Inventory of Hazardous Materials (IHM) Archives - Page 8 of 10 - SHIP IP LTD

The third phase of an IMO-implemented project to enhance safe and environmentally sound ship recycling in Bangladesh has been given the go-ahead, with Norway committing approximately US$1.5 million (14 million Norwegian Kroner) to support improved ship recycling in Bangladesh.

The agreement between IMO and the Government of Norway to support Phase III of the project on Safe and Environmentally Sound Ship Recycling in Bangladesh (SENSREC) was signed on 24 July 2020. This will pave the way for Bangladesh to move forward on its path towards becoming a party to the IMO Hong Kong Convention, the treaty that will set global standards for safe and environmentally-sound ship recycling.

The Agreement follows the successful implementation of Phase I (2015-17) and Phase II (2018 – 2020) of the SENSREC Project, both mainly funded by Norway. With the additional funding, Phase III of the project will be implemented over 18 months, starting from November 2020.

SENSREC Phase III will focus on improving ship recycling standards in compliance with the Hong Kong Convention and enhancing capacity building for the Government of Bangladesh on legislation and knowledge management. Specific technical assistance will be provided to the Government of Bangladesh to establish a facility for treatment, storage and disposal of hazardous wastes. There will also be a focus on evaluating the impact of Covid-19 on the ship recycling industry in Bangladesh.

The Ambassador of Norway to Bangladesh, Ms Sidsel Bleken, said that the SENSREC Project had already achieved significant progress, thanks to the commitment of the Government authorities as well as the ship-recycling industry of Bangladesh.

“Norway is pleased to extend its support to Bangladesh and our thanks go to IMO for their important role in this Project. Through IMO, we will continue to support the authorities, the industry, and other stakeholders in strengthening their efforts to develop Bangladesh’s ship-recycling industry and the country’s economy. We hope to see more yards complying with the requirements of the Hong Kong Convention, so that Bangladesh can be ready to accede to the Convention in the soonest possible time,” Her Excellency Ms Bleken said.

The Agreement was signed by the Her Excellency Ms. Bleken and IMO Secretary-General Mr. Kitack Lim.

Thanking the Government of Norway for their generous contribution, Mr. Lim said, “The continuation of this project will greatly enhance national capacities for Bangladesh for safe and environmentally sound recycling of ships. The success of this Phase III of the project will be seen in the crucial technical assistance role that will support the goals of Bangladesh to establish a facility for treatment, storage and disposal of hazardous wastes and ultimately support its aim to accede to the Hong Kong Convention.”

The Hong Kong Convention

The Hong Kong Convention¹ covers the design, construction, operation and maintenance of ships to ensure they can be recycled safely and in an environment-friendly way at the end of their lives. It also deals with how ships should be prepared for their final voyage to a recycling facility, without compromising their safety or operational efficiency.

Under the Hong Kong Convention, ships sent for recycling are required to carry an inventory of all hazardous materials on board. Ship recycling facilities are required to provide a “Ship Recycling Plan”, specifying how each ship will be recycled, based on its particular characteristics and its inventory of hazardous materials.

The treaty will enter into force 24 months after three separate criteria have been met. It must be ratified by 15 States – but these States must represent 40% of world merchant shipping by gross tonnage, and a combined maximum annual ship recycling volume (during the preceding 10 years) of not less than 3% of their combined gross tonnage.

The number of States² required has now been reached, but further tonnage and recycling volumes are needed before the convention can enter into force.

The top five ship recycling countries in the world, between them accounting for more than 98% of all ship recycling by gross tonnage³, are Bangladesh, China, India, Pakistan and Turkey (of these, two are already Parties to the Hong Kong Convention  – India and Turkey).

1.  Full title: The Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, 2009

2. The Contracting States at 28/07/2020 are: Belgium, Congo, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Japan, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Panama, Serbia and Turkey. They between them represent nearly 30% of world merchant shipping tonnage.

3. Read more here.

Jul 21, 2020 (AmericaNewsHour) — Kenneth Research has published a detailed report on Autonomous Ships Market which has been categorized by market size, growth indicators and encompasses detailed market analysis on macro trends and region-wise growth in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Middle East & Africa region. The report also includes the challenges that are affecting the growth of the industry and offers strategic evaluation that is required to boost the growth of the market over the period of 2020-2025.

Machine learning (ML) is a process by which large caches of data are analyzed in order to find connections between different elements that human analysts would be unlikely to discover. In the future, all shipping companies will have access to machine learning tools to enhance their productivity. Seamlessly integrating these operations will not happen quickly. But developments in the technology and its adaptability quotient would trigger the adoption of ML in a larger scale in maritime soon.

With machine learning the seamen can detect and diagnose engine faults sooner. This in turn optimises the voyage. Early detection of malfunction prevents further damage and increases the life of a marine engine. By preventing further damage of an engine, the fuel consumption is also optimised which in turn reduces pollution. This is a chain of advantages which can be achieved by implementing machine learning technology in shipping.

Machine learning has made its own niche in maritime and supply chain management. Through it, the sectors are looking to improve their operational efficiencies and at the same time, reduce risks. While in shipping it is being used for network planning, container demand forecasting and the un-/pairing of container flows, the logistics and supply chain management are utilizing it to draw patterns and insights that are proving crucial for the evolution of these sectors.

Machine Learning and Maritime

PSA Marine, a Singapore based marine service provider partnered with Ernst and Young Solutions and began the development of a technology based on machine learning and AI – ‘Blue 5.0.’. Through it, the company plans to predict pilotage transit durations along with planning and allocating terminal resources more efficiently. With technologies like ‘Blue5.0.’ being developed, the maritime sector is also investing in some quality research work to develop machine learning models that could heavily revolutionize the sector.

A new approach incorporating the use of machine learning algorithms in developing a shipping emission inventory model has been suggested in a research paper titled ‘An application of machine learning to Shipping Emission Inventory’. The paper written by Vikram Garaniya (University of Tasmania), Rouzbeh Abbassi (Macquarie University) and Shuhong Chai (Australian Maritime College), published in the December 2018 edition of  The International Journal of Maritime Engineering, extensively discussed and identified 5 machine learning models that can be utilized to predict shipping emissions based on engine parameters like engine load information.

It also suggested that a vast scope of further research and development lies ahead where better pollutant monitoring can be achieved through machine learning algorithms, hence increasing the relevance of estimated emissions.

In addition to the shipping emission inventory, machine learning is also finding its place for maritime surveillance using ASI data streams. Development of a multi-task deep learning architecture model has been proposed for trajectory reconstruction, anomaly detection, and vessel type identification. Although the research is still underway, according to some reports, the on-going work in the field of introducing deep-learning, a sub-field of machine learning, to the maritime sector can revolutionize the maritime surveillance to a great extent.

Apart from the above-mentioned domains, the shipping sector is looking to improve on the following fronts by using machine learning algorithms along with sister technologies like IoT and Artificial Intelligence.

Maintenance: By deploying machine learning algorithms, a better schedule for maintenance work can be developed and thereby improving the liner services in the long term, especially during the times when a ship may need to be out of operations temporarily for maintenance work.

Freight Rates: Machine learning can help in handling the deficits and offer more reliable container capacity utilization; hence more consistent freight rates would prevail.

Sailing schedules: By using machine learning, better and reliable sailing schedules can be achieved as more accurate calculations would be there to predict the delays or estimate the time of arrival of the cargo.

Logistics: Machine learning will have potential impact on the global logistics chain. Machine learning can predict accurately on arrival of container shipments. Using information from a variety of sources across the supply chain—including live demand and pricing data. A more accurate demand forecast can also help to scale up capacity of the existing fleet.

Supply Chain Management

The supply chain management is utilizing machine learning algorithms to locate new patterns in supply chain data almost on a daily basis and use those patterns to improve the supply networks’ success. Improved demand forecasting and production planning, better supplier delivery performance, minimized supplier risk, improved supplier chain and transportation management, physical inspection and maintenance tasks, lower inventory and operation costs, quicker response time, extended life of supply chain assets are the key evolutions happened within supply chain management by the introduction of machine learning algorithms.

Platforms like Nautilus Labs, We4Sea and ClearMetals are working in the direction where ML driven data science is being used to provide effective solutions for voyage optimization, supply chain visibility, and sustainability.

The Way Forward

Although at present, the full potential of machine learning is still to be realized and implemented, machine learning algorithms are capable of churning through different data points and derive key relationships between variables that can assist in improving operations and networking of sectors like shipping, logistics, supply chain management, thereby making it a technology to watch out in the future.

The key to Machine Learning lies around the integration, implementation, and manipulation of data infrastructures as well as machine learning approaches designed for chemical and materials datasets. Machine learning approaches and capability has already revolutionized world’s major industries and shipping industry is next in the queue to take a giant leap towards digitalization and accelerate its working to a great extent.

Machine Learning is an interesting technology that has multiple applications in the maritime sector. The need of the hour is to carry out additional researches to uncover its full potential and harness its benefits to optimize efficiency, safety, productivity and skills of seafarers across the globe.

(References: www.blog.flexis.com; www.researchgate.net; www.forbes.com; www.porttechnology.org; IDTechEx; www.arxiv.org; www.bigdata-madesimple.com)

China is set to boost its gasoline and gasoil exports from August as state-run refiners actively seek to clear the country’s surging oil product stockpiles with heavy rains and floods significantly denting domestic consumer and industrial fuel demand.

Since June, 23 provinces and Chongqing municipality have been suffering from heavy rains and floods. During the period, the region along the Yangtze river recorded the highest accumulative rainfall since 1961 at 410.4 mm, according to China Meteorological Administration.

As a result, the regions’ transportation, construction and broader industrial activities came to a grinding halt, putting the brakes on the domestic fuel demand recovery since the peak of COVID-19 pandemic during February-April.

Despite the set back in domestic fuel demand, Chinese refineries have been maintaining high run rates in order to digest record-high crude imports, prompting oil product inventory to surge.

An official from a Sinopec refinery in Wuhan said its oil product storage tanks were all full despite the plant’s throughput cut to about 80% since July 14 from over 100% previously.

Wuhan is one of the major cities located in the middle-stream of Yangtze river that suffered from floods.

China’s crude throughput reached an all-time high of 14.14 million b/d in June, up 9% year on year, data from National Bureau of Statistics showed.

The country’s crude throughput is expected to remain high in July as there are still a large number of crude oil cargoes to be discharged. More than combined total of 80 million barrels of tankers are still waiting in Chinese waters for more than 15 days because of the ongoing port congestion, data intelligence firm Kpler showed on July 21.
SINOPEC TO LEAD EXPORTS

The surge in fuel inventories has put a lot of pressure on China’s major fuel exporters to actively seek overseas outlets to clear their excess supplies at home.

As almost all the state-owned refineries along the Yangtze river are managed by Sinopec, it is necessary for the refining giant to manage the domestic demand-supply balance and lead the exports, industry and trading sources said.

“We have proposed an increase in product exports next month to the head office in order to offset product inventory pressure,” said an official at a Sinopec refinery in Shanghai.

China is expected to export 1.3 million-1.5 million mt of gasoline in August, while gasoil exports could possibly hit 2 million mt, a Beijing-based analyst said.

In comparison, China exported only 676,000 mt of gasoline and 1.45 million mt of gasoil in May, latest data from General Administration of Customs showed. The country is estimated to have exported less than 1 million mt of gasoline in June, and July shipments are expected at no more than 1.1 million mt, according to fuel marketing sources at state-run Unipec and Chinaoil.
ASIAN MARKET BALANCE

Tight supply in the Asian light and middle distillate markets would bode well for China’s increased exports, refinery officials and trading desk managers based in Singapore, Beijing and Seoul said.

South Korean and Japanese refiners have been maintaining their crude throughput levels and run rates low, providing Chinese fuel suppliers an opportunity to further ramp up exports to clear their excess stockpiles.

South Korea is estimated to have exported less than 3.2 million barrels of gasoline in June, down from 3.65 million barrels in May, 5.6 million barrels in April and 8.03 million barrels in March, according to data from Korea National Oil Corp.

The Japanese gasoline exports totaled 111,786 barrels in the four weeks to July 5-11, down 87% from 840,319 barrels in the same period a year ago, according to S&P Global Platts calculations based on the Petroleum Association of Japan data.

Industry sources reiterated that the extended lack of spot cargo availability owing to curtailed output from regional refineries has contributed to much of the strength seen in Asian middle distillate market in recent weeks.

However, rising coronavirus infections have injected fresh uncertainty on regional fuel demand recovery and Chinese oil product sales in the Asian export market.

“For now, it’s [gasoil demand] is still supported …. but people are worried that there will be lockdowns again,” an industry source said.

Reflecting Asia’s fragile gasoline demand recovery outlook, Platts data showed that the front month August-September 92 RON gasoline timespread flipped into contango at minus 7 cents/b at the close of Asian trade July 17. This was the first time in three weeks that the Asian gasoline timespreads have been negative.

“Overall demand hasn’t been enough to absorb the new cargoes,” a second Singapore-based source said.
Source: Platts

Shipping hazardous materials can be a stressful business. Most carriers can accommodate some kinds of hazardous materials, but have specific policies and pricing for shipping HAZMAT. It’s common for carriers to outright refuse service for certain package contents.

Which carriers allow HAZMAT shipping?

How to: Ship HAZMAT with ShippingEasy

Some of the world’s largest shipowning organisations have written to Virginijus Sinkevičius, the European Commissioner for the environment, oceans and fisheries, urging for a delay of the Europe Unions’s impending shipping hazardous materials regulation.

The heads of Bimco, Intertanko, Intercargo and the European and Asian shipowners’ associations are among eight signatories in the letter sent this week asking for a 12-month delay citing the lateness in regulators getting the methodology fixed for what the IHMs need to contain as well as problems to fix site visits thanks to the coronavirus pandemic.

Law firm Watson Farley & Williams suggests that almost a third of the 35,000 vessels that will be required to comply with the EU regulation by the end of the year have yet to begin the work required to prepare and have certified an IHM. Typically, pre-Covid-19, the law firm suggests it takes at least three months to prepare and certify an IHM.

“In addition to the global Covid-19 restrictions preventing site visits and in-person inspections to carry out the work required to compile IHMs, the sheer volume of vessels that will require expert assistance in this area means the risk of vessels failing to comply with the EU Regulation by the end of this year is very real,” the law firm warned in a recent update.

“Shipowners are probably feeling the pressure now as inspection capacity is being squeezed, lifting survey prices while the threat of port state control detentions and fines draws inexorably closer,” a source in the ship recycling sector told Splash.

Source:splash247

In the hazmat world today, most large organizations follow a time-honored process for identifying critical compliance needs and spend the money necessary to make it work. It is a process that tilts the compliance board in advantage of the bigger players.

It starts with a sophisticated purchasing or procurement system, usually with a module that enables environmental health and safety (EHS) staff to review and approve all incoming hazardous items. Nothing arrives into a big company unnoticed. Next, the chemical or product is tracked through some type of bar code or RFID-tagged inventory management system, and data on its location and specific usage is recorded.

Material safety data sheets (MSDSs) are obtained and tracked, using a sophisticated document and data management system that is tied into procurement and chemical tracking. At the end of all this, compliance reports required by EPA and local agencies are generated and submitted, usually electronically. At this point, management plans are made or modified, staff are trained or retrained and the company moves forward safely until the next monthly review period.

This utopian view of compliance management has been practiced for so long in so many high-profile companies that it has become the de facto process for managing compliance. In the world most EHS managers live in, however, the tools and resources just described do not exist. Companies today are forced to manage hazardous materials with limited budgets, staff, tools and systems.

Today, organizations need to create a new framework that takes into account the whole picture of hazmat compliance and its effect on the organization. Companies need to set their sights and marshal resources in one key area – an accurate hazmat inventory.

The picture begins with an accurate, up-to-date inventory of the pure chemicals, mixtures and products within the organization. The inventory becomes the foundation upon which the company manages other critical data and turns that data into knowledge on the hazards present in each of its facilities. This knowledge, when applied on a geographical, functional and hierarchal level within an organization, helps EHS staff make better business decisions.

This increases the value of the organization by reducing risk, cost and liability. A good hazmat inventory improves the bottom line and the basics are easy to understand and implement.

The Inventory

How Often? The frequency with which an inventory should be reviewed will depend on the size of the business and number of locations/departments that contain hazardous materials, the sophistication of purchasing and approval processes and the expected turnover of chemicals and other hazardous materials.

In an ideal world, a master inventory should be taken at least annually by the person responsible for the inventory in a specific location/department. Each new purchase or disposal should be tracked and the inventory modified throughout the year. EHS supervisors at each facility should have pre-purchase review and approval rights for any new product or chemical. Inventories from separate locations within an organization should be rolled up into a corporate-level inventory for analysis and to ensure consistency in process and purchasing.

What Data to Record? At a minimum, the location of each product or chemical should be recorded as well as the container size and quantity on hand of the material, the name of the product or chemical, the name of the company that made the product or chemical and any part number or description assigned by the manufacturer. This basic data will enable EHS staff to match the item to an MSDS, which can provide all the critical data needed for reporting and exposures.

Problems: The staff conducting the inventory may come across unlabeled, illegible and secondary labeled containers. Record these items in a separate discrepancy document, with their specific location and description, then physically flag the item itself, with stickers, labels or string that is easily visible. Review the discrepancy document at the completion of the inventory process to determine appropriate actions such as re-identifying products with appropriate labels and/or removing products from the facility.

Completing the Picture

Once an accurate inventory is obtained, it is possible to begin to add value to each record by associating other data, documents or records with each inventory item and supporting this information with on-site EHS staff or outside resources to assist employees in use and interpretation. This is an important step in seeing the “whole picture.”

MSDSs: Associate each item in the inventory with a manufacturer-specific MSDS and keep the inventory list and MSDS available for easy access by employees. The MSDS provides vital information for exposures and the specific characteristics of the chemicals in a product or mixture. Many companies keep the inventory list and corresponding MSDS in a file – hard copy or electronic – forever to meet OSHA’s exposure record keeping requirements. A process for obtaining new or updated MSDSs will be required as products change, or MSDSs go out of date.

Classification: Assign each item in the inventory a National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and Hazardous Materials Identification System (HMIS) rating and classify the item for common modes of transport. NFPA has a system for identifying the hazards of a chemical that was developed with the needs of fire protection agencies in mind. The local fire department may require this information be provided along with the chemical inventory.

The HMIS rating is a labeling system developed by the National Paint and Coatings Association to quickly identify the hazards associated with a certain material. Inventory items should also receive a classification based on how the item is shipped, whether by ground, air or vessel. Each mode requires a different classification based on the size and quantity of the chemicals being transported.

Further instructions also will be needed on how to properly package different types of hazardous materials, what marking and labels go on the package, which placards go on the vehicle, how to complete the required shipping documentation and who to call in a transport emergency.

Why is the inventory so important? Because with so many companies doing it so poorly, a company that does it right gains a significant strategic advantage. When analyzed, the size and diversity of hazardous products within an organization is almost always a surprise. EHS staff and managers have not seen the “whole picture” and the result is misguided programs, misleading reporting, insufficient training and poor decision-making.

The accuracy of the inventory has cascading affects within an organization, from specific EHS responsibilities to employee well-being, management decision-making and corporate responsibility. If even 10 percent of your inventory is inaccurate, the following issues may arise:

MSDS Compliance – MSDSs will not always be available when needed, or when reviewed may contain outdated information. Staff may be spending valuable time and resources acquiring and maintaining MSDS for products that are not used or stored on site. At the same time, if a company uses its MSDS files as its 30-year exposure record, it could include chemicals and products that were not actually used, thus increasing the company’s potential liability.

Chemical Exposures – On-site data may not be available for the chemicals to which an employee is exposed. If the data is provided, it may refer to a previous or generic version of the product, increasing the likelihood of mistreatment.

Disposal of Hazardous Waste – The designated budget for disposal costs may be inadequate if there are items being used and disposed/recycled that the company is unaware of. Contingency planning for emergency response will be incomplete.

Regulatory Reporting – Sensitive chemicals (such as those that appear on SARA 302 Extremely Hazardous Substances List) may be excluded from required reporting. Items listed on the inventory but not actually used or stored on site could trigger higher reporting thresholds and unnecessarily lead to higher fees related to the amount reported.

Training and Preparedness – An incomplete inventory can hamper employee awareness of the chemicals in their workplace. This significantly increases the risk of exposure or injury and the related cost of treatment. Lack of related inventory data, such as MSDS and storage quantities, also can mean that all hazards are not properly evaluated.

Similarly, if a company assumes that the inventories at all sites or departments within its organization are the same, the following issues may arise:

MSDS Compliance – Site-specific MSDSs are not immediately available, in another building or office, or are completely unavailable. In a true emergency, such as ingestion, inhalation or exposure, treatment information contained on the MSDS will not be accessible by responding personnel. The company is then out of compliance with the Hazard Communication standard, which requires access to MSDSs for employees, with no barriers. This exposes the organization to the most commonly cited OSHA violations.

Chemical Exposures – If a company is unaware of the specific hazards at a given site or within a department, it may not be prepared to respond to employee exposure or injury. In addition, it may not have proper personal protective equipment, eyewash stations or containment tools in place for the specific chemicals used or stored at a site.

Disposal of Hazardous Waste – Established processes for handling specific waste streams may not be adequate. This could lead to waste on site, and the related risk and cost, longer than necessary. Uncertainty about what exactly is in a company’s waste stream may result in using waste contractors that do not have proper training, certification, tools and insurance to properly handle its needs. This applies to its staff as well, who may not have the training and tools to manage the waste they are generating.

Regulatory Reporting – Using a “master” report based on one location as representative of all locations may cause some chemicals to be reported unnecessarily. This could also trigger additional local or state reporting and their associated cost. The reverse also is true: A “master” report could leave some chemicals unreported, increasing risk and opening the company up to potential fines for not reporting the true on-site chemicals.

Training and Preparedness – Without an understanding of the exact nature of the hazards at a specific location, proper training will not be possible. Locations where the amounts of hazards have been underestimated will not have enough training. This is amplified in situations where substances that require unique handling procedures, such as lead and mercury, are found on site. Overtraining also can occur, which unnecessarily increases training cost.

Simply starting with an accurate inventory can result in more wins under your belt. By focusing efforts on gathering and analyzing the right information, EHS personnel can impact the cost for their organization to acquire, track, store, ship and dispose of hazardous materials and improve the understanding of hazardous materials among the employees throughout the organization.

EHS departments are winning every day because they are looking at the right data and making good decisions. Strive to become one of them.

Jess Kraus is the founder of the 3E Co. of Carlsbad, Calif. For more information, visit http://www.3ecompany.com.

The importance of issues related to ship scrapping and the need to regulate them was recognized by the international community as early as in the 1980s. Ships are considered waste after the end of their operation and as such are subject to the Basel Convention of 22 March 1989 on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Waste and their Disposal and the Regulation (EC) No. 1013/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of June 14, 2006 on shipments of waste. The Regulation implements the provisions of the Basel Convention, as well as an amendment to this Convention (adopted in 1995), which has not yet entered into force at international level, and which introduces a ban on the export of hazardous waste to countries that are not members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Ships are normally classified as hazardous waste and their export from the European Union for recycling purposes to plants located in non-OECD countries is prohibited.

The issue of limiting the negative impact of the ship recycling process on human health and the environment and preventing accidents, injuries and other adverse events, as well as increasing safety, protecting human health and the marine environment at every stage of the ship’s life cycle, in particular by ensuring the ecological management of hazardous waste from ship recycling, was reflected in the International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, adopted under the auspices of IMO on May 15, 2009 in Hong Kong. It is worth emphasizing that the Hong Kong Convention is the result of cooperation between IMO, the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the Secretariat of the Basel Convention. The agreement reached in 2009 to provide an efficient and effective solution to the problem of harmful and hazardous ship recycling can be considered as an action aimed at introducing mandatory requirements in this respect at the global level.

The Hong Kong Convention covers the entire life cycle of a ship: regulates the design, construction, operation, including modernization and reconstruction, and preparation for recycling to facilitate safe and environmentally sound scrapping, without compromising the safety and operational efficiency of a ship. It also regulates the safe and environmentally sound operation of ship recycling facilities and establishes control and enforcement mechanisms for ship recycling.

The Hong Kong Convention will enter into force 24 months after ratification by at least 15 countries, representing 40 per cent of world merchant shipping by gross tonnage, and the combined maximum annual ship recycling volume over the previous 10 years will be no less than 3 per cent of the gross tonnage of the total merchant fleet of these countries. Unfortunately, eleven years after the adoption of the text of the Convention, none of the above conditions has yet been met.

Ship recycling has also become the subject of work of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which has published a series of ISO 30000 standards. This series is a kind of guide on ship recycling, with references to issues related to safety, health and environmental protection. ISO activities in this area are focused on supporting IMO in pursuing the goals set by the Hong Kong Convention, such as a cleaner environment and safer work in recycling plants. It is worth noting that the ISO 30000 series of standards are consistent with ISO 9001 (quality management systems), ISO 14001 (environmental management) and ISO 28000 (security in the global supply chain).

After the adoption of the Hong Kong Convention in 2009, the ship recycling topic has not been taken off the agenda of the International Maritime Organization. During several meetings in 2012-2015, its Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) adopted a number of guidelines containing detailed solutions in the field of ship recycling and the functioning of ship recycling facilities. They were:

• Resolution MEPC.210(63), adopted on March 2, 2012: 2012 Guidelines for Safe and Environmentally Sound Ship Recycling;
• Resolution MEPC.211(63), adopted on March 2, 2012: 2012 Guidelines for the Authorization of Ship Recycling Facilities;
• Resolution MEPC.222(64), adopted on October 5, 2012: 2012 Guidelines for the Survey and Certification of Ships under the Hong Kong Convention;
• Resolution MEPC.223(64), adopted on October 5, 2012: 2012 Guidelines for the Inspection of Ships under the Hong Kong Convention;
• Revised guidelines for the Inventory of Hazardous Materials. Threshold values for radioactive substances. Sub-Committee on Pollution Prevention and Response (PPR), January 2015;
• Resolution MEPC.269(68), adopted on May 15, 2015: 2015 Guidelines for the Development of the Inventory of Hazardous Materials.

Observing the slow pace of ratification of the Hong Kong Convention, the European Union took its legislative action by issuing Regulation (EU) No. 1257/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council on November 20, 2013 on ship recycling. An EU initiative was aimed to:

• facilitating the early ratification of the Hong Kong Convention;
• introducing adequate control measures for ships and ship recycling facilities – both in European Union countries and outside the Union;
• reducing differences between countries in the field of health and safety at work and environmental standards, as well as between recycling plants in meeting the requirements and implementing the principles for safe and environmentally sound recycling;
• introducing the obligation to maintain a European list of ship recycling facilities (European list), which can only include ship recycling facilities that meet the requirements for safe and environmentally sound recycling under the Hong Kong Convention and ensure a high level of protection of workers’ lives and health, thereby excluding plants that do not meet the minimum conditions;
• the harmonization of guidelines introduced by the Hong Kong Convention, the MEPC Committee and other documents regarding ship recycling and ship recycling facilities.

Pursuant to the provisions of Regulation (EU) 1257/2013, from December 31, 2020, any vessel with a gross tonnage of 500 GT and above entering a port or anchorage of an EU Member State will be required to have a verified Inventory of Hazardous Materials (IHM) and Inventory certificates (for EU vessels) or Certificate of compliance (for non-EU vessels). It is worth emphasizing that this requirement will apply to ships flying the flag of both an EU and non-EU countries.

It should be recalled that from December 31, 2018 Regulation (EU) 1257/2013 introduced the requirement that ships with a gross tonnage of 500 GT or more flying the flag of an EU Member State should be recycled only at facilities that are on the European list of ship recycling facilities. Link to European list

The European Union’s actions on ship recycling are similar to its actions on monitoring, reporting and verification of CO₂ emissions from ships. Regulation (EU) 757/2015 of the European Parliament and of the Council on monitoring, reporting and verification of carbon dioxide emissions from maritime transport entered into force on 1 July 2015. Its requirements apply to ships with a gross tonnage above 5000 GT and relate to CO₂ emissions from ships during their voyages from the last port to a port of a European Union Member State and voyages from a port of a Member State of the Union to the next port, as well as within a port of a EU State member. This regulation applies to all flag vessels in the same way.

It is also worth pointing out that the guidelines on ship recycling were prepared in 2016 by the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) in cooperation with other maritime organizations and associations, including IACS (of which PRS is a member), BIMCO, INTERCARGO, INTERTANKO and OCIMF. Such a broad approach to the problem of recycling shows that the industry understands the need to conduct this process in a controlled manner. Link to the guidelines

Recognizing the importance of the issue of ship recycling for the protection of health and the environment, the Polish Register of Shipping has prepared its information publications. Those are:

• Publication No. 31/I – Regulations for Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships – 2012. The publication contains Supplement – Expert Parties Engaged in Visual and/or Sampling Checks for Preparation of Inventory of Hazardous Materials based on IACS Recommendation No. 131 (Rev. Oct 1, 2012);
• Publication No. 33/I – Recycling of Ship – March 2017, which is an extension of the requirements of Publication No. 106/P – Eco Class Rules – January 2017.

The above documents, which are available at www.prs.pl, familiarize PRS customers and interested parties with recycling issues and help prepare for the implementation of relevant requirements. One of them, which will come into force at the end of 2020, is having a List of hazardous materials. PRS verifies such lists. In addition, PRS issues Inventory Certificates, Ready for Recycling Certificates and Statements of Compliance.

Source: prs.pl