Avoiding the Bottleneck: First GL Academy Seminar for Hazardous Material Experts

The new IMO-convention for “Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships” aims to prevent hazardous working conditions and to ensure environmental protection during ship recycling operations. It is going to be adopted at a diplomatic conference in Hong Kong this month. Expected to come into force in 2013, the convention will require approximately 50,000 ships worldwide to have a certified “Inventory of Hazardous Materials” (IHM) on board, listing hazardous materials present in structure and equipment. For preparing the IHM, shipowners will have to involve so-called Hazardous Material Experts (HazMat Experts). To ensure availability of these experts and enabling ship owners to comply early with the ship recycling convention, the first four-day seminar “Approved HazMat Expert” from Germanischer Lloyd was completed in Hamburg, Germany, last week.