Wind of Change in Asian Shipbreaking Countries

Ship dismantling is no new phenomenon. It is accepted as best option for disposal at the end of productive life of a ship. Dismantling of ships has been highly lucrative for some countries, as almost all of the metal used to build a vessel can be reused.

Currently India, Bangladesh, China, Turkey and Pakistan are the top five shipbreaking countries. Developed countries have found it difficult to maintain ship-dismantling facilities due to high labour cost and expenses associated with proper health, safety and environmental procedures. In countries like India, Bangladesh and Pakistan control over workers rights and environmental issues is not yet very prominent, allowing shipbreaking companies to pay workers little and make increased profits. Media interest on the dangers faced by workers in these countries has increased greatly over recent years, which led the IMO to implement changes to the shipping industry that would benefit the workers of ship-dismantling yards. IMO recognised ship-dismantling as an important recycling industry, as since most of a ship’s materials can be reused or recycled. Therefore they needed to focus on the current dangers and make the thought of becoming a more environmentally friendly ship recycling yard, more appealing to the owners of the yards and ships. One of the most influential moves involved in this was the Hong Kong Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships 2009. The main aim of this was to decrease the dangers of ship-dismantling.

A key aspect of this convention is the Inventory of Hazardous Materials (IHM), which all ships will be required to possess once the convention comes into force. For a long time ships had been built containing hazardous materials, such as Asbestos, PCBS, and TBTs. As the dangers of these had come to light, they were no longer used in construction. However many ships still in use will contain the hazards, which if disturbed could become deadly. The inventory will be required for all commercial ships from their birth, and will have to be maintained throughout the ships life as it gains new additions that may contain hazards. In future recycling yards will not allow any ships to come into the yards unless it contains an up-to-date inventory. The safe removal of hazardous materials from ships would greatly reduce the exposure to dismantling workers at yards.

Beside IMO, organizations like ILO, UNEP, World Bank, EU, ISO, major shipping industries and their associations, and the governments of shipbreaking countries are putting sincere efforts to improve the working and environmental condition in the shipbreaking yards, especially in the South Asian countries.

Shipbreaking industry in Asia is now going through a transition phase. Associated governments have taken the issue seriously and together with industry stakeholders, have started to move towards the right direction, towards transforming the deadly ship-breaking yards to safe and green ship-recycling yards.