Hong Kong Convention in force: end-of-life ship sales and Aliağa

Sixteen years after it was adopted, the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships (HKC) entered into force on 26 June 2025. It has changed how end-of-life ships are sold and delivered for recycling — including to Aliağa, Türkiye's ship recycling centre. This is what the rules require, as of October 2026.

Status of the Convention

• The Convention was triggered when Bangladesh and Liberia acceded on 26 June 2023. Its parties then met the thresholds — at least 15 states, 40% of world merchant tonnage and an annual recycling volume of at least 3% of their tonnage — and it entered into force 24 months later.
• According to the IMO it now has 34 Contracting States. Four of the five countries that carry out almost all of the world's ship recycling — Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Türkiye — are parties; the fifth is China.
• Türkiye approved the Convention by Law No. 6931 in 2017 and deposited its instrument of ratification with the IMO on 31 January 2019. It requires explicit approval of every ship recycling plan.

What ships need

• Scope: ships of 500 GT and above, including FPSOs, FSUs and vessels being towed. Warships, government non-commercial ships and ships that operate only in their flag state's waters are excluded.
• Inventory of Hazardous Materials (IHM): Part I covers materials in the structure and equipment, such as asbestos, PCBs, ozone-depleting substances and certain anti-fouling systems; Parts II (operational waste) and III (stores) are completed before recycling.
• Deadlines: new ships — contracted from 26 June 2025 — need the International Certificate on the IHM on delivery; existing ships need it by 26 June 2030, or earlier if they go for recycling before then. The certificate is valid for up to five years.
• Ready for Recycling Certificate: once the decision to recycle is taken, a final survey verifies the IHM, the ship-specific recycling plan and the yard's authorization. The certificate is then valid for no more than three months.
• Port state control: sailing without a valid IHM certificate is a deficiency that can lead to detention, and ships under the flag of a non-party need equivalent documentation when they call at the ports of parties.

What recycling yards need

Every yard in a party state must be authorized by its competent authority, on the basis of a Ship Recycling Facility Plan and a site inspection; the authorization is valid for up to five years. For each ship the yard prepares a ship-specific recycling plan, and when the work is finished it issues a Statement of Completion, which is passed on to the flag state.

The sale: what changes in practice

• Authorized yards only: a ship flagged in a party state may be recycled only at an authorized yard in a party state.
• Keep the IHM current and transferable: class societies stress its continuity on any change of flag, owner or operator, supported by material declarations for new equipment.
• Plan the sequence: updated IHM, an authorized yard, an approved recycling plan, the final survey and the Ready for Recycling Certificate. With the certificate valid for at most three months, delivery windows must leave time for plan approval and the survey.
• Use the right contract: BIMCO's DEMOLISHCON is an outright sale without inspection, priced per long ton of lightweight; RECYCLECON is designed for green recycling and incorporates the HKC requirements — BIMCO adopted a revised version on 8 October 2026.
• EU-flagged ships: the EU Ship Recycling Regulation goes further and requires a yard on the European List. Since January 2026 a single certificate can cover both the EU and the HKC obligations. The European Commission has identified sales to buyers who reflag ships shortly before recycling as the main way the EU rules are avoided.

Aliağa

• The IMO's list of authorized ship recycling facilities (October 2026) shows 18 Turkish yards, all of them in Aliağa, İzmir.
• Ten Aliağa yards are on the current European List for EU-flagged ships (15th edition, February 2026); a draft 16th edition published in July 2026 would remove two of them.
• In 2024 Turkish yards recycled 110 ships totalling 585,000 GT — 8.1% of the world total — and the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure describes Türkiye as Europe's leader in ship recycling.
• A new regulation on the authorization of ship recycling facilities, published in the Official Gazette on 22 June 2026, implements the HKC in Türkiye: the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure approves each ship recycling plan after the opinion of the Ministry of Environment, and yards must submit the completion statement within 14 days.

Planning to sell a ship for recycling? Our sale and purchase desk can guide you through the documents and timing. Talk to our S&P brokers.