During the 28th Interim Meeting of the Asian Shipowners Association (ASA) Ship Recycling Committee, members expressed they remain committed to ensuring full compliance with the Hong Kong Convention (HKC).
As explained, Hong Kong Convention (HKC) is set to enter into force on June 26, 2025. It applies to ships of 500 gross tons and above engaged in international voyages. New ships are required to submit an Inventory of Hazardous Materials (IHM) at delivery, and existing ships must complete the IHM documentation by 2030. As of March 2025, 24 countries, including major recycling nations such as India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Japan, have acceded to the HKC.
According to ASA, it is worth noting that even ships flagged in non-contracting states must adhere to the HKC standards when recycled in contracting states, that such ships must submit complete IHMs and use certified facilities, with contracting states obligated to enforce equivalent standards to maintain global safety and environmental norms.
The ASA SRC affirmed that the following action plan is essential in order to expand ratification of HKC to foster the level playing field in ship recycling:
1. Preparation for compliance with the Hong Kong Convention
They expressed the will to promote and strengthen the ASA SRC’s long-standing policy of ensuring that priority is given to the use of HKC-certified yards and call on wider ratification of the HKC. The SRC encourages ship recycling countries to prepare adequately for the entry into force of the HKC by upgrading ship recycling yard infrastructure to meet the requirements of the HKC.
2. Resolving inconsistency between the HKC and the Basel Convention (BC) / EU-SRR
The ASA SRC also made clear it supports reduce regional measures, ensure the harmonious consistency of global policies, promote the development of the ship recycling industry towards a green, standardized, and high-quality direction, and build a green shipping circular system. The ASA SRC also believes that efforts should be actively made to support IMO’s work of gathering experience in the early implementation stage of the HKC and to establish a cooperation process with the BC to clarify the the potential conflicts between the HKC and the BC.
In addition, as a regional regulation on ship recycling, the European Union Ship Recycling Regulation (EU-SRR) has more stringent requirements compared to the HKC. The ASA SRC encourages the EU-SRR to maintain legal consistency with the HKC in the first place and opposes the reintroduction of regional measures such as license systems.
3. The ASA SRC is firmly committed to contributing to global environmental conservation by promoting environmentally friendly ship recycling.
