Japan to regulate large-ship scrappers

December 3, 2017

Tokyo- The Japanese government has decided to create a new law to regulate large-ship scrappers, in order to enter into an international treaty on the safe recycling of ships, informed sources said Saturday.

Currently, Japan has no such law as domestic scrappers handle only a few large ships a year.

But the government finds it unnecessary to regulate the businesses as it now aims to join early the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, adopted at an International Maritime Organization conference in 2009 and is expected to come into force as early as 2020.

The international pact is designed to oblige scrappers of large ships to take measures needed to make their work safe, in view of a series accidents in developing countries stemming from poor working conditions. Jiji Press