Photo: Leviathan GmbH
Ships are being recycled all over the world, but is the current process more harmful to the environment than operating a conventional diesel vessel?
A big part of the world seems to agree on the fact that zero-emission vehicles for ground, air, and water-based transportation are key for our future. But this also raises the question regarding the fate of all the old-generation vehicles – simply adding them to the piles of garbage that are already suffocating the planet seems to undo all the good that’s being done by the next-generation models.
Recycling isn’t new, of course, but the way that it’s done matters. Sustainability goes hand in hand with green mobility, and it needs to be applied to recycling as well. When it comes to vessels, beaching is the standard procedure.
According to the Shipbreaking Platform NGO, the ship is placed on a tidal mudflat, and the breaking operations are carried out during low tide. Due to the tides, the pollutants used in the cutting operations end up in the environment. NGOs have spoken about the negative effects of beaching, but it continues to be used for most of the ship scrapping.
A young company in Germany wants to change that. Leviathan GmbH was founded by two naval architects and ocean engineers, Simeon Hiertz and Karsten Schumacher. They claim to have founded the world’s first company for 100% clean ship recycling, a concept that the CEO of Shipbreaking Platform, Ingvild Jenssen, calls “a real game-changer.”
Leviathan kicked off a pilot project together with German Naval Yards, where a ship will be recycled entirely sustainably for the time in the industry. The vessel is a 41-meter (134.5 feet) landing boat, and the process is expected to be completed by the end of July. For German Naval Yards, which normally build or converts ships, this is a new challenge, and it will be providing Leviathan the required shipyard facilities.
In addition to being 100% green, this recycling process even has an artistic twist. Parts and materials from the boat will be available for artists who wish to turn them into works of art – a truly noble end for any vessel, instead of polluting the environment.
Recycling isn’t new, of course, but the way that it’s done matters. Sustainability goes hand in hand with green mobility, and it needs to be applied to recycling as well. When it comes to vessels, beaching is the standard procedure.
According to the Shipbreaking Platform NGO, the ship is placed on a tidal mudflat, and the breaking operations are carried out during low tide. Due to the tides, the pollutants used in the cutting operations end up in the environment. NGOs have spoken about the negative effects of beaching, but it continues to be used for most of the ship scrapping.
A young company in Germany wants to change that. Leviathan GmbH was founded by two naval architects and ocean engineers, Simeon Hiertz and Karsten Schumacher. They claim to have founded the world’s first company for 100% clean ship recycling, a concept that the CEO of Shipbreaking Platform, Ingvild Jenssen, calls “a real game-changer.”
Leviathan kicked off a pilot project together with German Naval Yards, where a ship will be recycled entirely sustainably for the time in the industry. The vessel is a 41-meter (134.5 feet) landing boat, and the process is expected to be completed by the end of July. For German Naval Yards, which normally build or converts ships, this is a new challenge, and it will be providing Leviathan the required shipyard facilities.
In addition to being 100% green, this recycling process even has an artistic twist. Parts and materials from the boat will be available for artists who wish to turn them into works of art – a truly noble end for any vessel, instead of polluting the environment.
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