# How to Get Green Finance for Ship Recycling Yards and Steel Mills in Chattogram

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/climate-intelligence/green-finance-ship-recycling-chattogram

Published 2026-10-13.

Along the beaches of Sitakunda, north of Chattogram, old ships are cut into plates and sections. Much of that steel never leaves the district: it goes by truck to re-rolling mills that turn it into the bars and rods Bangladesh builds with. BIMCO, the shipowners' association, has estimated that ship recycling scrap feeds about 350 re-rolling mills that supply roughly half of the country's annual steel consumption.

Both halves of that chain now need capital. The yards must meet an international safety and environmental standard to keep working, and the mills need cheaper power and heat to stay competitive. This article answers how each can use green finance.

## The yards: a deadline that has passed

The Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships entered into force on 26 June 2025. The Bangladesh government said it would not allow ships to be dismantled after that date in yards that are not certified as compliant.

Yards have spent heavily to get there. The Business Standard reported that one yard, Ferdous Steel, put its full compliance cost above Tk200 crore, and that about 20 yards had together invested nearly Tk2,000 crore. It also reported 25 yards certified green by classification societies, according to the Bangladesh Ship Recycling Board. At an industry conference, yard owners asked the central bank, commercial banks and foreign lenders for long-term, low-interest loans to finish the work.

## The mills: power, heat and scrap

A re-rolling mill reheats billets or ship plate and rolls them into product. Its costs are the reheating furnace's fuel and the mill's electricity. The projects that cut both are well known to green lenders: efficient reheating furnaces with recuperators, hot charging where the layout allows, variable-speed drives, and rooftop solar on large mill sheds.

Bangladesh Bank runs green refinancing for listed green products, and its Green Transformation Fund finances imported green capital machinery for manufacturer-exporters. Whether a yard upgrade or a mill project qualifies depends on the current product list and circular; ask the bank to check before you build the application around it.

## What lenders want to see

**For a yard:** the certification gap report from the classification society, the cost of each item to close it, and the volume of ships the yard can take once certified.

**For a mill:** twelve months of electricity and fuel bills, monthly tonnes rolled, and the expected saving from the project, with how it will be metered.

In both cases the stronger file is the one with records, not projections. For more on Bangladesh's green funds, see [green finance for Dhaka and Gazipur garment exporters](https://senseible.earth/climate-intelligence/green-loan-garment-factory-dhaka) and [accessing green finance in Bangladesh manufacturing](https://senseible.earth/climate-intelligence/bangladesh-manufacturing-green-finance-access-guide). If a mill supplies steel that ends up in the EU, read [CBAM for Bangladeshi steel](https://senseible.earth/solutions/cbam-steel-bangladesh).

Senseible turns utility bills and fuel invoices into emission records linked to their source documents. Confirm current eligibility and terms with the lender before you apply.

## Related guides

- [green loan for a steel business in Johannesburg](https://senseible.earth/climate-intelligence/green-loan-steel-business-johannesburg)
- [green loan for a garment factory in Dhaka](https://senseible.earth/climate-intelligence/green-loan-garment-factory-dhaka)
- [green finance for steel and cement exporters in Turkey](https://senseible.earth/climate-intelligence/green-finance-steel-cement-turkey)
- [rooftop solar finance for factories in Bangladesh](https://senseible.earth/climate-intelligence/rooftop-solar-loan-factory-bangladesh)