Japanese classification society, ClassNK, has hosted over 300 people at a specialist ship recycling seminar to discuss current challenges of ship recycling and ways the industry can support safe and environmentally sounds recycling practises.
Mr. Koichi Kato, Deputy Director-General for Engineering Affairs, Maritime Bureau of Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), opened the seminar in Tokyo, recognising the interest in ship recycling he has seen in the last few years and the benefits that the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, 2009 (HKC) can bring.
Top industry experts from Asia and Europe gathered to listen to speakers discuss the current situation of the HKC and the EU Ship Recycling Regulation (EU Regulation) in Europe and Japan and the present state of ship recycling facilities (SRFs) in South East Asia. Key industries figures gave presentations and a panel discussion was led.
The sustainable value of ship recycling was raised, with Captain Simon Bennett, General Manager of Sustainable Development at The China Navigation Co. Pte. Ltd. / Swire Pacific Offshore Operations (Pte) Ltd stating that: “it takes 60% less energy to produce steel from sustainably recycling a ship compared to from iron ore.”
Mr. Keiji Tomoda, Chairman of the Ship Recycling Committee of Japan Shipowners’ Association spoke on ClassNK’s issuance of HKC Statements of Convention (SoCs) to four SRFs in India, stating that ship owners need sufficiency recycling capacities in line with global safety and environmental standards, and recognised how important ClassNK’s verification is to providing technical support to yards that are making an effort to operate in a safe and environmentally friendly manner.
It was suggested that the ship owners’ role in understanding how different SFRs operate is key to expanding the green ship recycling market. ClassNK supported the notion that it is vital for the industry to take a collective approach to better ship recycling, including the development and maintenance of the Inventory of Hazardous Materials as well as the increase of compliant SRFs.
ClassNK has encouraged SRFs to develop necessary ship recycling facility plans and upgrade their facilities so that they can meet the requirements of the HKC. It has so far issued a total of nine HKC SoCs to SRFs in Japan, China and India, and is currently working in close collaboration with an additional eight SRFs in India to close the gaps identified by inspections so that they too can achieve full compliance with the HKC.
Ship Efficiency Review News
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