Bangladesh should ratify the Hong Kong Convention, as the declaration will help the south Asian country become the leader in the ship recycling industry, Norwegian Ambassador Espen Rikter-Svendsen said today.

"Norway is a shipbuilding nation. Many outdated ships are waiting there to be recycled. Bangladeshi yards can be benefited by take this opportunity. But for that environmental and safety issues should get highest priority."

If Bangladesh ratifies the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, 2009 (The Hong Kong Convention) by 2023, the country will get two more years to comply with the conditions in this regard, Svendsen added.

The envoy made the remarks in a meeting with Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun at the latter's office in Dhaka.

Norwegian Ambassador Espen Rikter-Svendsen meets with Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun at the latter’s office in Dhaka today. Photo: Industries Ministry

In response, Humayun said the government is considering ratifying the Hong Kong Convention introduced by the International Maritime Organisation.

In the meantime, PHP Ship Breaking and Recycling Industries Limited, a Bangladeshi yard, has recently achieved the highest compliance certificate available in the industry, the minister said.

Some 85 yards have already formulated 'Ship recycling facility plan' for the technical and structural development of the yards following the decisions taken by the industries ministry, he said.

And the target has also been set to implement the plan in the next two years, he said.

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Bangladesh's ship recycling industry has made significant progress on environmental, professional security and health issues, the minister said.

The local ship recycling industry was on the verge of becoming a dead sector because of its failure to stop environmental pollution and accidents and the dissemination of propaganda, he said.

But the industry got a new lifeline when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced ship recycling process as an industry on February 13 in 2011, he said.

Only 45 out of the 158 shipbreaking yards in Chattogram are currently operational.

However, Bangladesh topped the list of ship dismantling countries ahead of India and Pakistan in 2021, according to data from the NGO Shipbreaking Platform.

A total of 763 commercial oceangoing vessels from across the globe were sold to scrap yards that year.

Of them, 583 large tankers, bulkers, offshore platforms, cargo and cruise ships were broken down on the beaches of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, amounting to almost 90 per cent of the gross tonnage of scrap procured worldwide.

Bangladesh dismantled 280 of these ships to get 27.28 lakh tonnes of scrap.

Between January and June this year, shipbreaking yards in South Asia collectively dismantled around 272 ships with Bangladesh becoming the second-biggest demolisher after India.

The NGO Shipbreaking Platform is a Belgium-based global coalition of organisations that works to reverse the environmental damage and human rights abuses caused by shipbreaking practices.