In the June edition of the Assagenti Newsletter, lawyer Alberto Bregante the current state of ship-recycling, one year on from the entry into force of the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships.
The Convention has been ratified by 32 countries, including several major flag states as well as the main four Recycling States (Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Turkey).
For what concerns shipyards, there are a total of 56 facilities that are officially authorised to operate under the Convention – of which 19 are in Turkey and 17 in Bangladesh – compared with the 41 facilities included in the latest update of the List referred to in Article 16 of EU Regulation No. 1257/2013 governing ship-recycling activities at a European Union level;
Several issues remain still unresolved, such as the inclusion in the European List of shipyards located in South Asia and the coordination not only between international and European legislation specifically governing ship dismantling, but also between this legal framework and both international and EU legislation concerning the transboundary movement of hazardous waste.
With regard to this latter issue, it should be noted that in November 2024 the IMO invited the contracting parties to both the Hong Kong Convention and the 1989 Basel Convention on the international transfer waste to consider the possibility of applying to ships destined for recycling only the former of the two conventions, in accordance with the provisions of Article 11 of the Basel Convention. Whilst certain non-governmental organisations, on the one hand, and shipowners’ associations, on the other, express conflicting views on the matter, the issue remains unresolved, as no agreement has been reached amongst the contracting parties to the Basel Convention, with the risks that legal uncertainty entails.
Pending a resolution to the issue, close attention continues to be paid to the approach adopted by the various national authorities in ensuring compliance with the aforementioned regulations, bearing in mind the most recent court rulings imposing penalties for ship-breaking practices that breach the rules governing the international movement of waste.
