Ship Recycling R &D project

Nippon Kaiji Kyokai and IBM Japan today announced that they will be taking part in a joint research and development project related to the "Information Management Solution for Hazardous Materials on board the ships" which utilizes cloud environment (technology to offer various services via internet) to facilitate implementation for newly adopted international convention "Ship Recycling Convention" among concerned parties.
Ship Recycling Convention (The Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, 2009) adopted in May 2009 sets forth a requirement for a ship, development and maintenance of the list called an "Inventory of Hazardous Materials (IHM)" identifying locations and approximates quantities of Hazardous substances on board the ship. IHM will be utilized for safe and environmentally sound ship recycling. The parties in maritime sector such as ship owners, shipbuilders, suppliers of marine equipments, parts, materials, recycling facilities, governments, and classification societies will be involved in the IHM, which should be maintained during the lifecycle of the ship. This joint R &D project will focus in finding the best solution to improve the convenience and efficiency for the concerned parties by sharing IHM information on the web in every process from the initial IHM development to its completion for ship breaking, and to study the possible business model of ship recycling that the system should enable, while reviewing operational issues including security concerns.
The outcome of this R &D project shall be the system on the web which utilizes cloud computing technology and based on the IHM development feature of PrimeShip-INVENTORY, a world's first IHM development software currently distributed in CD format by ClassNK. As the world's largest classification society, ClassNK has broadly cotributed to maritime industry through its participation in joint R & D projects with various parties as well as delivering the highest quality classification services for ensuring safety of life and property at sea, and the prevention of pollution of the marine environment.