No. 3 of 2009 - DRAFT INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION FOR THE SAFE AND ENVIRONMENTALLY SOUND RECYCLING OF SHIPS
Shipping Circulars
No. 3 of 2009
05 Jan 2009
Applicable to:Ship owners, managers, operators, agents, masters, crew members, operators of shipyards and surveyors
1.Shipping Circular No.20 of 2008 informed the Shipping Community of the progress made on the preparation of the draft International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships at the 57th session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 57) of IMO held from 31 Mar to 4 Apr 08 and sought the comments of the Community on the draft Convention.
2.The 58th session of MEPC (MEPC 58) held from 6 to 10 Oct 08 made further progress, approved the draft text of the Convention and agreed to circulate the text (See Attachment A) for final consideration. The Convention is expected to be adopted at the diplomatic conference that will be held from 11 to 15 May 09 in Hong Kong, China.
3.Discussions at MEPC 58 focused on two main issues. The first concerns the entry into force conditions in Article 17 of the Convention that sought to ensure sufficient recycling capacity when the Convention enters into force. MEPC 58 was unable to come to an agreement on the matter. The issue would be further discussed and decided at the diplomatic conference. The second issue is related to a proposal to expand the scope of the draft Convention to include ships below 500 GT. MEPC 58 did not accept the proposal as there was a lack of support. However, the proposal may be raised again at the diplomatic conference.
4.The Shipping Community was briefed on the draft Convention at MPA's MEPC 58 industry briefings held before and after MEPC 58. Further information can be found in paragraph numbers 3.1 to 3.56 of the report of MEPC 58 (MEPC 58/23) (mepc58-23-final-report).
5.Further comments on the draft Convention should be sent1to:
Mr Zafrul Alam
Assistant Director, Shipping Regulation & Development Department
Shipping Division. Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore
460 Alexandra Road #21-00 PSA Building
Singapore 119963
Tel: (65) 6375 6204
Fax: (65) 6375 6231
As soon as possible but not later than 1 April 2009.
KHONG SHEN PING
DIRECTOR OF MARINE
MARITIME AND PORT AUTHORITY OF SINGAPORE