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Official Press Release, 1st
Global Ship Scrapping Summit
Ship scrapping is part of the recycling industry. Therefore the participants have decided to change the name of the conference into Ship Recycling Summit in order to express the change of paradigm. Ship recycling offers not only an important contribu-tion to the recycling industry in the world economy, but is also an essential part of the maritime industry. Ship recycling represents an important economic activity in several countries. The current working conditions and environmental practices are often not in accordance with generally accepted inter-national stan-dards and these issues must be addressed, within the context of the economies of the countries involved. Introduction of safe working practices and environmentally acceptable ways of scrapping ships will require funds, which may not be avail-able in these countries. The environmental pollution accumulated over years of work on many scrap plots should also be cleaned up in due time. This will also require funds. Politicians, governments, non-governmental organisations, ship owners, ship buil-ders, and other professionals working in the maritime cluster in general have ex-pressed their concern over the current state of affairs in ship recycling. There seems to emerge a consensus on how to address and solve the forementioned issues. These stakeholders should consider ways and means to raise the funds required for the timely elimination of the current con-straints in the countries concerned, since life cycle management of the ships is a shared responsibility. The existing world fleet of over 75.000 merchant, industrial, fishing and navy vessels (>100 gt) is due to be scrapped within the next 30 years. There exist no guidelines and stan-dards for scrapping of these ships. It is recommended that the maritime industry regulates itself and if necessary, the regulatory framework will be adjusted accordingly. It is necessary to draw up new design rules for ships that will be built in the future so as to minimise the negative effects of ship scrapping. It is recommended that international rule making bodies should establish the foundation for such pro-active policy. There are many international and national organisations in-volved in the maritime regulatory framework. The forementioned issues have to be addressed by different combinations of stakeholders such as the IMO, ILO, UNEP, but also NGO’s such as the ICS, BAN, Greenpeace, Bimco, IACS and in particular the Shipbreakers' Associations and the Shipbuilders' Associations. It is recom-mended to define which parties should be in-volved in which issues in order to avoid con-fusion and the overlapping of work to be done. Information: Jannis Kostoulas, Managing Director of the Erasmus Forum, Tel: + 31-10-408.10.98, Fax: + 31-10-453.07.84, E-mail: I.Kostoulas@erasmusforum.nl P.O. Box 1738 Internet: http://www.erasmusforum.nl/shipscrapping/index.html FAIR USE NOTICE. This document contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The Basel Action Network is making this article available in our efforts to advance understanding of ecological sustainability and environmental justice issues. We believe that this constitutes a `fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond `fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. More News |
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