European Shipping Summit: KBRV co-organises debate on Ship Recycling

During the European Shipping Summit (ESS) in Brussels, the Royal Belgian Shipowners' Association (KBRV) will be organising on 19 March a debate on ship recycling, together with BIMCO, the Norwegian Shipowners' Association, and the Malta International Shipowners' Association.

As the Hong Kong Convention enters into force, the legal uncertainty will grow until an alignment to the Hong Kong Convention and a clarity towards the Basel Convention (BC) are reached. Without action, legal uncertainty is to impact EU market and, by extension the international shipping industry, as European ships fly many different flags. In addition, the EU 27 is party to the BC (including the Ban amendment) while individual EU members states are party to the IMO.

The objective of the debate, entitled "A new era for ship recycling - tackling the risk of conflicting conventions", is to address the legal unclarity between the applicable UN regimes and the respective EU regulations that deal with ship recycling, following the last session organised by KBRV and BIMCO at the previous edition of the ESS. Given that the Hong Kong Convention enters into force in June 2025, any contradictions, more specifically on the “Transboundary Movement Procedures for Hazardous Waste” coming from the BC, need to be addressed.

"As one of the earliest ratifiers of the Hong Kong Convention back in 2016, Belgium and Belgian shipowners are eager for the legal uncertainty to be resolved before an ecological crisis occurs," said Wilfried Lemmens, KBRV Managing Director. "This issue will become even more pressing, as the number of ships that will need to be recycled in the upcoming years will require more than double the global capacity that is available today."

The panel will consist of:

• Karmenu Vella, Former EU Commissioner for Environment
• Harold Fotland, CEO of Odfjell SE and Chair Norwegian Shipowners’ Association (NSA)
• Susan Wingfield, Programme Management Officer at the United Nations Environment
• Programme (UNEP)
• Christelle Rousseau, DG Envi, European Commission
• David Loosley, Secretary General of BIMCO
• Evangelia Pouili, Malta Government
• Johan Verlinden, Public Waste Agency of Flanders (OVAM), Belgium

The debate will be moderated by Christine Korme, Executive Director, Norwegian Shipowners’ Association.

The panel will examine how both UN Conventions can co-exist and align further with best practices worldwide, with the common understanding that the aim is to ensure that ships are being recycled globally in a manner that is environmentally sound and safe for the workers in the industry. In addition, the panel will be invited to discuss what regulators, industry and others can do to ensure that the global compliant capacity will become available at the soonest.

For more information, check out the ESS website: europeanshippingsummit.eu

Photo by Francesco Ungaro on Unsplash