'Shipping’s Financiers Turning the Tide On Controversial Shipbreaking Practices' 15 May 2018

The shipping industry has...been criticized...for allowing vessels to be broken up on beaches, endangering workers and polluting. Now, it is being called to account for a quarter that may have a bit more clout – its financial backers. Norway’s $1 trillion Oil Fund...sold its stake in four firms because they scrap on the beach. Three of the firms excluded by Norway’s fund – Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine, Precious Shipping and Thoresen Thai Agencies (TTA) of Thailand – say they have been unfairly singled out. The fourth, Korea Line, declined to comment. Further exclusions are likely, said KLP, the fund and its Advisory Council on Ethics. Three leading pensions funds – Caisse de Depot, CCP and OMERS – are reviewing their investments in shipping over ethical and green considerations...adding...momentum on the issue from European Union regulators and courts, in particular pressure to measure up to standards for inclusion on the EU’s list of approved ship-breaking yards. More than 80 percent of ageing commercial ships are broken up on the beaches of Bangladesh, Pakistan and India. Industry leaders in South Asia say they cannot afford to upgrade their sites and remain competitive. [Refers to Precious Shipping, Thoresen, CCP and OMERS].