Waste Disposal and Ship Demolition

As Yang Ming has developed more energy-efficient ships and continued the expansion of service routes as a leading global ocean carrier, the replacement of old ships with new ones and the increasing waste production volume as a result of rising demand have become important issues. Effective management is achieved through policy development and by sorting, disposing of and recording/controlling the waste produced in the course of operations as well as disposing of decommissioned ships.

Onshore Waste Management Measures

1. Waste reduction and recycling measures are disseminated to employees on a quarterly basis.
2. Environmental education courses and online dissemination courses are promoted to cultivate employees' awareness of environmental protection and sustainability.
3. Waste sorting and recycling are performed to ensure proper waste disposal and thereby improve the quality of recycled items.
4. Employees are encouraged to bring their own tableware and avoid using disposable tableware.
5. Employees are encouraged to bring their own reusable drinking cups.
6. Take appropriate portions for lunch to avoid waste and reduce food scraps.
7. Promotion of paperless work: If possible, all business documents are handled and stored electronically. The Company has promoted paperless attachments to vouchers payable and digital shipowner bill management, improved the agents' cloud utilization rate, and used electronic import receipts, contributing to a reduction of about 4.4580 tons CO₂e. Printing on both sides of paper is also requested to make full use of waste paper. The paper consumption in 2023 decreased by 1.46% compared to 2022, and 25.95 tons of destroyed paper were recycled, achieving the goals of 0.5% reduction and 10 tons of destroyed paper recycled by 2023.
8. We commission qualified disposal vendors to dispose of general waste. Each operating premise should dispose of its waste in accordance with the environmental protection regulations of the respective county or city

Disposal of Waste from Onshore Locations

Vessel Waste Management Measures 

1. Sorting, collection, and disposal of onboard garbage are carried out in accordance with Annex V to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships and local environmental regulations. Yang Ming's fleet has established garbage management plans to regulate the disposal of hazardous waste and solid waste generated on board, including 5 main procedures: collection, sorting, disposal, storage, and recording.
2. All food residues are properly handled according to conventions and the laws of port states.
3. In addition to reducing waste and hazardous substances, waste batteries/chemicals/ waste bulbs/medical waste are disembarked for recycling and disposal.
4. Used paper, empty barrels, empty boxes, and wooden boards are collected for reuse.
5. Stainless steel garbage cans are marked with different colors for waste sorting and labeled with Incinerable /Non-Incinerable and Recyclable/Non-Recyclable.
6. The garbage storage area is regularly disinfected and cleaned.
7. Online dissemination courses on environmental education are promoted to cultivate seafarers' awareness of environmental protection and sustainability

Disposal of Waste from Ships at Sea

Note 1：In international shipping practices, vessel waste disembarked is counted in volume. After the volume of the fleet's waste disembarked is counted annually, the volume is converted into and presented in weight based on relevant coefficients. Websites as reference: https://www. epa.gov/sites/default/files/2016-04/documents/volume_to_weight_conversion_factors_ memorandum_04192016_508fnl.pdf
https://www.aqua-calc.com/calculate/volume-to-weight

Note 2：As sludge contains a high proportion of water, its gravity is 1. The gravity of waste cooking oil is 0.93.

Ship Recycling and Disposal

Yang Ming has a green ship recycling policy in place. When it comes to disposing of decommissioned ships, the Company complies with the Hong Kong Convention (HKC) 2009. We also protect the health and human rights of workers as well as the marine environment in accordance with the requirements in the following table. The Company signed and joined the Ship Recycling Transparency Initiative (SRTI) in 2022, and updates our ship recycling measures and status on the SRTI website every year.
The Company did not carry out any ship demolition activities in 2023.

Green Ship Recycling Management Measures

1. Inventory of Hazardous Materials (IHM) preparation: A qualified professional assessment company has been commissioned to prepare an IHM to regulate processes.
2. Onboard sampling inspections: Areas with hazardous substances and pollutants undergo seafarers and sampling inspections by classification societies (IHM Part I).
3. Careful selection of ship recyclers: Buyers are required to select HKC and ISO certified green ship recyclers to ensure eco-friendly ship recycling.
4. Active tracking: The Company understands the situation with the buyer and ship breaker and asks them to provide a certificate and certification of completion of ship breaking.

The Company's responses to the "Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, 2009" and "EU Ship Recycling Regulation" and their progress in 2023 are as follows:

• In 2023, we obtained IHM certification for 12 ships (YM HORIZON, YM HEIGHTS, YM UPWARD, YM UTILITY, YM UNIFORM, YM UNIFORMITY, YM UBIQUITY, YM UNANIMITY, YM UPSURGENCE, YM UNICORN, YM INTELLIGENT, and YM IDEALS).
• Statistics by the end of 2023 show that 100% of our own ships have obtained IHM certification.