Frank Geerdink wants to recycle tonnage by slicing it like a loaf of bread.
He plans to use completely automated processes to cut vessels into bits for reuse by Europe’s steel industry.
Geerdink is raising about $65m to build a high-tech ship recycling plant in Rotterdam based on wire cutter technology, which he believes will be able to demonstrate his process by the end of 2027.
He told TradeWinds the project is to build the most sophisticated, safest and fastest recycling process, one which will still be able to offer shipowners a good price for tonnage, while meeting Europe’s ship recycling regulations.
Geerdink, a veteran project engineer, owns engineering consultancy Aseco Europe.
He has spent a decade developing a process to slice ships into workable chunks without a human needing to be on board with a cutting torch.
He formed a consortium of Dutch companies, CMT International, and secured funding through Dutch venture studio Enviu and the Dutch government to reach his goal.
CMT stands for Circular Maritime Technologies. Partners in the development of the yard include Huisman Equipment, Jansen Recycling Group and Sea2Cradle, the Maersk/P&O Nedlloyd in-house ship recycling consultancy which became independent in 2011.
Geerdink said the vessel, which CMT will purchase at market value, will be cleaned and then drawn out of the water. There, a high-speed 200-metre steel wire loop with tungsten carbide “pearl” will slice through the hull.
A water curtain is used to ensure the steel remains cool and the filings are collected.
The segments will then be laid, using cradles for further cutting, and then passed through stages where automated robotic arms sort, cut and transfer.
“We already have the robotic arms and have developed the software,” Geerdink said.
Last month, the company trialled its tungsten steel cutting wire.
CMT’s planned pilot yard in Rotterdam will be only a quarter the size of a full recycling yard, according to Geerdink.
A full yard would need more than $400m in capital investment. Gerdink is certain it would be able to raise $650m in annual revenues by selling the steel to European steel makers seeking to reduce their emissions by taking in quality recycled material.
But it will not be an easy ride for Geerdink. While he is confident of his economics, the European steel industry is not so buoyant, suffering from high energy prices and international competition.
Eurofer, the European steelmakers association, is far from optimistic about the market in the face of competition from overseas, where steel production is much cheaper and not subject to such increased energy costs.
Better than beaching and ready to support Asia
Geerdink believes the automated recycling process he has designed will be significantly cleaner safer, quicker and greener than the beaching process in most Asian yards.
But CMT also wants to lease out the steel cutting idea and has developed a mobile cutting cradle, which Geerdink wants to lease to other ship recyclers.
“We have been in talks with the World Bank about this,” he said. “This way Asian yards can have an industrial tool which is easy to operate.”
While the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships takes effect in June, Europe’s ship recycling regulations prohibit European vessels from being sent to Asian recyclers.
Although many Asian yards have upgraded their facilities to comply with Hong Kong standards, they are still not included on Europe’s approved recycling list.
