New Funding for IMO's Bangladesh Ship Recycling Project

The second phase of an IMO-implemented project to enhance safe and environmentally sound ship recycling in Bangladesh is set to begin in January, following a $1.1 million funding agreement with Norway.

The two-year project will build on the first phase of the Safe and Environmentally Sound Ship Recycling in Bangladesh (SENSREC) project, which resulted in economic and environmental studies on ship recycling in Bangladesh, the development of training materials and capacity building plans and a preliminary design for infrastructure including facilities for treatment, storage and disposal of hazardous wastes generated from recycling operations.

Bangladesh is one the world’s top four ship recycling countries by capacity, alongside China, India and Pakistan, which together account for 94.9 percent of known ship recycling in the world. Ship recycling is key for the local economy and produces large quantities of steel and other materials which are recycled and sold on. 

The second phase of the SENSREC project (SENSREC Phase II - capacity building) will continue to support Bangladesh to comply with international requirements and guide Bangladesh towards accession to the IMO ship recycling treaty, the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships (known as the Hong Kong Convention). The Hong Kong Convention sets the international standards for ship recycling and, when in force, will ensure that ships do not pose any unnecessary risks to human health, safety or the environment when being recycled at the end of their operational lives.

The project will assist Bangladesh to build the capacity to develop and implement a legal, policy and institutional roadmap towards accession to the Hong Kong Convention. Also, under the project, a variety of stakeholders will be trained to lay the foundation for an effective and sustainable training program within the ship recycling sector in Bangladesh.

Other international partners including the Secretariat of the BRS Conventions, the International Labour Organization and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization will also be involved in the project.

The NGO Shipbreaking Platform continues to criticize the performance of the industry and highlights recent deaths in the country.