A fitting end

Ships get ‘green passports’ When the tanker Granatina comes to the end of her life, we’ll know exactly how to dispose of her remains. That’s because she’s the first ship to carry a ‘green passport’ - a document which accompanies her from owner to owner, and eventually to the recycling yard. The document contains an inventory of the materials onboard that could be hazardous to human health or the environment, thereby enabling the yard to come up with safe ways of breaking the ship. The Shell International Trading and Shipping Company, which operates the liquid natural gas carrier, is the first company to take up the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) recommendation for the papers. It remains to be seen whether the new passports will bring an end to the phenomenon of toxic ‘ghost ships’ wandering the oceans in search of a resting place. - Hannah Bullock

27 January 2005

Hannah Bullock