Page 18: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (January 2004)

Government Update

Recycling of Ships

By Dennis Bryant

As of July 1, 2003, there were approx- imately 29,000 commercial self-pro- pelled ocean-going ships worldwide in excess of 1.000 gross tons each. Of these, just over 400 are U.S. Hag. In addition, there are approximately 3,000

U.S. barges of over 1,000 gross tons each. Approximately 25% of these ships and barges are more than 20 years old and will be taken out of service in the near future. The vast majority of the ships and barges taken out of service will be recycled (scrapped). Exactly when a ship is taken out of service is dependent upon a variety of factors, the most important being its maintenance costs and its current charter rate. Thus, the number of ships being offered for recycling can and does gyrate widely over time.

There is growing realization that ships (and, to a lesser extent, barges) frequent- ly contain hazardous materials. These materials may become hazardous wastes when a ship or barge is to be recycled.

Ship recycling in the United States and many other countries in the developed world is subject to environment con- trols. Such recycling in lesser devel- oped nations is not currently regulated to the same extent.

Many nations are party to the Basel

Convention on the Control of

Transboundary Movements of

Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal.

This Convention is intended to prevent hazardous wastes from being transport- ed to another country for disposal unless the receiving country has provided knowing consent to such action. Ships being transferred from one party state for recycling in another party state appear to come within the Convention, although there is some uncertainty in this regard.

While the United States is not party to the Basel Convention, it has adopted domestic legislation having the same impact. The Resource Conservation and

Recovery Act (RCRA) provides, in per- tinent part, that hazardous waste may not be exported from the United States unless various conditions are met. The person who intends to export the haz- ardous waste must provide written noti- fication to the Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA). The notification must contain the name and address of the exporter, the types and quantities of haz- ardous waste to be exported, the date of the planned exportation, the port of entry at destination, the method of trans- port. the name and address of the ulti- mate disposal facility, and the names of any transit countries through which the hazardous waste will be sent.

The United States is party to several international agreements concerning international trade in hazardous waste.

The primary agreement is among mem- ber countries of the Organization for

Economic Cooperation and

Development (OECD). These agree- ments share the basic principles of noti- fication by the exporter to the govern- ment of the exporting country, govern- ment-to-government notification to the

Dennis L. Bryant, Senior Maritime

Counsel at the law firm of Holland & Knight, Washington, D.C., is a contributing editor of MR/EN. receiving country, and receiving country consent to the shipment.

More broadly, the International

Maritime Organization (IMO) is devel- oping guidelines on ship recycling that may lead to mandatory requirements for an inventory of hazardous material on the ship. This inventory would be initi- ated during construction and continue to be maintained until the ship is recycled.

At the same time, the International

Labor Organization (ILO) is developing guidelines for ship-breaking. These standards would address working and environmental conditions at locations where ships are to be recycled.

The EPA has specifically examined the ship scrapping and recycling industry.

The agency has identified a variety of hazardous wastes commonly associated with ships being scrapped or recycled.

These hazardous wastes include poly- chlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). asbestos, heavy metals, pesticides, and waste oils.

These hazardous wastes must either be removed from the ship prior to export or the consent of both the EPA and the receiving country must be obtained before a ship can be exported from the

United States for recycling in a foreign country. The International Chamber of

Shipping (ICS), in conjunction with other maritime organizations, developed the "Industry Code of Practice on Ship

Recycling." This Code provides that, when a ship is to be sold for recycling, the owner will inventory the potentially hazardous materials on board and take steps to minimize those materials before the ship is delivered for recycling. The

Code also contains a list of potentially hazardous and toxic materials frequent- ly found on ships.

The EPA restrictions on export of ships for recycling have been applied to government ships. The Maritime

Administration (MARAD) encountered

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