Product & Regulatory

ISO 30000 — responsible ship recycling.

A management system for safe and environmentally sound ship recycling — facility planning, occupational controls, hazardous material management, and the documentation shipowners and flag administrations expect.

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What it is

The management-system standard for ship recycling facilities.

ISO 30000 specifies the requirements for a management system enabling a ship-recycling facility to develop and implement procedures, policies, and objectives that consistently deliver safe and environmentally sound ship recycling. It addresses the operational, occupational, and environmental concerns that arise during the dismantling and recycling of ships, from acceptance of the vessel through to the disposal of non-recoverable waste.

The standard is designed to be consistent with the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships and with the EU Ship Recycling Regulation. Certification is voluntary, but increasingly required by shipowners, cash buyers, and flag administrations selecting where to send vessels for recycling, as global practice moves away from uncontrolled beaching towards managed facility recycling.

Who needs it

Ship-recycling yards and adjacent service providers.

Ship-recycling facilities in India (Alang), Bangladesh (Chattogram), Pakistan (Gadani), Turkey (Aliaga), and other national industries. Associated adjacent services — hazardous waste handlers, asbestos removal specialists, PCB handlers, downstream scrap processors — increasingly pursue parallel certification to demonstrate chain-of-custody for end-of-life materials. Flag administrations and classification societies routinely reference ISO 30000 alongside Hong Kong Convention compliance.

Benefits

What a well-built BIFMA system earns you.

Shipowner eligibility.

Responsible shipowners and cash buyers increasingly require ISO 30000 certification or Hong Kong Convention-aligned evidence before consigning a vessel for recycling.

EU regulation positioning.

Yards operating to EU Ship Recycling Regulation expectations benefit from ISO 30000 as evidence of a management system. Without EU SRR listing, EU-flagged vessels cannot be recycled at the yard.

Occupational safety.

The standard's emphasis on hazardous material management, confined-space work, hot work controls, and personnel competence typically measurably reduces injury rates within the first implementation cycle.

Environmental defensibility.

Cascade of inventory of hazardous materials, segregation of waste streams, and downstream waste recipient control make the facility's environmental position credible to regulators and buyers.

Regulatory engagement.

State pollution control boards, directorates of industrial safety, and port authorities engage more constructively with certified facilities than with non-certified peers.

Export-route protection.

Downstream recovered-material buyers — steel rolling mills, re-rollers, scrap dealers — increasingly demand chain-of-custody evidence for imports; certification supports that.

Requirements, in outline

What the standard actually asks of you.

ISO 30000 follows a management-system structure covering policy, planning (including identification of legal requirements, hazards, and environmental aspects), implementation and operation (including operational controls, emergency preparedness, and competence of personnel), checking (monitoring, measurement, non-conformity, corrective action, records, and internal audit), and management review. It is explicitly designed to be integrable with ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and ISO 45001.

Operational requirements are distinctive to the industry. Facilities must maintain facility-specific ship recycling plans consistent with the vessel's Inventory of Hazardous Materials, control of hot work, safe entry to confined spaces, management of asbestos, heavy metals, ozone-depleting substances, PCBs, and residual fuel and oily waste, and management of downstream waste streams including to authorised onward recipients. Personnel competence, including for specialist work such as asbestos handling, is explicitly required.

Our approach

Five stages, from discovery to certificate.

Facility baseline

Walk the yard, review recent incident and environmental history, assess existing Hong Kong Convention alignment, and baseline against 30000 and EU SRR where relevant.

Plan & procedures

Ship recycling facility plan, operational procedures covering hazardous material handling, hot work, confined-space entry, and emergency response. Written to match the yard, not a template.

Downstream chain

Qualification and documentation of downstream waste recipients — asbestos disposal, PCB handling, hazardous waste, recovered steel — with records that hold up under audit.

Internal audit & drills

Internal audit plus emergency preparedness drills, management review conducted to the depth Stage 2 will apply.

Certification audit

Stage 1 and Stage 2 attendance, findings response, and ongoing surveillance support. For yards pursuing EU SRR inclusion, we coordinate evidence sets.

Timeline & investment

Honest ranges, not placeholder pricing.

A yard with existing safety and environmental practice typically reaches Stage 2 in sixteen to twenty-four weeks. Yards pursuing ISO 30000 as part of a first-time formalised management system, or facilities targeting EU SRR listing in parallel, typically run to six to nine months. Downstream waste-recipient qualification frequently drives the timeline.

Fees depend on yard size, throughput, current management-system maturity, and the scope of parallel compliance work (EU SRR, Hong Kong Convention, national law). Certification body fees are separate.

Frequently asked

Questions we answer on most BIFMA calls.

No. The Hong Kong Convention is an international treaty; ISO 30000 is a management-system standard designed to be consistent with it. The two complement each other. Yards on the EU List of ship recycling facilities must satisfy EU SRR, which draws on Hong Kong Convention principles.

ISO 30000 certifies the facility. Each vessel requires its own Ship Recycling Plan, based on the Inventory of Hazardous Materials, consistent with the facility plan. The two levels interlock.

ISO 14001 is a general environmental management standard. ISO 30000 is specific to ship recycling and addresses occupational as well as environmental dimensions. Most certified yards hold both — 14001 as the generic environmental spine, 30000 as the sector-specific system.

The standard addresses personnel competence and occupational safety within the facility. Broader worker welfare and housing — increasingly important in ethical-recycling audits — typically requires additional SA 8000 or similar labour-standard certification.

A yard seeking EU SRR listing must meet the regulation's specific requirements, audited by a recognised verifier. ISO 30000 is not a direct substitute, but provides much of the management-system evidence the verifier needs.

Related services

Get a readiness assessment for ISO 30000.

Half a day with a senior consultant, a clause-level gap report, and a candid timeline. No commitment beyond the assessment itself.

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