The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and the government of Bangladesh launched a new project entitled ‘Safe and environmentally sound ship recycling in Bangladesh’ in Dhaka on April 8.

It constitutes a key milestone on the road to improve safety and environmental standards within the industry and is the result of collaborative work between the government of Bangladesh, IMO, the Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad).

Additionally, a workshop, running alongside the launch, was organized to provide stakeholders with an update on the progress of the project’s implementation and to ensure that all parties are familiar with the objectives, activities, deliverables and approach to the implementation of the project.

Back in April 2014, IMO and Bangladesh signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work together to improve safety and environmental standards in the country’s ship-recycling industry.

With an annual gross tonnage capacity of more than 8.8 million, the Bangladesh ship recycling industry is one of the world’s most important, second only to neighbouring India in terms of volume.