The Hong Kong Convention is now in Force, but what does this mean for Ship Recycling?
The Hong Kong Convention entered into force on 26 June 2025, making it binding international law for ship recycling after more than fifteen years. It is a step forward in that yards must now meet minimum requirements, and ships must carry a certified Inventory of Hazardous Materials. We recognize the progress in that sense. But the standards required to achieve HKC compliance have always been our concern. The bar is set at a level where facilities that fall well short of genuinely safe and responsible operations can still qualify. Certification becomes a threshold exercise rather than a meaningful signal of quality.
For shipowners serious about where their vessels end up, the EU Ship Recycling Regulation remains the stronger reference point. The EU SRR list demands a higher standard, tighter documentation, more rigorous oversight, and operational conditions that more closely reflect what responsible recycling actually looks like in practice. HKC compliance tells you a yard has cleared a minimum. EU SRR approval tells you considerably more.
All of this said, the Calmocean team is working on the ground on a daily basis to tell the true story of yards all over the world. Our Calmocean approved list of yards gives owners even more insight into the performance and capabilities of each yard. For consultation on yard selection and a way to pull back the curtain into real performance, make sure to reach out to our team to control the truth behind a challenging regulatory scenario.