Seventeen years after its signing in Hong Kong in May 2009, the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships will enter into force on June 26, 2025, following its signing and ratification by Turkey in 2010 and 2017, respectively, and the recent ratification by Bangladesh and Liberia, thus finally fulfilling the criteria stipulated for its implementation.
Article from CruisesNews magazine no. 73 – June 2025
According to data published in 2025 by the NGO Shipbreaking Platform, 409 ships and offshore drilling platforms were recycled in 2024. Of these, 255 (undoubtedly the largest) ended up on the beaches of Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan, representing 80% of the gross tonnage dismantled worldwide. This activity was very popular in Spain during the 20th century, with shipbreaking facilities in ports such as Santander, Avilés, Castellón, and Barcelona. Today, it has practically disappeared from our coasts, although new regulations on ship recycling could provide a significant boost to the industry.
The Hong Kong International Convention
on the Dismantling of Ships regulates shipbreaking, aiming for the safe and environmentally sound recycling of ships. The text of the Hong Kong Convention began to be drafted in March 2000 by a committee of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the ILO, several NGOs, and the parties to the Basel Convention. Its guidelines were presented in July 2003, and in December 2003, the IMO adopted these guidelines for implementing the Convention. This legislation was agreed upon at a conference held in Hong Kong in May 2009, attended by delegates from 63 countries.
The convention aimed to address all issues related to ship recycling: the fact that ships sold for scrapping may contain substances potentially hazardous to the environment, such as asbestos, heavy metals, hydrocarbons, etc.; the working and environmental conditions in many shipbreaking yards; the health and safety of ship recycling facilities; and the establishment of an appropriate enforcement mechanism for ship recycling, incorporating certification and reporting elements. These objectives required intervention throughout the entire life cycle of a ship: from design and construction to operation and preparation, in order to facilitate its safe and environmentally sound recycling without compromising the safety or operational effectiveness of the vessels.
The Convention, which is open to accession by any State, would only enter into force 24 months after the date on which fifteen States, whose combined merchant fleets represent 40% of the world's gross tonnage of merchant shipping, have signed it without reservation. Furthermore, the combined maximum annual ship recycling volume of those States, during the preceding 10 years, must represent at least 3% of their combined gross tonnage of merchant shipping.
This has led to further delays. Following Turkey's signing and ratification in 2010 and 2017, respectively, only the recent ratifications by Bangladesh and Liberia have brought the Hong Kong Convention into force on June 26, 2025, 17 years after it was drafted. Furthermore, bodies such as the European Parliament have criticized it for setting very lax standards, for not establishing enforcement mechanisms and sanctions, and for failing to offer a level of control equivalent to that of the Basel Convention by allowing toxic cargo ships to reach developing countries.
Compared to the Basel Convention and EU legislation, the Hong Kong Convention lacks robust environmental and social standards for the sound management of toxic substances in end-of-life ships and does not comprehensively cover labor rights in ship recycling yards. The Hong Kong Convention opens the door to shipbreaking on beaches and marshes, a method prohibited in most of the world, and lacks provisions to protect workers operating in these hazardous conditions.
Following the entry into force of the Hong Kong Convention, ships sent for recycling will be required to carry on board an inventory of potentially hazardous materials specific to each vessel. An appendix to the Convention provides a list of potentially hazardous materials whose use is prohibited, or at least restricted, in shipbuilding or repair yards and, therefore, on ships of the countries that are signatories to the Convention.
Ships will be subject to an initial survey to verify the inventory of potentially hazardous materials, additional periodic surveys throughout their service life, and a final survey before recycling. Ship recycling facilities will be required to provide a "ship recycling plan" specifying how each ship will be recycled based on its characteristics and inventory. The entry into force of the Hong Kong Convention will lead to the implementation of sustainable processes. The Hong Kong Convention represents a significant step forward in harmonizing global standards for ship recycling. The PIC, as an improved notification system, should mark a turning point in ship dismantling. It also represents an approach that addresses the entire life cycle of ships, rather than just the end of their service life.
The Basel Convention and European Legislation:
The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal is an international treaty designed to regulate the international movement of hazardous waste, including ship recycling. The Convention establishes a framework for cooperation and information sharing to ensure that hazardous waste is managed in an environmentally sound manner. Under the Convention, the export of hazardous waste from developed countries to developing countries is prohibited. The aim is to prevent hazardous waste from reaching countries that lack the necessary resources to adequately protect human health and the environment.
According to the Basel Convention, Prior Informed Consent (PIC) is essential for the receiving country to assess its capacity to properly manage hazardous waste. It is crucial that the PIC provide comprehensive information on the hazardous materials being exported to ensure proper environmental management and disposal of such waste. However, many ships enter the receiving country without a PIC. Even to countries that are signatories to the Hong Kong and Basel Conventions, such as Turkey, ships have been observed entering without a PIC, and illegal shipments from Turkey to non-Annex VII countries in South Asia have also been documented, despite being prohibited by the Basel Convention.
The strictest legislation regarding ship recycling is European. The EU SRR (European Union Ship Recycling Regulation) was adopted in 2013 to minimize the negative impact associated with ship recycling. The EU SRR mandates that all EU-flagged vessels over 500 GT can only be recycled at facilities listed in the European List of Ship Recycling Facilities (better known as the “European List”). This list was first published in 2016 and is updated regularly, adding new shipyards and removing those that do not meet European standards.
To be included on the European List, ship recycling facilities, regardless of their location, must meet certain safety and environmental requirements. Facilities within the EU are approved by national authorities, while those located in third countries, such as Turkey, are assessed by the European Commission itself. The EU List thus constitutes a valuable differentiation mechanism for shipyards that have invested in appropriate safety and environmental standards. This is the case in Turkey: several of its recycling companies in Aliaga applied for inclusion on the EU List, underwent inspection with positive results, and consequently, are world leaders in cruise ship recycling.
The 2025 list, the fourteenth edition, has now been published. The “European List” currently includes 43 shipyards: 31 located in Europe (EU, Norway, and the UK), 11 in Turkey, and one in the United States. Spain has two authorized facilities: DDR Vessels in El Musel, Gijón, and DINA in Barakaldo, which have a combined annual recycling capacity of approximately 5,600 LDT (Light Displacement Tonnage). European shipowners account for around 30% of the world's fleet by tonnage.
Ship Recycling Process
: These guidelines state that virtually nothing should be wasted in the ship recycling process. Materials and equipment are almost entirely reused. The price of a ship for recycling is calculated primarily based on its light tonnage (LDT), which is the weight of the steel in the hull and superstructure, plus all permanent equipment. End-of-life ships are sold in dollars per ton of light tonnage ($/LDT), as an indicator of the steel's value. Currently, around $470/LDT is being paid in Bangladesh, $465 in Pakistan, and $460 in India, but activity levels are reduced due to the international situation.
But before recovering the steel, the fuel tanks are emptied to prevent the risk of explosions, as well as any hazardous materials that may be on board. Authorities inspect the vessel to ensure it complies with the PIC and the Green Passport, and that it is safe for recycling. Subsequently, the dismantling process begins, first recovering valuable parts, such as electronic components, pipes, toilets, cables, glass, textiles, etc., before scrapping the rest. This preliminary process is particularly arduous on a cruise ship, and therefore less attractive to recyclers.
Once these preliminary tasks are completed, the steel is recovered and then processed to become, for example, profiles for use in the construction sector, for containers, or for new ships (the production of new steel from recycled steel requires only one-third of the energy used to produce steel from raw materials). It is estimated that all the cruise ships recycled in Turkey have yielded more than one million tons of steel, which has been 100% recycled.
The engines or generators of ships can be reused on land or sold for parts; batteries are recycled; hydrocarbons on board are recovered for use as fuel. Even the furniture has a second life, as it is usually donated to NGOs or charities before recycling for reuse. There is also a market for all the memorabilia found on a cruise ship, and large sums have been paid for souvenirs such as the bell, the siren, a porthole, life rings and life jackets, or the original blueprints of certain ships.
But recycling a cruise ship is a complex task. For example, on a typical ship, one or two lifeboats are removed. On a cruise ship, there are 13 or 14 lifeboats. And there's no secondhand market for lifeboats, so they sit in storage for years.
Therefore, recycling makes a positive environmental contribution; and in some countries, it generates employment for a large, albeit predominantly unskilled, workforce. With proper management, ship recycling is undoubtedly a “green” industry. However, while ship recycling is a positive activity, the working and environmental conditions at recycling facilities still often leave much to be desired in some countries. Although the ultimate responsibility for the conditions of recycling shipyards lies with the countries in which they are located, all stakeholders should be urged to contribute to minimizing the problems that can arise in these shipyards. This is the responsibility that falls to shipowners. Some shipowners, particularly Scandinavian ones, have already contracted for the recycling of their vessels in bulk to ensure proper labor and environmental management.
The Ship Recycling Guidelines also introduced the concept of a "green passport" for ships, with the aim of requiring vessels to carry this document throughout their service life. This document would contain an inventory of all materials used in their construction. Shipyards would produce this document during the construction phase and provide it to the shipowner in a format that would allow any subsequent changes to materials or equipment to be recorded. Successive shipowners would be responsible for maintaining the accuracy of the "green passport" data, incorporating all changes until the final owner surrendered it, along with the ship, to the recycling shipyards.
With the Green Passport, the IMO developed legally binding rules applicable to international shipping on:
– The design, construction, operation, and preparation of ships to facilitate safe and environmentally sound recycling without compromising the safety or operational efficiency of ships.
– The safe and environmentally sound operation of recycling facilities.
– The establishment of an appropriate enforcement mechanism for ship recycling, including requirements on certification and notification.
The Future of the World's Largest Ship Graveyard:
Most ships make their final voyage to a number of very specific destinations: the beaches of Gadani, west of Karachi, Pakistan; Aliaga, near Izmir, Turkey; Chittagong, Bangladesh; and the Yiangmin Yini shipyard in China. But the undisputed leader, accounting for 31% of all shipbreaking worldwide, is Alang, India. In the 1980s, Gadani in Pakistan was the world's largest shipbreaking facility, but it couldn't compete with newer facilities like Alang, leading to a decline in its output. Today, it's still among the largest, but it produces only a fifth of the scrap metal it did in the 1980s.
Alang, in the Gulf of Khambhat, is a mecca for ship recycling. Around a third of obsolete vessels are recycled there, including container ships, tankers, and cruise ships. Nearly 200 ship recycling companies are concentrated along 14 km of coastline, with a total capacity of 4.5 million LDT. Alang reached its peak in 2011 and 2012, when it dismantled around 400 ships per year. In 2020, it recycled 196 ships.
With its cheap labor and comparatively lax environmental regulations, shipbreaking in Alang became one of India's most profitable industries. In recent years, there have been numerous improvements in worker safety and environmental protection, although India still lags far behind the EU or the United States, where shipbreaking is more expensive due to stricter regulations. The Indian government has long recognized the impossibility of perpetuating the existing business model at its recycling shipyards. Thus, in 2010, the Japanese government and the government of the state of Gujarat (to which Alang belongs) signed a technology transfer and financial assistance agreement to upgrade the shipyards to meet the Hong Kong Convention requirements. This included improvements in areas such as new recycling technologies and waste management, with the aim of making Alang a viable option for shipowners. As a result, some shipyards in Alang have received certifications from international auditors such as ClassNK regarding their compliance with the Hong Kong Convention.
However, the recycling shipyards of the Indian subcontinent are now facing not only the prospect of preparing for the Hong Kong Convention on June 26, but also the possibility of a flood of imports of cheap Chinese steel products due to Trump's tariff policy.
Both issues present significant challenges for recycling facilities. On the one hand, shipyards that have not yet prepared to comply with the Hong Kong Convention standards will be ineligible to bid on the vast majority of end-of-life vessels from June onwards until they meet those standards. This is the case for most Pakistani companies.
Alang is experiencing a sharp decline in demand for ship recycling, with shipyards operating at only 25% of capacity. This has also impacted its once-thriving second-hand equipment market, forcing companies to source imported goods to survive. Operating costs are rising due to the need to invest in new technologies and upgrade facilities to meet international standards. Compliance with the Hong Kong Convention is increasing the financial pressure on shipyard owners. Implementation of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification for steel produced from recycled ships has caused delays. A lack of clarity in the certification process is also hindering the supply of recycled steel to the Indian market and undermining its competitiveness. Alang has also failed to address its environmental and health risks. Workers continue to suffer from poverty wages and unsafe and unhealthy working conditions. Geopolitical tensions and market volatility increase uncertainty, affecting the flow of ships to Alang and the prices of steel scrap and recycled materials.
Its competitor Bangladesh (which has historically shown little interest in cruise ship recycling) has had to grant an extension to the March 31 deadline, by which Chattogram shipyards were required to begin the process of complying with the Hong Kong Convention standards, before the June deadline. According to the latest GMS report, the world's largest buyer of ships for recycling, the country's Ministry of Industry has been committed to transferring authority to the newly created Ship Recycling Board, which will be responsible for granting extensions. However, only a limited number of facilities have managed to meet Hong Kong standards.
When a cruise ship reaches the end of its useful life, it is essentially a storage facility for machinery and waste. However, up to 98% of the ship can be recycled and recovered.
Impact of the Pandemic on Cruise Ship Recycling:
Cruise ships tend to have a long lifespan. Shipowners spend enormous sums on their maintenance to prevent both technical and commercial obsolescence. The useful life of a cruise ship is usually over 25 years, significantly longer than other types of vessels. Therefore, it is generally an external factor that leads to its recycling. For example, in the late 1990s, new amendments to SOLAS led to the decommissioning of historic ships like the Canberra; or complex political situations, such as the 1973 oil tanker crisis.
In this historical context, the pandemic arrived in 2020, and one of its most painful consequences for the cruise industry was a wave of ship scrappings within the fleet dedicated to this trade. Shipowners had no income and needed to reduce expenses. Getting rid of their obsolete vessels was an attractive option at that time, and they took full advantage of it.
In 2020 alone, a total of eight ships were scrapped (Table 1). Despite their financial difficulties, cruise lines sent their ships to shipyards that complied with the Hong Kong Convention, primarily in Turkey. All Carnival Corp. and Royal Caribbean ships were recycled in Turkish shipyards. Only two ships belonging to Asian shipowners were scrapped in India.
Those 10 ships totaled 484,386 GT, their capacity was 17,472 passengers, and they accounted for 14.97% and 11.75% of the total tonnage recycled from cruise ships since 1970.
In 2021, ten cruise ships were recycled (Table 2), some of them well-known in the Spanish market, such as the first casualty of the year, the Costa Victoria, which was quickly followed by the Grand Celebration. However, CMV's bankruptcy led to most of its fleet being sent to recycling shipyards, including the Marco Polo, the Magellan, and the Columbus, as well as the Boudicca, from Fred Olsen Cruise Lines. In 2021, only two ships were scrapped in Turkey under the Hong Kong Convention (the Costa Victoria and the Boudicca), a consequence of the saturation in 2020, while the rest were scrapped on the beaches of Alang, India, a country that had not yet signed the Hong Kong Convention.
Those 10 ships had a total gross tonnage of 396,244 GT, a capacity of 14,756 beds, and represented 9.78% in tonnage and 7.94% in capacity of the total number of cruise ships scrapped since 1970.
In 2022, no fewer than 17 ships were burned (Table 3), which represents the year with the highest number of cruise ships recycled since 1970, including two ships from the defunct Pullmantur (Horizon and Zenith), three former “Fantasy” type ships from Carnival, three former ships from NCL, two ships from Marella Cruises, etc.
These ships had a total gross tonnage of 688,900 GT and a capacity of 27,152 berths. They represent 17.00% in tonnage and 14.62% in capacity of all cruise ships scrapped since 1970.
In other words, between 2020 and 2022, 36 cruise ships were scrapped. This represents 40% of the total tonnage of cruise ships recycled since 1970, which gives an idea of the effort made by shipowners and shipyards during those years of the pandemic.
After this frenzy of ships being sent for recycling, calm returned in the following two years: in 2023, no cruise ships were recycled. And in 2024, there was only one recycling case: the Ocean Diamond, a ship delivered in 1974, which its Canadian owner sold for scrap to a company in Aliaga, Turkey, in August 2024, after it had been dismantled for two years.
Cruise ship scrapping resurfaces in 2025.
So far in 2025, three cruise ships have been recycled. Two of them were former vessels from the Celestyal fleet: the Celestyal Crystal and the Celestyal Olympia. The former was beached in Alang, India, in May, after nearly two years out of service. The latter was also beached in Alang in February 2025. In both cases, these were veteran ships, built in the 1980s, and commercially obsolete. Their previous owners waited for high steel prices before sending them to Alang.
However, the third recycled vessel was the Ocean Atlantic, recently operated by the Danish company Albatros Expeditions and owned by the American shipping company SunStone Ships. Built in 1985, it was sent for recycling in Aliaga, Turkey, last May. In this case, both the owner and the operator arranged for its recycling at a facility that complied with the Hong Kong Convention.
The cruise industry will demand a significant effort from the recycling industry in the coming years. There are currently 29 ships in service, built between 1980 and 1989, with a total gross tonnage of 244,000. At around 40 years old, they are nearing the end of their useful life, if they haven't already exceeded it. These are mostly smaller ships, averaging 245 passengers or 8,429 gross tonnage, belonging to the luxury and expedition segments, and the decommissioning process is imminent.
The cruise ship fleet currently comprises 76 vessels built between 1990 and 1999. These ships represent a total of three million gross tons, with an average size of around 40,000 GT and a passenger capacity of 1,000. They are similar to Pullmantur's Horizon or Costa Cruises' Costa Neoromantica, which have already been refurbished. These ships will constitute the lion's share of those slated for scrapping in the coming years. However, it's also important to note that between 2000 and 2005, 73 cruise ships were delivered, representing over five million tons and a capacity of 125,000 berths. These ships are now exceeding 25 years of service life, and some of them are also potential candidates for scrapping. They are Panamax ships, around 70,000 GT, similar to Pullmantur's Sovereign or Carnival's "Fantasy" type ships, some of whose units have already been blown out.
With these 180 cruise ships to be recycled, and with profits generated of up to 4 million dollars in the scrapping of each 2,000-passenger Panamax cruise ship, and with robust environmental legislation recently launched, the recovery of cruise ships is configured as an activity of the future, also driven by the recognized environmental vocation of the cruise industry.
Cruise Ship Recycling Methods:
Cruise ships are recycled using four methods, ranked from highest to lowest environmental and occupational safety impact. The safest is dry dock recycling, which is used almost exclusively in Europe. The ship is taken to a dry dock and dismantled piece by piece in a completely enclosed area, minimizing the risk of environmental contamination and allowing the use of cranes to remove heavy parts. Most ships are built in dry dock, regularly repaired in dry dock, and there is no reason why their final dismantling should be carried out under less safe conditions. The problem is that a dry dock is an expensive piece of infrastructure to build and maintain, and its profitability is questionable if used for ship recycling. Furthermore, a modern waste management facility is required.
The second method involves the vessel being docked. This method is used in both Europe and the United States. For example, it is used at the recycling shipyard in Gijón. The vessel to be recycled arrives at a dock in a protected port or river and is completely dismantled afloat using cranes, surrounded by a pollution barrier. Cutting operations begin on the upper decks and proceed down to the underwater hull, until the latter can be lifted in one piece or raised onto a slipway for final dry cutting in a completely enclosed area.
The third method is landing, used primarily in Turkey, given that the tidal difference in the Mediterranean is practically negligible. Ships are sailed or towed at full speed to the shore or onto a concrete slipway, which serves as a cutting area extending into the sea. The stern of the ship remains afloat, while the bow is beached. The vessel is recycled from bow to stern. Cranes are used to remove the cut sections of the ship, and it is gradually towed toward the shore, atop the slipway, during the cutting operations. An optimal drainage system and spill containment booms are also required.
The fourth method is beaching, usually on a beach or marsh. The vessel is launched at full speed to deliberately run aground during high tide, and dismantling operations are typically carried out during low tide, when the vessel is not submerged. This method requires a difference of several meters between high and low tide levels. In Alang, this difference is 10 meters. It is used in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, where 80% of ships are dismantled using this method. Recycling operations are carried out directly on the sand, so pollutants are inevitably released into the environment and washed away by the tide. The vessel breaks into pieces that fall sideways, by gravity, onto the sand, without cranes. There are no means of containment or subsequent cleanup. This beaching method is heavily criticized for its unsafe working conditions and the environmental damage it causes to coastal ecosystems and neighboring communities.
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