Decommissioning / Ship Recycling & Environmental Management System
A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that transports cargo, goods, and supplies from one port to another. Thousands of freight carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year. Eventually, a ship will come to the end of her economical service to the Owner and will require being decommissioned. In general, ships are not scrapped but are recycled. In the process of recycling ships, almost nothing goes to waste. Steel is reprocessed, generators are reused ashore, batteries find their way into the local economy, oils onboard become reclaimed oil products for use in as fuel in rolling mills or brick kilns and fittings can be reused on land. Recycling makes a positive contribution to the global conservation of energy and resources.
In theory, the manager's duties and responsibilities end when the vessel is sold for breaking; however, the Company endorses the Industry Code of Practice on Ship Recycling. This Code includes the use of an inventory for all potentially hazardous materials inherent in the machinery, equipment, fittings, and ship's structure. While the inventory is required to be completed for delivery to the breakers, various environmental groups are asking for inventories to be prepared as a matter of course and are making requests to sight these well in advance of the decommissioning of the vessel.
It includes a fixed Inventory of Potentially Dangerous Materials in the Ship's Structure and Equipment / Machinery. Details of asbestos-containing materials (including board, pipe lagging etc contained in various locations), paint additives (lead, tin, arsenic etc), plastics, materials containing PCBs etc, gases sealed in ship’s equipment (such as refrigerants), chemicals contained in equipment, and other substances inherent in the ship’s machinery, equipment or fittings.
Passenger ship at sea passage
Inventory of Potentially Hazardous Consumables / Stores includes gases, chemicals, packaged items in-store, and operationally generated wastes.
The information contained in the inventory is for guidance, and the quantities are to be estimated only. The stock is to be retained onboard and a copy forwarded to the office. It is to be updated when there are any significant changes made to the list and regularly reviewed by the Master and Chief Engineer.
With specific regard to new builds entering into management and in addition to the above, importance should be placed on obtaining, by the office via the Owners:
A firm commitment within the contractual agreement that a Green Passport is included.
b) That a complete Inventory is included in the new build agreement.
It is aligned with IMO recommendations (MEPC 419) that all vessels should carry a Ship's Recycling & Support to Inventory List. Although not yet ratified to date, it is felt that this will be implemented shortly.
The issue of ship recycling has been on the international list for many years. It is because the dismantling of end-of-life ships in beaching facilities without adequate minimum standards raises environmental, safety, and health concerns.
Today, most ship scrapping occurs in South Asia – mainly in India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan - where demand is high for steel scrap. Some 95-98% of a ship's lightweight is recycled.
In addition to steel and other useful materials, there are also many pollutants, including heavy metals and Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). In particular, with older vessels, there may be banned or considered dangerous substances in developed countries. Asbestos and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are examples of this. For more on this issue please visit Greenpeace website.
The Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships: It was adopted in May 2009.
A series of guidelines were being developed to assist in the Convention's implementation. The Hong Kong Convention entered into force when it has been ratified by 15 states, representing 40% of the world fleet.
It aims to lay down legally binding and globally applicable ship recycling regulations for international shipping and ship recycling facilities. It will have severe ramifications for shipowners, builders, repairers and breakers.
Overall, the Convention can be described as a response to the lack of regulation and standards in shipbreaking practice – especially where safety, environmental and quality standards are concerned. It covers the entire ship life cycle, from design and construction, through in-service operation to dismantling and requires:
ships to have an Inventory of Hazardous Materials (IHM) – also known as the Green Passport
new builds to exclude certain hazardous materials
ship recycling facilities to be authorized by the national authority
ship recycling facilities to provide an approved 'ship recycling plan' detailing how the vessel will be recycled
ships flying the flag of Parties to the Convention to be recycled only in authorized recycling facilities
ship recycling facilities which are party to the Convention to recycle only ships which they are authorized to recycle.
Responsible recycling can make a positive contribution to the health and safety of workers in poorer countries and be more effective in the global conservation of energy and resources.
The benefits of more environmentally-friendly ship recycling are:
improved health and safety for all persons involved in recycling the ship
better protection of the environment
a positive image for the shipping company
preparaing for the introduction of mandatory legislation in the future
Green Passport
The IMO Guidelines also introduce the idea of a Green Passport for ships where:
an inventory of all hazardous materials used in the construction of the vessel would go with it through its working life
the inventory is created by the shipbuilder and passed to the shipping buyer
any design or equipment changes are recorded throughout the ship's life
the final Owner delivers the ship and inventory to the recycling yard.
Industry Code of Practice on Ship Recycling
The Code includes the use of an inventory for all potentially hazardous materials inherent in the machinery, equipment, fittings, and ship's structure.
While the inventory is required to be completed for delivery to the breakers, various environmental groups are asking for lists to be prepared as a matter of course and are making requests to sight these well in advance of the decommissioning of the vessel.
The information contained in the inventory is for guidance, and the quantities are to be estimated only. The inventory is to be retained onboard and a copy forwarded to the office. It is to be updated when there are any major changes made to the list and should be reviewed by the Master and Chief Engineer regularly.
Resources:
To learn more, about the text of the Hong Kong Convention and related information also available in the IMO website. The Hong Kong Convention : Intends to address all the issues around ship recycling, including the fact that ships sold for scrapping may contain environmentally hazardous substances such as asbestos, heavy metals, hydrocarbons, ozone-depleting materials, and others. It also addresses concerns raised about the working and environmental conditions at many of the world's ship recycling locations.
International Shipbreaking Limited:
EMR Group and its subsidiaries International Shipbreaking Limited and Southern Recycling own some of the world's premier marine recycling facilities. They have contracts for the demolition of
obsolete US Navy vessels. These specialist facilities are equipped to handle redundant marine structures and vessels and are located at several locations across the Gulf of Mexico.
Ship breaking overview India:
In India, Alang is
one of the ship breaking centers in the world that is often at the center of many safety and environmental
controversial issues.
Ship breaking overview Bangladesh:
The shipbreaking industry of Bangladesh has captured the global market by dismantling around 47.2% world vessels, according to a report titled 'Review of Maritime Transport 2019' published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) revealed the data on October 30, 2019.
Location of Shipbreaking in Bangladeshh: Some of the world's largest decommissioned ships are today scraped at the shores north of Chittagong, which is the second-largest city and major seaport in the country.
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