Ship breaking

"Ship breaker" redirects here. For the novel by Paolo Bacigalupi, see Ship Breaker.

Removing steel plates from a ship using cranes[1] at Alang Ship Breaking Yard in India

Ship breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship scrapping, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships either as a source of parts, which can be sold for re-use, or for the extraction of raw materials, chiefly scrap. Modern ships have a lifespan of 25 to 30 years before corrosion, metal fatigue and a lack of parts render them uneconomical to operate.[2] Ship-breaking allows the materials from the ship, especially steel, to be recycled and made into new products. This lowers the demand for mined iron ore and reduces energy use in the steelmaking process. Fixtures and other equipment on board the vessels can also be reused. While ship-breaking is sustainable, there are concerns about its use by poorer countries without stringent environmental legislation. It is also labour-intensive, and considered one of the world's most dangerous industries.[3]

In 2012, roughly 1,250 ocean ships were broken down, and their average age was 26 years.[4][5] In 2013, the world total of demolished ships amounted to 29,052,000 tonnes, 92% of which were demolished in Asia. As of January 2020, Alang Ship Breaking Yard in India has the largest global share at 30%,[6] followed by Chittagong Ship Breaking Yard in Bangladesh and Gadani Ship Breaking Yard in Pakistan.[7]

The largest sources of ships are China, Greece, and Germany, although there is greater variation in the sources of carriers versus their disposal.[8] The ship-breaking yards of India, Bangladesh, China and Pakistan employ 225,000 workers as well as providing many indirect jobs. In Bangladesh, the recycled steel covers 20% of the country's needs and in India it is almost 10%.[9]

As an alternative to ship breaking, ships may be sunk to create artificial reefs after legally mandated removal of hazardous materials (though this does not recycle any materials), or sunk in deep ocean waters. Storage is a viable temporary option, whether on land or afloat, though most ships will eventually be scrapped; some will be sunk, or preserved as museums.

  1. ^ "Safe Accesses to the ships at HKC compliant Ship Recycling Facilities". GMS Leadership.
  2. ^ "Life Cycle of a Ship". shippipedia.com. 21 January 2011. Archived from the original on 24 March 2019. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
  3. ^ Lord, Ross; Logan, Nick (12 September 2013). "Ship breaking: Newfoundland's legacy with one of the most hazardous jobs". globalnews.ca. Shaw Media Inc. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
  4. ^ "NGO Shipbreaking Platform » Problems and Solutions". www.shipbreakingplatform.org. NGO Shipbreaking Platform. Archived from the original on 9 November 2015. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
  5. ^ "Technical guidelines for the environmentally sound management of the full and partial dismantling of ships" (PDF). Basel Convention Series/SBC. ISSN 1020-8364. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference breakkro1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Miroux, Anne (20 November 2014). "Review of Maritime Transport 2014" (PDF). unctad.org. United Nations Conference on trade and development. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
  8. ^ Ashkar, Hisham H. (4 June 2015). "Shipbreaking in 2014". GRID-Arendal.
  9. ^ Rekacewicz, Philippe (25 February 2012). "Shipbreaking in Asia | GRID-Arendal – Maps & Graphics library". www.grida.no. GRID-Arendal. Archived from the original on 6 September 2015. Retrieved 2 August 2015.