The International Maritime Organization’s effort to
implement new international regulations intended to the promote safe and
environmentally sound ship recycling received a major boost this week with
ratification by the world’s largest largest flag state.
On Monday Panama became the fifth IMO Member State to
accede to the IMO’s Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and
Environmental Sound Recycling of Ships (Hong Kong Convention), which is aimed
at ensuring that ships sent for scrap do not pose a risk to human health and
safety or to the environment.
The Hong Kong Convention addresses issues related to
ship recycling by creating a set of standards covering the handling of
hazardous materials, the design and construction of ships, recycling
facilities, and the preparation of ships sent for scrap. Adopted in 2009, the
Convention won’t enter into force until ratification by 15 States representing
no less than 40% of the world fleet’s tonnage.
With it’s open system, Panama manages the world’s
largest ship registry, registering over 8,000 vessels representing a combined
218 million GT, or approximately 18% of the world merchant fleet.
Prior to Panama, the Hong Kong Convention had only
been ratified by Norway, Congo, France and Belgium, making for a little over 2%
of the world’s tonnage, according to the IMO.
Last week Denmark also pledged to ratify the
convention in Spring 2017.
Shipbreaking Yards
The Hong Kong Convention is also pushing scrap yards
to upgrade facilities to comply with its standards. There are even a number of
yards now in Alang, India, a shipbreaking hub notoriously known for its poor
conditions and polluting practices, that have received Statements of Compliance
with the Hong Kong Convention. The improving conditions have even prompted the
world’s largest shipping company, Maersk Line, to return to Alang where the
company says it can save it can save $1 to $2 million in recycling costs per
ship and help quality yards improve even further.
According to the NGO Shipbreaking Platform, a critic
of Alang and unsafe ship breaking practices, 60% of 768 ships sold for scrap in
2015 were broken up along the shores of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, where
the controversial practice of beaching is still used.
By the end of 2016, the European Union is expected to
decide whether or not to include Southeast Asian yards on a list of approved
facilities that comply with sustainable recycling practices for EU-flagged
ships. The EU law currently is expected to favor facilities in places like
Turkey and China.
The NGO Shipbreaking Platform has been critical of
ship owners, including Danish-based Maersk Line, for using ‘flags of
convenience’, i.e. Panama, in order to bypass EU law.
“As the HKC progresses towards enforcement, the
European Union’s Ship Recycling Regulation is also entering a critical stage,
as a decision is awaited for the yards in Alang holding Statements of
Compliance with the HKC whether they should be included on the list of EU
approved recycling yards,” commented Dr Anil Sharma, President and CEO of GMS,
the world’s largest buyer of ships for recycling and proponent of safe ship
recycling in Alang.
“These yards have proven that they meet the high
safety and environmental standards laid out in the HKC through significant
investment, training and development within the region. Excluding these yards
would create an insurmountable divide within the industry based solely on their
geographic location, and threaten to halt the positive progress made by the HKC
in South Asia,” Dr. Sharma added.
Source: gcaptain. 20
September 2016
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