African flag State helps seal the deal for greener ship recycling

Liberia signs convention

LINERIA: As the world’s largest flag State by tonnage, Liberia’s signatory to the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships yesterday will trigger the entry into force of the Convention on 26 June 2025.

Lenn Eugene Nagbe, Commissioner and CEO of the Liberia Maritime Authority, deposited the instrument of accession with IMO Secretary-General Lim. As one of the largest flag State, Liberia’s accession has enabled the tonnage criteria to be met.

The accession of Bangladesh on the same day have ensured that all the conditions for entry have now been met. Bangladesh is one of the world’s largest ship recycling countries by capacity.

Saida Muna Tasneem, High Commissioner, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the IMO, deposited the instrument of accession with IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim on 26 June 2023, at IMO Headquarters in London.

The Hong Kong Convention is aimed at ensuring that ships, when being recycled after reaching the end of their operational lives, do not pose any unnecessary risks to human health, safety and to the environment.

The Hong Kong Convention will enter into force 24 months after the following required criteria have been met:

not less than 15 States;
not less than 40% of the world's merchant shipping by gross tonnage; and
ship recycling capacity of not less than 3% of the gross tonnage of the combined merchant shipping of those States mentioned above.

These conditions have now been met and the Convention will enter into force on 26 June 2025.

“I congratulate Bangladesh and Liberia for depositing their instruments of accession this June, triggering within 24 months the entry into force of the Hong Kong Convention, and the global regime for safe and environmentally sound recycling of ships. This is a momentous day for IMO, and it is indeed a historical development for the international shipping industry, for the marine environment, and especially for workers and local communities in ship recycling countries globally,” said Secretary General Lim.

“As a preeminent partner in global maritime affairs, Liberia takes its vested responsibility to ensuring safe and environmentally responsible practices throughout the industry by the enactment and adherence to laws and regulations to help guide maritime activities. It is therefore with great pride that we have ratified Hong Kong Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, thus attaining the required threshold for this critically important international convention to finally come into force,” noted Nagbe.

“As a major flag State, the coming into force of this convention will enable our national regulatory framework to work for the benefit of the maritime industry and open opportunities for additional investments into responsible ship recycling, globally and in Liberia. Today is indeed a great and historic day for world shipping,” he added.

The Hong Kong Convention was adopted at a diplomatic conference held in Hong Kong, China, in 2009. It is aimed at ensuring that ships, when being recycled after reaching the end of their operational lives, do not pose any unnecessary risks to human health, safety and to the environment.

It embraces the “cradle to grave” concept, addressing all environmental and safety aspects relating to ship recycling, from the ship design stage through to the end of the ship’s life, including also the responsible management and disposal of associated waste streams in a safe and environmentally sound manner.

The Convention places responsibilities and obligations on all parties concerned – including shipowners, ship building yards, ship recycling facilities, flag States, port States, recycling States.

Hong Kong Convention status

The Hong Kong Convention now has the following contracting parties: Bangladesh, Belgium, Republic of the Congo, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Japan, Liberia, Luxembourg, Malta, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Norway, Panama, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe, Serbia, Spain, Türkiye.

The 22 Contracting States to the Convention represent approximately 45.81% of the gross tonnage of the world's merchant shipping. The combined annual ship recycling volume of the Contracting States during the preceding 10 years amounts to 23,848,453 gross tonnage, equivalent to 3.31% of the required recycling volume.