What is the Ship Recycling Convention?

The Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of
Ships, 2009 (the Ship Recycling Convention or the Hong Kong Convention) was adopted in May
2009. After the entry into force of the Convention, the development and maintenance of an
Inventory of Hazardous Materials, which identifies the amount and location of hazardous
materials onboard a ship, will be required for all ships over 500GT. Furthermore, ships shall only
be recycled at ship recycling facilities authorized by the competent authority. The Convention
will enter into force 24 months after the date on which the following conditions are met:
1. Ratification by 15 States,
2. Representation by 40 per cent of world merchant shipping by gross tonnage, and
3. A maximum annual ship recycling volume not less than 3 per cent of the combined tonnage of
the ratifying States
As of August 2014, Norway, Congo and France have acceded to the Convention. Furthermore,
the European Regulation on Ship Recycling entered into force at the end of 2013. It may
promote ratification of the Convention, especially in Europe.

The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary

Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal came into
force in 1992.
It aims to protect human health and the environment against the
adverse effects resulting from the generation, management,
transboundary movements and disposal of hazardous and other
wastes
Central to the implementation scheme of the Convention is the development and
maintenance of a document referred to as the Inventory of Hazardous Materials (IHM),
which was previously known as the Green Passport (GP) in IMO Resolution A.962(23).
The Inventory is ship-specific and covers the whole life of the ship, from construction,
throughout the ships operating life to preparation for scrapping at the end of the ships
useful life. The main differences between IHM and Green Passport are that IHM requires
more detailed and reasonably accurate account of the listed hazard substances in the
inventory booklet and sampling to be carried out for existing ships.
What is the Inventory of Hazardous Materials?

The Inventory of Hazardous Materials (IHM) is a list of hazardous materials, waste and stores in
a ship. It identifies their location and approximate quantities onboard the ship. As shown in the
table below, Part I of the IHM is developed at the design and construction stage, and Part II and
Part III are developed before a ship is recycled. However, Part I of the IHM for existing ships,
whose building contracts have been placed before the entry into force of the Convention, is
developed not later than 5 years after the entry into force of the Convention. The information

provided by the IHM is utilized by ship recycling facilities in order to protect human health and
safety and prevent environmental pollution.