The Environment Agency (EA) yesterday (14 March), announced that “it is likely” to permit Swansea ship recycling firm, Swansea Drydocks Ltd, to make changes to its current Environmental Permit (EP) which will allow it to increase its operations.

This news follows a preliminary assessment carried out by the EA that found the proposed changes for a new wet berth would ‘not pose a risk to the health of local people or the environment’ and would not ‘change any of the existing waste types or operational activities’ sanctioned by the current EP.

According to Swansea Drydocks, the plans for a wet berth had been included in their original EP application, but delays in securing a Certificate of Lawful Use led them instead to opt for a ‘two-phased strategy’. The second phase will reportedly be financed by an undisclosed grant from the Wales Economic Growth Fund.

If approved, the wet berth will be constructed in Queen’s Dock, in which the ‘initial phases of ship recycling’ would take place.

The development would enable the firm to store end-of-life ships for the removal of ‘fixtures and fittings’, in addition to waste fuel and oil. The ships would then be moved to a dry dock area for further dismantling.

However, according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’s (Defra) Ship Recycling Strategy, best practice suggests that ‘full recycling should be undertaken in a dry dock, or within an area that allows full capture of all liquid/solid waste’, as any leaks, such as waste fuel, are hard to clean up once mixed with water.

Consultation

Despite this, the EA has said that it is “likely” to permit the company the necessary permits once it is “satisfied that the company will continue to operate safely and without impacting on local people or the environment”.

The EA has now opened a second public consultation for the extension ‘to ensure no information is missing which may affect [its] decision’ which will close on 15 April.

Spokesperson for EA Wales, Mark Youell, said: “We have carried out a rigorous assessment into these proposals and the company has demonstrated that they have the necessary measures in place to protect local people and the environment.

“This second round of consultation gives everybody the opportunity to view the revised permit we have drafted, discuss how we have reached our decision, and bring any new issues to our attention.

“We will only allow the permit change once we are satisfied that the company will continue to operate safely and without impacting on local people or the environment.”

Opposition

Despite a successful preliminary consultation, it has been reported that councillors from St.Thomas Ward are concerned that the plans could deter leisure, retail and housing developers from investing in the area.

Further, the Swansea Maritime Quarter Residents’ Association (MQRA), has also voiced concern that the construction of a wet berth would noise levels and pollution in the area.

Writing on its website, the association said that if the permit is granted, residents could soon ‘be suffering from noise and odour pollution… swimming in dirty water; or we will be breathing in fugitive asbestos fibres and/or other toxic dust blown into the air; or marine life will be feeling the deadly effects of lead-based anti-fouling paint; or worse still, there may be radio-activity in the area’.

Read more about the Swansea Drydocks consultation or find out more about ship recycling in Resource 70.