Ship Breaking- Sailing Towards Sustainability

Ships of all types will only have a limited life span and must be ultimately be dismantled with wastes properly disposed of and metals recycled. These scrap ships are huge sources of steel. From the approximate 45,000 ocean going ships, 700 of them are taken out of service every year. 95% of the mass of these retired ships, made of steel could be recovered. Till the early 60s it was believed that ship breaking is a highly mechanized operation that could only be done in industrialized countries like United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Italy. However, today to maximize profits ship owner’s sent their vessels to the scrap yards of India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Vietnam, where health and safety standards are minimal and workers are desperate for work. It is estimated that over 100,000 workers are employed at ship breaking yards worldwide.

Alang, in India, has retained its position as the world’s largest scrapping site for ocean going ships, accounting for an average of 70% of tonnage, and an average of 50% of worldwide demolition sales. Bangladesh retained second position after India in terms of volume of recycling.

Some of the important factors that lured the ship breaking activities towards Asia are that:

Asia is:

• The largest resource of low paid labor.
• Relatively less concerned about environmental and social standards.
• A lucrative local domestic market for steel and other scrap material. For instance, the yards now supply 80-90% of Bangladesh’s steel. In India, it accounts for 15% of the country’s total steel output, at about half the cost of regular furnace-based plants.
• Suitable climate in which ship breaking can take place most of the year, and an infrastructure to transport the scrap to its market place.
• A convenient geographical location: the proximity of the main eastbound trade routes has been an important factor in the development of the South-Asian ship breaking industry.
• Another element to be taken into account is the exchange rate movements, relative to the US dollar and to the currencies of other ship breaking nations.


STEPS INVOVLED IN SHIP BREAKING

The owners of the ship breaking yards are kept abreast of the ships to be sold for scrap by brokers operating from London, Dubai, Singapore and Hamburg. All ships are sold by the ton, at a price ranging from 110 to 150 dollars per ton depending on the market price. As soon as the ship is purchased the clock starts to tick for the owner, who must have it dismantled as fast as possible to recover his investment. So once the ship is bought they sail towards sustainability- to the demolition sites. Once the ship arrives to the demolition site, it is anchored in the waters and the first administrative steps are set in motion. Based on the rules, the ship is checked and is confirmed that it is gas free. Once all the legal formalities are complete, the ship is permitted to enter the territorial waters for bleaching. Vessels are beached by own propulsion power at high tide and during low tide vessels are lying stable on their flat bottom. The ship must be placed in this exact position and above all come to ground as high up on the beach as possible to facilitate dismantling operations. Beaching has a crucial impact on the final cost; the time needed for dismantling can be doubled, if the beaching operation is not successful. This completes the first phase of ship breaking.

During the second phase, cutters and their helpers start cutting the vessel into parts. The breaking operation is undertaken based on the structural design of the vessel. The larger parts are dragged to the dry part of the shore with the help of motorized pulley. A large number of workers are also engaged in this operation. Though the motor does the main job, workers need to help the pulley driver in dragging the part to the dry area of the shore. Another group of cutters, helpers and workers start cutting the dragged parts of the ship into truck-able parts as per order of the purchasers. Heavy equipment like boilers, motors, capstan stocking etc. are carried to stack yards by moving crane. The unskilled workers carry metal plates, metal bars or pipes on their heads or shoulders, start walking in synchronized steps with the rhythm of the singers call up to a definite destination and then pile up metal plates in stack yards or load them on trucks. The supervisors control the group of workers; the on-looker guides them and helps them in pilling up the heavy metal plates in stacks.

Finally, the ship is cut down into different pieces and winched to the shore at high tide and further large portion is cut into suitable pieces on the beach for easier loading and transportations. The valuable components (e.g. small motors and pumps, generator, navigation equipments, life saving equipments, furniture, electrical cables, utensils etc.) are dismantled and sold to second hand market situated on both sides of the Dhaka-Chittagong highway. It is estimated that it takes 5-6 months to dismantle a typical cargo ship.

The interesting fact is that nothing in a demolished ship goes to waste. Even the last drops of oil from the tanker is drained and resold.

THE BRIGHT SIDE

Ship breaking activities hold potential as it creates economic opportunities for thousands of labourers and contribute to the economic growth of regions in need of private sector investment. Practically 100% of the ship is recycled. In this perspective, ship breaking can be claimed to be a sound sustainable industrial activity. Ship demolitions remove large volumes of obsolete tonnage from fleets and recycle many of the materials used in a ship’s construction. Moreover, it is a major employer in the main ship breaking areas

DARKSIDE OF SHIP BREAKING:

Though ship breaking improves national economy and plays an important role in steel recycling, it always poses threats to the ambient environment and working people. It is estimated that an average of one ship breaking worker dies at the yards in Bangladesh every week and every day one worker gets injured. These repots however can’t be seen in the official reports. Ship breaking, however is not risky by itself. Lack of safety facilities and illiteracy of the workers about their health, safety and the dangerous effects of the poisonous chemicals makes this process a risky one. Moreover, accidents are not reported or recorded. It seems that nobody really bothers about the tears of ship breaking workers; they are treated as replaceable instruments for the yard owners. One is lost, so get another to replace him.

A little progress has been made towards installing a better working environment at the ship breaking yards in developing countries. However, ship breaking has to sail a long way to sustainable management before it’s completely safe for both the environment and the workers.

For more: www.recycleinme.com/recyclemag