GMS wins the prestigious Green Shipping Award in honor of its tireless efforts to improve the environmental standards of the ship recycling industry

30th October 2018, Dubai — GMS, the world’s largest buyer of ships and offshore assets for recycling, won the Green Shipping award at the 2018 Seatrade Maritime Awards Middle East, Indian Subcontinent & Africa, held at the Atlantis, The Palm, Dubai on Sunday.

This award highlights an organization that has developed the most environmentally responsive maritime and shipping strategies. GMS was honored to be chosen as the recipient in recognition of its leadership in pioneering a “green” agenda and promoting responsible ship recycling practices worldwide.

As the first and only Cash Buyer to develop a Responsible Ship Recycling Program (RSRP) in the world, GMS invests in both local and international programs to provide a full scope of services to owners, sellers, and lenders as well as the recycling yards. From preparing Inventory of Hazardous Material (IHM) reports and Ship Recycling Plans (SRPs) to providing weekly progress updates and a comprehensive vessel recycling completion report as per Hong Kong Convention guidelines, GMS offers one-stop, end-to-end solutions to the global shipping community.

As one of the fastest-growing RSRPs in the world, the team undertakes about 30 projects per year while investing in trainings for workers and safety officers, research and development

activities, and sustainable infrastructure development in an effort to upgrade international health, safety, and environmental standards in the maritime industry.

GMS also raised awareness about the need for greener shipping practices through the publication of the industry’s first two ship recycling books: Green Handbook: A Practical Checklist to Monitor the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships by RSRP Lead Coordinator Dr. Anand Hiremath and The Recycling of Ships by GMS non-executive director Dr. Nikos Mikelis.

On receiving the award, Dr. Anil Sharma, Founder & CEO of GMS commented: “I am extremely proud of the work done by the team at GMS. Cash Buyers have an extremely important role to play in the development of Responsible Ship Recycling (RSR). We initiated our programs well before "green" recycling gained traction in the Indian subcontinent by partnering with a leading IACS society to launch the world's first such program. Today, our work is led by some of the most qualified and passionate individuals in the world, who have spent countless hours in researching, developing, understanding, and promoting RSR. Testament to this work of passion and transparency is the publication of the industry's first TWO books on recycling. On behalf of the entire GMS team, I thank Seatrade and the judging panel for recognizing these efforts. This award has given us an impetus to do more.”