Since Summer 2024, our dedicated subcommittee has been hard at work, enhancing RECYCLECON to make it more adaptable to the evolving needs of the maritime industry.
Unlike other sale and purchase transactions, ship recycling may carry significant reputational risk. Our mission is to strike the right balance between sellers and buyers, protecting parties without unnecessarily burdening them.
The subcommittee convened multiple online sessions and gathered in London in March 2025 for a two-day, face-to-face meeting to tackle crucial matters such as payment, deposit placements, and documentation. Valuable insights were also garnered from delegates at the BIMCO Documentary Committee meeting in April 2025. The subcommittee will continue refining the form in preparation for the forthcoming industry consultation.
We aim to revise RECYCLECON to increase its acceptance in anticipation of a surge in recycling due to aging global tonnage. Our goal is to make the contract more flexible, ensuring it can be applied across various recycling regimes. While the contract will include provisions specific to The Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, these provisions can be easily removed without compromising the contract's integrity if the convention does not apply to a particular transaction or conflicts with other legislation, local or regional.
By engaging with a broad spectrum of stakeholders, we intend to create a fair and balanced standard contract which parties may use off the shelf, or as often is the case, use as a starting point for negotiations. As neatly summed up by the chairperson of RECYCLECON subcommittee, Peter Laurijssen, Legal Director at CMB Group:
“any input from your side, the industry, whether you’re a seller or a buyer, cash buyer or ship recycling facility, all input and suggestions are welcome so that we can take them into account when reviewing the form.”
If you want to be part of the industry sounding board that will receive the draft form once prepared by the drafting team (anticipated in the second half of 2025), contact the Contracts & Clauses team at contracts@bimco.org to join the RECYCLECON sounding board mailing list.
