Spain is the latest country to accede to IMO’s treaty for safe and environmentally-sound ship recycling – the Hong Kong Convention.
The Convention covers the design, construction, operation and maintenance of ships, and preparation for ship recycling in order to facilitate safe and environmentally sound recycling, without compromising the safety and operational efficiency of ships.
Under the treaty, ships to be sent for recycling are required to carry an inventory of hazardous materials, specific to each ship.
Ship recycling yards are required to provide a Ship Recycling Plan, specifying the manner in which each ship will be recycled, depending on its particulars and its inventory.
Following the situation, Mr. Víctor Jiménez Fernández, Counsellor for Transport, Alternate Permanent Representative of Spain to IMO, met IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim (3 June) to deposit the instrument of accession.
Concluding, the 17 Contracting States of the Convention, Belgium, Congo, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Japan, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Panama, Serbia, Spain and Turkey represent approximately 29.77% of the gross tonnage of the world’s merchant shipping.
