In order to increase international awareness of the importance of the early entry into force of the Hong Kong Convention,  the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) of Japan partnered with IMO Secretariat, to host an global seminar on 'Ship Recycling - Towards the Early Entry into Force of the Hong Kong Convention'.

The seminar will take place on May 10, at IMO Headquarters in London, United Kingdom. The discussions will be based on ways to promote sustainable ship recycling and how to move because of the early entry force of the Hong Kong Convention.

The Convention consists of the design, construction, operation and maintenance of vessels, preparation for ship recycling in order to facilitate safe and environmentally sound recycling, without compromising the safety and operational efficiency of ships.

In addition, the treaty requires vessels to carry an Inventory of Hazardous materials, specific to each ship.

In the meantime, ship-recycling yards have to provide a 'Ship recycling plan', based on each ship that is to be recycled, specifying the manner in which each ship will be recycled, depending on its particulars and its inventory.

The Countries that have already accepted the Hong Kong Convention are:
  1. Belgium;
  2. Denmark;
  3. France;
  4. Japan;
  5. the Netherlands;
  6. Norway;
  7. Panama;
  8. the Republic of the Congo;
  9. the Republic of Serbia;
  10. Turkey.

All the above countries, represent about 23.16% of the gross tonnage of the global merchant shipping.

The combined annual ship recycling volume of the Contracting States during the preceding 10 years is 1,709,955 GT, i.e. 0.57% of the merchant shipping tonnage of the same States.

The Hong Kong Convention will enter into force 24 months after the following conditions are met:

  • not less than 15 States have concluded this Convention;
  • the combined merchant fleets of the States Parties constitute not less than 40 percent of the gross tonnage of the world’s merchant shipping;
  • the combined maximum annual ship recycling volume of the States Parties during the preceding 10 years constitutes not less than 3% of the gross tonnage of the combined merchant shipping of the States Parties.