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Egypt inks agreement on landmark ship breaking yard: Egypt’s Holding Company for Maritime and Land Transport and El Wehda Industrial Development have teamed up to launch Egypt’s inaugural ship scrapping and recycling ship breaking yard, according to a statement. The timeline and investment ticket for the project was not disclosed.
In numbers: The project will span 155k sq meters at Damietta Port and is expected to generate 1.5 mn tons of scrap annually over the next five years, fulfilling 66% of the local market’s demand for scrap.
Cracking down on imports: The ship breaking yard will bolster the domestic iron and steel industry by replacing imported scrap with locally recycled materials, Egypt’s Transport Minister Kamel Al-Wazir said in the statement.
The sector needs it: Egypt’s steel rebar production capacity sits at around 16 mn tons annually, the statement notes. However, steel rebar production reaches only 8 mn tons due to shortage of scrap in the local market.
It targets vessels of all sizes: The project aims to create a scrapyard capable of handling any sized ship, meeting international standards for compliant ship procurement. It will adhere to global regulations, such as those outlined in the Hong Kong and Basel conventions, and European ship recycling regulations.
Egypt has been looking into ship recycling: Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority (SCA) signed an agreement with Danish shipping giant AP Moeller-Maersk in 2023 to extend cooperation in the green transition, including a potential cooperation between the authority’s arsenals and Maersk in ship recycling.
About El Wehda Industrial Development: The company is a major shareholder in El Garhy Group’s mining and metals company Misr National Steel (Ataqa) but has recently reduced some of its shares slightly to 91.56% — down from 93.22%.
