HKC progresses after Indian move

As part of the ratification, India is submitting a bill that will limit imports of ships for demolition to authorised yards. Ship Recycling Plans (SRPs) will need to be prepared for incoming vessels and incoming ships will need to obtain a “Ready for Recycling Certificate” in accordance with the Hong Kong convention.

India is the first of the four major ship recycling centres, which include Bangladesh, Pakistan as well as China to announce its intention to ratify the agreement. ECSA stated that India received more than 250 vessels with a combined tonnage of nearly 5mn gross tonnes in 2018.

The convention which will enter into force 24 months after ratification by 15 states, representing 40% of the world merchant shipping by gross tonnage, and a combined maximum annual ship recycling volume not less than 3% of their combined tonnage.

While 14 states have ratified the convention, with Ghana’s ratification following Germany’s earlier this year, the main obstacle has been the third condition, relating to recycling capacity, as this will require two of Bangladesh, India and China to ratify the convention.

In India and Bangladesh, intertidal landing is used in the main recycling centres. One key difference between the Hong Kong Convention and the EU Ship Recycling Regulations (SRR) is that the EU SRR does not currently include any intertidal recycling centres on its approved list of facilities.

Following the decision by the Chinese government to restrict imports of scrap and other secondary materials, Chinese shipyards withdrew from the EU List.

Consequently, the current EU List is unlikely to have sufficient facilities to satisfy demand for larger size vessel demolitions, while some observers have noted that requiring owners of EU flagged vessels to accept lower scrap prices risks creating an uneven playing field for shipowners.

Martin Dorsman, ECSA’s Secretary-General noted: “The fact that India has announced its intention to ratify the HKC, and that many Indian facilities are already compliant with the HKC, shows that India and many Indian ship-recycling facilities are very committed to raise the ship-recycling standards.”

“For some time now, Indian facilities apply for inclusion on the EU list of approved ship recycling facilities, but the applications were not approved. The recent announcement by India is another sign of progress made in India and ECSA urges the EU to support Indian facilities to meet as soon as possible the EU requirements,” Dorsman concluded.