“We hereby confirm that Sine Maersk has been sent for responsible recycling to Aliaga, Turkey. Build in 1998, this Danish flag Post-Panamax ship (9.640 TEU) will be dismantled at Sök Denizcilik Tic. Ltd. Sti – an E.U. compliant certified yard, who we engaged in 2017 for the recycling of Maersk Pembroke,” a Maersk spokesperson stated.

The Turkish shipyard has been included in the European List of licensed ship recycling facilities that follow strict environmental and safety requirements. It had produced 41 shipyards as of January 2020.

The change is being made because the coronavirus pandemic is forcing industry majors to focus on reducing vessel oversupply and declining demand.

Cutting vessel capacity by sailing blanking and idling ships would probably not be enough for container liners to tackle the decline in demand and sustain competitive prices.

Scrapping older tonnage may therefore be the safest way to go, as interest in new acquisitions has been quite low due to restricted access to capital and demand woes.

Maersk has been a strong supporter of green recycling as he is at the forefront of green projects in line with his sustainability goals.

Its ships were mostly dismantled at shipyards in Turkey and China, which are the main suppliers of economically viable and responsible ship recycling services.

In 2016, however, Maersk initiated an effort to help update ship-recycling facilities and procedures in Alang yards and make them meet the company's expectations.

Maritime Business World