Babcock has been certified by Lloyd's Register as an approved
service supplier of Green Passports for ships (the popular name for
the Inventory of Hazardous Materials, required under the Ship
Recycling Convention), further extending its range of marine
environmental-compliance services.
The Ship Recycling Convention was adopted in May 2009 with the
aim of improving safety standards and reducing environmental
pollution arising from the recycling of ships. Under the
convention, any ship (existing or newbuild) greater than 500 gross
tonnage will in future be required to have a Green Passport
Inventory. The Green Passport identifies and lists materials
hazardous or potentially hazardous to health or the environment
onboard a vessel in the ship's structure, systems and equipment,
and is maintained and updated throughout the ship's life. Although
not yet ratified as a statutory requirement, Green Passport
Inventories are already available in preparation for the
anticipated legislation and as a certifiable demonstration of a
ship owner's green credentials.
Lloyd's Register has now appointed Babcock as one of the few
approved service suppliers of sampling checks and testing for Green
Passport inventories in accordance with the requirements of the new
convention. This follows an audit of Babcock's operation, in which
the company was required to demonstrate suitable procedures and
experience to undertake the surveys and testing required.
Babcock's Green Passport service encompasses verification
surveys covering visual and sampling checks and testing for
hazardous materials (such as asbestos, PCBs, tributyltin (TBT)
anti-fouling, and ozone-depleting substances such as CFCs) onboard
ships, including advice on numbers and locations of samples, and
preparation of reports on the quantities, locations and estimates
of these materials. Babcock is also approved to compile the Green
Passport Inventory of Hazardous Materials Onboard on behalf of ship
owners and operators, which can then be submitted to Lloyd's
Register for independent approval and verification.
Renewal surveys will be required throughout the life of the
ship, at intervals not greater than five years, and for Lloyd's
Register class vessels the Green Passport is reviewed on an annual
basis. In addition to facilitating safer and more
environmentally-sound dismantling of ships, the Green Passport or
IHM provides a formal summary of hazards, which can help to promote
better hazard management onboard, enhancing safety and enabling
better long-term liability planning.
Babcock's Green Passport service is one of a range of services
the company provides to help ship owners ensure compliance with
statutory or otherwise desirable environmental regulations. This
includes services individually tailored to the vessel to ensure
compliance with nitrogen oxide (NOx) and sulphur oxide (SOx)
emissions requirements, including EU Directive 1999/32/EC and
2005/33/EC amendments, and the MARPOL Annexe VI amendments which
came into force this month (July 2010) imposing even more stringent
operating restrictions with a maximum 1% sulphur emission. These
services are geared to provide ship owners with an assessment and
proposed compliance solution offering best value, least time,
lowest risk and greatest convenience.
Commenting on the new Green Passport service, Babcock's Marine
Division Integrated Technology director Ian Lindsay said: "We are
delighted to have been approved by Lloyd's Register to offer the
Green Passport service, as part of our range of services to help
ship owners achieve environmentally-friendly operation. Our
engineers understand particular operational requirements and can
develop options to enable cost-effective compliance."
Babcock's Integrated Technology business offers an extensive
range of engineering and design services from concept through
inspections and survey to manufacturing and in-service support.