An international accord on recycling ships is set to begin within 24 months after Bangladesh and Liberia became the latest countries to ratify the accord, officials said on Monday.
The Hong Kong convention, a treaty set up by UN shipping agency the International Maritime Organization (IMO), is aimed at ensuring that ships, when being recycled after reaching the end of their operational lives, did not pose any unnecessary risks to human health, safety and to the environment.
Much of the world's ship breaking takes place at sites across south Asia in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan and involves dangerous manual labour where workers dismantle ships and are exposed to toxic substances.
Working conditions still remain perilous, including fires and falling steel plates, which kill or seriously injure workers across the breaker yards in South Asia, according to analysis from campaigners with NGO Shipbreaking Platform, which monitors conditions at sites.
The Hong Kong convention was adopted in 2009 by 63 countries aiming to boost working conditions.
Nevertheless, it needed to meet various criteria, including having at least 40% of the world's merchant shipping by gross tonnage represented by ratifying nations, which had not been met previously despite other large maritime nations such as India already ratifying it.
The accession of Bangladesh and Liberia mean the total 22 contracting states to the convention represent approximately 45.81% of the gross tonnage of the world's merchant shipping, the IMO said in a statement.
The combined annual ship recycling volume of the 22 contracting states during the preceding 10 years amounted to 23.8 million gross tonnage, equivalent to 3.31% of the required recycling volume and above the required 3% threshold.
Lenn Eugene Nagbe, chief executive of the Liberia Maritime Authority, said it was "a great and historic day for world shipping".
Bangladesh had "demonstrated global leadership and commitment as a major ship recycling country to environmentally safe and sustainable ship recycling" by acceding to the Convention, Saida Muna Tasneem, Dhaka's permanent IMO representative, added in the statement.
