Presence of asbestos in ship building materials causing a stir:

The Tradewinds ‘Ship Recycling Forum’ currently being held in Dubai has already covered some interesting insights into the future of shipping once the impending Hong Kong ship recycling convention comes into force.

The Forum, being held on the 1st and 2nd March 2011 in Dubai is designed to cover the future of ship recycling in practical terms. One of the biggest issues looming over the ship recycling industry is the Hong Kong Convention for the safe and environmentally sound recycling of ships 2009, which when in force will shake up the industry’s common practices. Two central concerns surround this convention. The first is the presence of hazardous materials on board vessels. The second is the movement of waste between countries.

It is widely known that hazardous materials, including lethal asbestos fibers, are present on many of the global shipping fleet. This has led to concerns over the health and safety of those people employed to dismantle disused vessels on the beaches of China, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, with little if any safety equipment.

A crucial argument has formed on whether this means the ship breaking industry should be moved out of the above mentioned non-OECD (organization for economic cooperation and development) countries to shores of countries with stricter health and safety legislation. This has been reinforced by complaints against OECD countries sending their end of life vessels to the beaches of Pakistan and Bangladesh when they are aware the vessel is laden with hazardous waste.  However, the current hosts of ship recycling rely heavily on the income for the workers, along with the recycled steel produced from these vessels to be put into their growing construction industry.

This led to the Hong Kong Convention 2009 which attempts to regulate the potential exposure to asbestos and other hazardous materials by requiring that all commercial vessels of a size greater than 500gt hold an Inventory of Hazardous Materials, which would state the hazardous materials present, their exact amount and specific location.

The first session of the Dubai ship recycling Forum focused specifically on ship owners, and Lloyds List article on the debate (Lloyds List 1/03/2011 16:25: Shiprecycling convention may unearth legal minefield Liz McCarthy) reported that leading ship owners are concerned over the ability to track the presence of hazardous materials along the shipping supply chain, with Henning Gramann’s (Director of Green Ship Recycling Services) reported by Lloyds List as stating “The supply chain is highly uncontrolled,” (http://www.lloydslist.com/ll/sector/ship-operations/article357335.ece).

It is true that it is difficult to control whether shipping supplies contain hazardous materials such as asbestos, as although banned in many countries, it has been found that some countries still use the lethal carcinogen.

Source: Lucion Marine. 2nd March 2011

http://www.greenpassport.net/presence-of-asbestos-in-ship-building-materials-causing-a-stir/