Mr. Henning Gramann, CEO, GSR- Services has responded to GREEN4SEA questions providing his insight for the ship recycling sector. He said that the preparation of IHM is a significant challenge for 2017 and stressed the need for supporting the shipping industry in the integration of IHM and ship recycling planning in daily routine, otherwise implementation of the new legal requirements will be too ‘burdensome’.
GREEN4SEA: Do you think there was a significant success and/or progress made with respect to marine environment protection during 2016? Focusing on your area of expertise, what were the most important industry developments within 2016?
Henning Gramann: In our area the biggest success in 2016 was that we´ve supported in total 7 ship recycling facilities in India for their full compliance with Hong Kong Convention which has been certified by ClassNK. Additionally we´ve started similar projects with more than 10 more ship recyclers which means that we´re actively contributing to building up green ship recycling capacity
G4S: Focusing on your area of expertise, what do you think that it will be the biggest marine environmental challenge(s) for the industry for the 2017?
H.G.: Outside of our activities is the Ballast Water Convention an issue. In our field the preparation of IHMs is a significant challenge as till end of 2020 approx. 30.000 ships under EU-flag or visiting EU-ports have to get one and there is only a limited capacity of IHM Experts available. As a lot of experience is required for effectively developing ship specific IHMs this capacity cannot easily be increased without affecting the quality. This is the biggest challenges for the coming years and already today it is obvious that not all ship will get an IHM in time as the shipping industry has not taken care of IHMs for too long.
G4S: What would be the 2017 resolutions for your company/ organization? What are your goals and aspirations to enhance environmental excellence? Do you have any new projects on the pipeline and/or plans for 2017 that you would like to share?
H.G.: We´re going to increase our activities in the ship recycling sector, not only with regards to consulting but also with innovative products for enhancing safety and environmental protection in the entire recycling industry. Additionally we want to support the shipping industry in the integration of IHM and ship recycling planning in their daily routines, as otherwise implementation of the new legal requirements will be too burdensome.
G4S: What is your overall forecast for the marine environmental developments in 2017 and what would you like to share and/or wish and/or ask other industry stakeholders?
H.G.: First of all I hope that the market will improve. This means also recycling of ships in a huge scale, more than what we´re currently seeing. The oversupply has to be minimized and then it is to be assured that ships are recycled in a responsible manner, not for top dollar only.
The views presented hereabove are only those of the author and not necessarily those of GREEN4SEA and are for information sharing and discussion purposes only.