Between the rising costs of fuel and increasing regulations worldwide, more megayacht owners are seeking ways to be more environmentally minded. The owner of the Limited Editions Amels 212 (similar to Imagine, above) being prepared for delivery is among them. His yacht will be the first megayacht meeting Lloyd’s Register’s Green Passport.
In brief, Green Passport, a.k.a. the Inventory of Hazardous Materials, is a requirement of the Ship Recycling Convention. The Convention was adopted in 2009 at a diplomatic conference in Hong Kong, attended by representatives from 63 members of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). While it is still undergoing the ratification process, it’s expected to go into effect by 2015. It will then become a global IMO requirement, much as STCW, SOLAS, and other Conventions are. Green Passport covers the entire lifecycle of a vessel, from design and construction, through in-service operation to dismantling. The goal is to help spur safer and more environmentally sound recycling of ships and vessels of all kinds.
Among the requirements of Green Passport:
- anti-fouling paint must be TBT-free (TBT, a.k.a. tributyltin, is harmful to marine life)
- refrigerants need to be CFC-free
- fluorescent lighting must be used throughout the vessel, to avoid the presence of mercury
- smoke detectors need to be present in all accommodations
- potentially hazardous materials in the structure and equipment, including ozone-depleting substances and materials containing PCBs, must be documented
- items comprised of plastic and rubber need to be documented
- chemicals such as antifreeze and lube oils must be documented.
Some of the requirements are in keeping with environmentally minded rules set by other classification societies and even countries. TBT-based paint, for example, is already banned in several countries. Other rules are also based on simple common sense, such as the use of smoke detectors.
As you can imagine, complying with the Green Passport initiative is no easy task for a shipyard. However, when the management team at Ocean Independence, representing the owner of the Amels 212, initiated it, Amels recognized the value. Sjoerd van den Broek, Amels’ project manager, says, “Fulfilling all the requirements for the Green Passport has entailed a very large effort from Amels over the past three years and also for all the suppliers and contractors involved in building the Amels 212. Hopefully she will sail for more than a hundred years, but at the end of her life on the sea, her materials can be recycled in a controlled and environmentally responsible manner.” Daniel Küpfer, project and management director for Ocean Management (the management division of Ocean Independence), puts it this way: “It is time to monitor the lifecycle of a ship from ‘cradle to grave.’ We also feel that this may enhance the resale value as this passport is set to become compulsory for superyachts in the future.”
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