Posted on July 29, 2024
MUMBAI: Priya Blue Industries Pvt Ltd, India’s largest Class NK certified, Hong Kong Convention (HKC) compliant green ship recycling yard located at Alang in Gujarat’s Bhavnagar district, has signed a memorandum of understanding with OSX Brasil S.A. to establish a state-of-the-art green ship recycling yard at the Port of Acu in Brazil’s capital Rio de Janeiro, the companies said.
“This strategic partnership marks a crucial step in expanding our international footprint and reinforcing our commitment to environmentally responsible ship recycling practices,” Priya Blue Industries said. “Together with OSX Brazil, we aim to develop a facility that meets the highest international standards, including compliance with the Hong Kong Convention (HKC),” it added.
Together, we are driving forward sustainability in the maritime industry, it noted.
Brazil Stock Exchange-listed OSX Brasil S.A., is a holding company involved in the oil and gas sector. It also runs a shipyard at the Port of Acu.
The Hong Kong Convention will enter into force on June 26, 2025, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) previously said.
The Hong Kong Convention was adopted by the IMO at a diplomatic conference held in Hong Kong, China, in 2009. It is aimed at ensuring that ships, when being recycled after reaching the end of their operational lives, do not pose any unnecessary risks to human health, safety and to the environment.
It embraces the “cradle to grave” concept, addressing all environmental and safety aspects relating to ship recycling, from the ship design stage through to the end of the ship’s life, including also the responsible management and disposal of associated waste streams in a safe and environmentally sound manner.
The Convention places responsibilities and obligations on all parties concerned – including shipowners, ship building yards, ship recycling facilities, flag States, port states and recycling states.
Upon entry into force of the Hong Kong Convention, ships to be sent for recycling will be required to carry onboard an Inventory of Hazardous Materials. Ship recycling facilities authorized by competent authorities will be required to provide a ship recycling plan, specific to each individual vessel to be recycled. Additionally, governments will be required to ensure that recycling facilities under their jurisdiction comply with the Convention.
The contracting parties to the Hong Kong Convention now include Bangladesh, Belgium, Republic of the Congo, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Japan, Liberia, Luxembourg, Malta, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Norway, Panama, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe, Serbia, Spain and Türkiye.
The 22 contracting states to the Convention represent approximately 45.81 percent of the gross tonnage of the world’s merchant shipping. The combined annual ship recycling volume of the contracting states during the preceding 10 years amounts to 23,848,453 gross tonnage, equivalent to 3.31 percent of the required recycling volume, IMO said.
The Convention took 16 years to enter into force, offering a glimpse into the challenges it faced from maritime nations.
In 2015, Priya Blue Industries became the first ship recycling facility at Alang to secure the statement of compliance with HKC from Japan’s ClassNK.
The recycling facility has a front yard of 10,818 sq meters constructed on impermeable flooring that can recycle up to two very large crude carriers or VLCC’s and 1 Panamax vessel at any given time.
With the 67,500 sq meters of green recycling back yard or a tertiary cutting zone in Alang, the recycler said its productivity increases by leaps in the ship breaking business.
It was also the first ship recycling yard at Alang to be audited by the European Union Ship Recycling Regulation or EU-SSR.
“We have made further modifications to our facility since the EU-SRR audited our yard, wherein we have heavily invested in our infrastructure by concreting the full backyard and the front-yard. To minimize the pollution, we have brought cutting edge equipment in our yard which ensures safety and environmental protection,” the company said.
