Asian owners urge China and India to ratify Hong Kong Convention on ship recycling
The Asian Shipowners’ Association (ASA) has called on China and India to hurry up and ratify the Hong Kong Convention on recycling.
Holding its annual general meeting in Thailand yesterday, the ASA stated in a communique that the convention is the only effective measure to regulate environmentally-sound recycling of ships globally.
“Asia is the main arena for ship recycling, building and operations. Therefore, the ASA urges both China and India to promptly ratify the Convention as a key to satisfy the required conditions towards its enactment, for the protection of the global environment,” the association stated.
The convention, first adopted 10 years ago, is still short of the necessary signatories for it to come into force. This year, Turkey, The Netherlands, Serbia, Japan, Estonia and, most recently, Malta have all ratified the ship scrapping ruling.
Among other important issues discussed at the Bangkok summit, delegates came out in strong favour of getting ships better connected to the web with the association calling for internet connectivity for all seafarers.
David Parmeter, chairman of Maritime Industry Australia Limited, was elected as the 29th ASA president with the next AGM of the organisation set for Darwin in the north of Australia.
