Peter Koller, policy officer at the European Commission’s waste management and recycling unit, said the door is still open for Indian shipbreakers to be included on the list of yards that owners must use for scrapping European Union-flagged vessels.

Koller stressed at last week’s TradeWinds Ship Recycling Forum held in Hong Kong that the EC has not rejected the applications of Shree Ram Vessel Scrap and Priya Blue Industries, which were audited by EC external representatives at the end of September last year.