A JAPANESE team has returned after a two-week visit to Europe to campaign for the elimination of substandard vessels.
The mission was sent by the Joint Committee for Shipbreaking Promotion, formed by the Japanese Shipowners' Association and the Shipbuilders' Association of Japan.
The team visited shipowners' associations in Norway, Greece and Britain as well as the related international organisations.
These included the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners, the Council of European and Japanese National Shipowners' Associations, the International Maritime Organisation and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
The joint committee, set up in April 1992, has been making extensive appeals on the importance of ship scrapping.
It has also conducted surveys on the ship scrapping capacity and published the ''White Paper on the Global Ship-Scrapping Industry''.