IMO consider ship scrapping

MEPC 44 will look at the issue of ship scrapping in March 2000 with the aim of developing safety and environmental measures, and safeguards for ship dismantlers. The proposal from Norway follows DNV’s damming report on ship dismantling at India’s Alang Beach (

The Motor Ship

, March 1999).

Already considering ship scrapping is the International Chamber of Shipping which has a working party looking to set principals and recommendations to address the current concerns. ICS chairman Rolf Westfal-Larsen says, “Ships are not scrapped but recycled – virtually nothing goes to waste.”

ICS rejects calls to close down scrapping yards, saying that this would create a new problem of allowing substandard vessels to continue trading owing to a lack of scrapping facilities.