COWI has assisted Stena Line in establishing a documentation system to enable the environmentally friendly breaking up of its ships.
The new green passports will document a ship's life and activities and indicate which hazardous materials her breakers are likely to encounter.
With this documentation, the parts and components of the ship that contain hazardous materials can be removed in a safe, environmentally sound way before the vessel is completely dismantled.
"This is the shipowners' contribution towards ensuring a better working environment for the people who will eventually break up the ship and towards reducing pollution of the oceans," explains Klaus Winther Ringgard, senior project manager in COWI.He adds, "Today the majority of ships despatched to be broken up end up on beaches in third world countries, where no concern is shown for the welfare of the workers or pollution of the oceans."
Stena Line is using a green passport for the first time, and the decision to begin with the 6850 tonne Stena Seatrader is no coincidence."She is the oldest lady in our fleet and therefore it is reasonable to assume that there are some environmentally hazardous materials in her, such as asbestos and plastics," says Johan Roos, Sustainability Manager at Stena Line.
Stena Seatrader is also on the list of ships that Greenpeace is following closely, which Roos considers logical given the age of the vessel."The likelihood of a ship being broken up is, of course, greater for older ships, which is also where the risk of hazardous materials is greatest. Therefore we have chosen to focus on the old ships first. But in the future we will have green passports for all newly built ships, too," says Roos. By Gitte Roe Eriksen, cht@cowi.com Published: 27.10.2006
The green register will follow a ship throughout its life. It will document the materials used in the ship's construction, any operational by-products produced during its lifetime, and what is on board in the way of chemicals, such as paint.
To prepare a green passport, COWI collates all information about the ship concerned.