.
India has a new circular-policy incentive.
The next measurable shift will depend on vessel inflows, EU-list recognition, digital traceability, worker-safety proof and stronger linkage between recycled material & Indian shipbuilding.
Originally published on LinkedIn on 2026-06-20 05:10:51: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn%3Ali%3AgroupPost%3A2474261-7473965569030057984
