ASA SRC advances Compliance and Environmental Standards Ahead of Hong Kong Convention Enforcement

May 29, 2025

The 28th Interim Meeting of the ASA Ship Recycling Committee was held online on 10 April 2025. The SRC members are firmly committed to ensuring full compliance with all applicable competition laws throughout the entire programme

Over the past year, the global shipping industry has faced unprecedented complexity due to the tightening of environmental regulations and geopolitical tensions. This complexity is also deeply reflected in the ship recycling market. According to Clarksons Research data, the total global ship recycling volume in 2024 was 9 million DWT, slightly lower than the level in 2022 – 2023, reaching the lowest annual value since 2007. The recycling volumes of different ship types have changed significantly. Affected by the attacks and threats of the Houthis, the transport demand on non – Red Sea routes has been strong, and the demolition volume of container vessels has halved compared to 2023. In contrast, in order to phase out old vessels, the recycling volume of tankers has doubled since 2023.

The Hong Kong Convention (HKC) is set to enter into force on June 26, 2025. It applies to ships of 500 gross tons and above engaged in international voyages. New ships are required to submit an Inventory of Hazardous Materials (IHM) at delivery, and existing ships must complete the IHM documentation by 2030. As of March 2025, 24 countries, including major recycling nations such as India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Japan, have acceded to the HKC. It is worth noting that even ships flagged in non-contracting states must adhere to the HKC standards when recycled in contracting states, that such ships must submit complete IHMs and use certified facilities, with contracting states obligated to enforce equivalent standards to maintain global safety and environmental norms

The ASA SRC affirmed that the following action plan is essential in order to expand ratification of HKC to foster the level playing field in ship recycling:

1. Preparation for compliance with the Hong Kong Convention

We further promote and strengthen the ASA SRC’s long-standing policy of ensuring that priority is given to the use of HKC-certified yards and call on wider ratification of the HKC. The SRC encourages ship recycling countries to prepare adequately for the entry into force of the HKC by upgrading ship recycling yard

infrastructure to meet the requirements of the HKC.

2. Resolving inconsistency between the HKC and the Basel Convention (BC) / EU-SRR

The ASA SRC supports to reduce regional measures, ensure the harmonious consistency of global policies, promote the development of the ship recycling industry towards a green, standardized, and high-quality direction, and build a green shipping circular system. The ASA SRC believes that efforts should be actively made to support IMO’s work of gathering experience in the early implementation stage of the HKC and to establish a cooperation process with the BC to clarify the the potential conflicts between the HKC and the BC. In addition, as a regional regulation on ship recycling, the European Union Ship Recycling Regulation (EU-SRR) has more stringent requirements compared to the HKC. The ASA SRC encourages the EU-SRR to maintain legal consistency with the HKC in the first place and opposes the reintroduction of regional measures such as license systems.

3. The ASA SRC is firmly committed to contributing to global environmental conservation by promoting environmentally friendly ship recycling.