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IMO's next steps on ship recycling

8 april 2004 - Last week the Marine Environmental Protection Committee 51 (MEPC) of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) discussed the outstanding issues in relation to the Guidelines on Shiprecycling that were adopted at IMO's General Assembly in December 2003. Greenpeace was present as observer at this meeting. In short we present the most important issues.

The most crucial discussion was about the need for a 'mandatory regime'. Japan as well as Greenpeace proposed a methodology. The Japanese proposal was adopted as the basis for the discussions. Unfortunately, there was no agreement among countries that a mandatory regime was the best guarantee for the guidelines to be implemented. Given the facts and proof provided by Greenpeace in the report "Playing Hide and Seek", voluntary guidelines have not been implemented by the shipping industry until now.
Nevertheless, the IMO/MEPC will continue to look for possible mechanisms for implementation of the guidelines which can be taken by the stake-holders involved in shipbreaking (Governments, Shipowners, and IMO itself). In case a mandatory 'scheme' is regarded as the only suitable option MEPC decided to deal with that proposal. This in itself is a great step forward.

Another crucial step was that MEPC 51 accepted that IMO will become involved in the so-called inter-agency negotiations between ILO, IMO and the Basel Convention; the three main bodies of the United Nations dealing with the issue of shipbreaking. Unfortunately it was a missed chance that MEPC 51 refused to tackle the touchy issue of a reporting system, despite strong desires from India and other countries to do this.

Last but not least the aspect of criteria for ships to be declared "Ready for Recycling" was discussed by MEPC. Before these criteria can be discussed, MEPC concluded that the logic steps of the recycling process and the role of the different stake-holders involved needed to be agreed upon. This agreement has not yet been reached. This recycling process will be described in a "Ship Recycling Plan". Greenpeace now expects that such a plan will be agreed upon as a matter of urgency, to make the special responsibility of the shipping industry sufficiently clear.

Intervention Greenpeace during IMO, MEPC 5, monday March 29 2004

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