Having enjoyed a long career in the shipping industry, and having worked on the development and implementation of a regulatory regime for the ship-recycling industry over the past 15 years, I have had to think long and hard about the many legal, commercial and cultural questions that arise and affect both industries.
In my view, the creation of the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships was a triumph of common sense that balanced so carefully the difficult and sometimes contradictory needs of these two industries.
