The government of New Delhi deliberates the adhesion of India to the Convention of Hong Kong on the recycling of the ships



The Indian government has approved of a bill in parliament on the recycling of the ships and the adhesion of India to the international Convention on the recycling of the ships sure and compatible with the atmosphere of 2009, deliberations of the executive that are yesterday landed to the Lower house and the Upper house of the Indian parliament and that they are received with favor from the association of the European shipowners.

The legislative proposal limits and prohibits the employment or the installation on the ships of dangerous materials, restrictions that they are applied independently from the fact that a ship is destined or less to the demolition and the recycling. Relatively to the ships of new construction such limitations will have immediate effect, that is from the date of effectiveness of the new law, while for the ships currently in service the proposal previews a period five-year-old in order to adapt them to the normative new. By the within of application of the new norm the military ships and the not commercial ships managed by the government would be excluded.

Moreover the bill in parliament previews that the systems of recycling of the ships must be authorized and that the ships must be recycled single in these systems. Moreover the ships will have to be recycled on the base of a plan of specific recycling for the ship type and the ships to recycle in India will have to obtain a certificate of suitability in conformity with Hong Kong International Convention for Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, 2009.

In occasion of the approval of the bill the government has remembered that India is world leader in the field of the recycling of the ships with a quota pairs to beyond 30% of the world-wide market and that, "Review of according to the report Maritime Transport, 2018" of the UNCTAD, in the 2017 Indian plants has demolished ships for a total of 6.323.000 tons of tonnage (the relationship signals to according to place Bangladesh with 6,26 million tsl, to the third party Pakistan with 3,46 million tsl, to the quarter China with 3,44 million tsl, to the fifth other structures in the Indian subcontinent with 1,56 million tsl and to sixth Turkey with 1,26 million tsl).

Receiving with favor the announcement of the Indian government of wanting to ratify the Convention of Hong Kong, the European Community Shipowners' Associations (ECSA) has evidenced that, if New Delhi will sign the Convention, India will be the first nation that takes care of naval demolition to make it and this would all over the world represent a meaningful step towards a recycling of the ships sure and respectful of the atmosphere since India is an important center of recycling of the ships that last year it has received beyond 250 destined ships to the demolition for a total almost five million tons of tonnage, pairs to about the 25-35% of the recycled total tonnage all over the world.

Currently Hong Kong Convention is ratified by 14 nations that represent 29.43% of the total tonnage of the world-wide fleet. The Convention will take effect 24 months after they will have ratified it not less than 15 States whose the mercantile fleets represent not less of 40% of the tonnage of the world-wide fleet and whose volume the maximum anniversary combined of recycling of the ships in the course of the ten years precedence is not pairs at less than 3% of the total tonnage of the mercantile fleets of these States.

"The effectiveness of Hong Kong Convention - the general secretary of the European shipowning association has commented, Martin Dorsman - will contribute to guarantee a binding international normative picture to the aim of a better common standard in the field of the recycling of the ships. The fact that India has announced its intention to ratify the HKC and that many Indian systems are already consistent to Hong Kong Convention demonstrates that India and many Indian structures for the recycling of the ships are engaged to elevate the standards of recycling of the ships". Dorsman has remembered that "from some time the Indian systems ask for being enclosed in the directory of the European Union of the systems of recycling of the authorized ships, but the questions are not approved of. The recent announcement of India - it has emphasized the general secretary of the ECSA - is another sign of the progresses completed in India and the prompt ECSA the EU to support the Indian systems so that they as soon as possible satisfy requirement of the EU".