Germany has its first green ship recycling facility

August 23 ------For the first time, it will be possible to recycle vessels in Germany rather than sending them to South Asia for demolition. EWD Benli Recycling, part of Emden-based shipyard Emden Werft und Dock (EWD), received necessary permits from the Oldenburg State Trade Supervisory Office (GAA Oldenburg) earlier this year.

The facility will be dismantling seagoing vessels, inland waterway vessels, coasters, as well as passenger ships and ferries. In addition, it will be able to dismantle offshore wind turbines and industrial plants. As Björn Sommer, one of the two Managing Directors, explained, the facility will be able to dismantle anything that can enter the Port of Emden through the sea lock.

On August 18, 2025, Lower Saxony’s Environment Minister Christian Meyer met with Sommer and Sebastian Jeanvré to learn more about ship recycling in Emden. As informed, the facility is currently processing several inquiries. “I am very pleased that the Port of Emden can now plan and build with a future in mind, so that ships can finally be recycled sustainably here and not in distant countries,” Meyer stressed.

Specifically, the received permit covers the recycling of “government vessels in non-commercial use” (naval and government vessels), inland and coastal ships, as well as seagoing vessels. It encompasses all steps of the ship recycling process, including the subsequent dismantling and ‘depollution of pollutants.’ “In recent decades, we have had to witness environmental disasters because decommissioned industrial ships were shipped, particularly to Southeast Asia, where they rotted under the worst environmental and social conditions,” Meyer said. “Lower Saxony, together with Bremen, has therefore long advocated for domestic ship recycling and raw material extraction in Germany through the Conference of Environment Ministers, and global environmental regulations have finally been tightened with the Hong Kong Convention.”

Source: offshore-energy.biz