TWO big Chinese ship scrap yards have applied for inclusion of their facilities in the future EU list of Ship Recycling Facilities.

Official documents for the application have been presented recently in Brussels to the Head of the Unit Waste management and recycling of the European Commission's Directorate General for Environment.

The application was presented by Li Hongwei owner of Zhoushan Changhong International Ship Recycling Co Ltd and Jiang Xiagang Changjiang Shiprecycling Yard.

With a capacity of respectively 100 vessels (1.1 million Light Displacement Ton) and 120 vessels (1.2 million LDT) these two yards are the largest ship recycling facilities in the world.

The application follows the new Ship Recycling Regulation of the European Commission adopted in November 2013.

Mr Li said he wanted to serve shipowners worldwide with the highest standards of green recycling. "We welcome the initiative of the European Union and invite the million to audit and inspect our yards any time. We are pleased to improve and invest further to achieve the highest level required," he said.

At the presentation in Brussels, Tom Peter Blankestijn of the eco-consultancy Sea2Cradle, which has assisted shipowners to scrap at Chinese yards, said: "With the experience of executing close to a 100 projects these yards have developed into the best in the world offering the highest standards on Health Safety and Environment in the industry."

"We are very proud that these are the first yards outside the OECD [Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development, a rich country club] to apply for EU approval," said Mr Blankestijn, adding that working together with Lloyds Register was useful in upgrading scrapyard procedures.