ICS: Hong Kong Convention has to enter into force

A group of international shipowners’ associations met in Hong Kong on 14th May to consider the next steps for the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally-Sound Recycling of Ships, 2009 (HKC). The Global Shipowners’ Meeting reaffirmed its commitment to the Hong Kong Convention and the need for environmentally sustainable ship recycling.

The meeting was coordinated by the Asian Shipowners’ Association (ASA) and attended by BIMCO, ECSA, ICS and INTERTANKO.

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As the demand for ship recycling in 2018 is expected to increase, especially in the tanker sector, the meeting reviewed the need to expand the number of Hong Kong Convention compliant ship recycling facilities and agreed that the HKC is vital.

To bring the HKC into force it is crucial that the ship recycling States commit to improving the standards of ship recycling and ratify the HKC. For this reason, the participating associations would:

• Encourage member associations to approach their governments to hurry the process of ratification of HKC;
• Encourage national associations to request their governments to include ratification of the HKC as an agenda item when having an opportunity to talk with officials of the ship recycling states;
• Encourage all ship recycling States to ratify the HKC;
• Encourage IMO and its member States to establish a team for early enactment of the HKC under IMO which would act as a focal point for activities of the concerned stakeholders including governments, recyclers, workers, shipowners and observer organisations.

The associations that took part in the meeting also reviewed the status in Europe of the European Union Ship Recycling Regulation (EUSRR) and the EU List of Recycling Facilities.

A lack of facilities on the EU List is expected when the Regulation enters into force the 31st December 2018 and it was it was noted that until now no non-EU ship recycling yard is included in the EU list.

To solve this problem, the shipowners associations called the European Commission to increase the recycling capacity on the EU List with the inclusion of facilities outside of Europe.