EMSA published a practice guide on ship recycling inspections in order to assist the Member States and their designated inspectors, including reference document that provides both technical information and procedural guidance thus contributing to harmonised implementation and enforcement of the provisions of the SRR and the PSC Directive.
As the EU Ship Recycling Regulation is to take effect in 2020, stakeholders should stand up to their responsibilities and IHM Service suppliers should create effective procedures to promote compliance, argues Consulting Engineer Stefanos Magoulas.
It seems that lately the all-consuming, requirements of 2020 sulphur cap are somehow overshadowing those of the Inventory of Hazardous Materials (IHM) which are crucial for ensuring green and sustainable shipping as well, in the ship recycling field though. IHM is one of the most important documents in planning the recycling process of a ship.
There were a total of 181 ships broken in the first quarter of 2019, according to figures released by NGO Shipbreaking Platform. Of these, 142 ships were sold to the beaches of South Asia. Meanwhile, between January and March, three workers lost their lives and four were severely injured in Bangladesh.
BIMCO issued a report according to which only 9 out of 26 shipyards on the EU list of approved recycling facilities are realistically open for ship recycling. From the 26 shipyards, only 3 are in the position of recycling a large ship, as a Panamax-sized vessels or even larger.
‘Star Gran’, a cargo vessel that belongs to Grieg Star, is the first vessel in the company to be sent for recycling, under the new EU recycling regulations. According to the Norwegian shipping company, the vessel began the recycling at Leyal Ship Recycling Group in Turkey, on February 20.
German dry bulk shipping operator Oldendorff Carriers said it has entered into an agreement with GSR Services and Korean Register (KR) for the development and certification of Inventory of Hazardous Materials (IHM) for their fleet for meeting tight EU ship recycling regulation.
At the Global Maritime Forum’s Annual Summit last October, the Sustainable Shipping Initiative sat down with industry leaders to discuss the challenges and opportunities in shipping, explains Mr. Andrew Stephens, Executive Director, SSI and Nicole Rencoret, Head of Communications and Development, SSI.
The Dutch court has imposed a fine of 780.000 EUR to the Dutch ship owner Holland Maas Scheepvaart Beheer II BV for having beached a ship for scrapping in India. The company also paid a settlement of 2.2 million EUR, totaling to a price tag of almost 3 million EUR.
2019 kicked off with the data collection on fuel oil consumption, alternative mechanisms to comply with the 2020 Sulphur cap, the EU Ship Recycling Regulation, the IMSBC Code 2017 amendment as well as amendments designating North Sea and Baltic Sea as ECAs. With many more regulations and developments still yet to come, nations from all across the globe, ship operators and crew are going through a key period because of ten major issues that will have significant impact over the next ten years in the shipping industry.
