Lloyd’s Register North America, Inc. has issued a Green Passport to the Crowley Petroleum Services barge 650-3 that was recently christened in Mobile, Ala., for entry into the company’s U.S. coastwise service. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) issued Guidelines on Ship Recycling to improve the standards of safety and reduce environmental pollution resulting from the scrapping of ships in 2003. The guidelines introduced the concept of the Green Passport, which is essentially an inventory of materials present in a ship’s structure, systems, and equipment that may be hazardous to health or the environment.
With environmental issues a priority in the minds of port authorities and governments, obtaining a Green Passport is one way in which responsible shipowners can demonstrate a proactive stance on ensuring safety and preserving the environment. The Green Passport for the 650-3 is among the first to be issued to a vessel in the US fleet. The Green Passport is also the first to be issued to a tank barge by Lloyd’s Register in North America.
The Green Passport is a historical record of the materials onboard a vessel which may be hazardous to human health or to the environment and is an valuable tool for developing a hazard management strategy and assessing liability from shipbuilding to ship breaking. One of the biggest advantages of the Green Passport is improving safety in operations, by ensuring that the ship’s crew are aware of the potentially hazardous materials onboard and that proper attention is paid to hazard and safety management systems. The Green Passport is regularly updated and maintained and is eventually passed by the owner to the ship recycling yard at the end of the ship’s life, to enable the yard to formulate a safe and environmentally sound way of breaking the ship.