LR approves first IHM

Wallenius Marine AB has attained a Lloyd’s Register (LR) approved Inventory of Hazardous Materials (IHM), also known as a Green Passport, for its car and pure truck carrier ?Tristan? demonstrating an ongoing commitment to safeguarding the environment and early compliance with the new Ship Recycling Convention.

The Ship Recycling Convention (IMO Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships), adopted at the recent IMO conference in Hong Kong, aims to improve standards of safety and reduce environmental pollution from the recycling of ships. The convention will require ships to have an IHM, essentially a document that contains an inventory of all the materials onboard a ship that may be hazardous to people’s health or the environment, and that require careful handling or special awareness.

The IHM awarded to ?Tristan? was approved by LR EMEA’s Green Passport Approval Team in Southampton, UK, ensuring that the IHM and the associated sampling plan are in compliance with the requirements of the new convention. A surveyor from the LR’s Register Group’s Cartagena de Indias office, in Colombia, attended the vessel to verify that the IHM was a reasonable representation of any hazardous materials on board.

Per Tunell, head of environmental management, Wallenius Marine said, “At Wallenius Marine we always try to be well ahead of coming rules and regulations that concern environmental issues, in fact, it is one of our principles. Therefore it was completely according to our strategy to start working with Inventory of Hazardous Materials at an early stage.”

The IHM will accompany the ship throughout its operational life and will be reviewed by a member of the Lloyd’s Register Group on an annual basis. Every five years the IHM will be renewed and re-certified and, at the end of the ship’s life, it will help the ship recycling yard to formulate a safe and environmentally friendly way of decommissioning the ship.