Big Picture: This ship has sailed:

The beginning of the end has begun for India’s first aircraft-carrier warship, its 1971 war hero, and one of only six of its kind manufactured in the world.

The 10 men heave a sigh of relief. Had they failed, the next opportunity would have come after 15-20 days. 

It is 1.30 am on a cool November night and the tide is high. Around 10 men get into position at Lakribunder Plot No. 10 at Darukhana. A hand signal later, three winch machines roar to life, yanking two-inch thick iron chains through the soft sea mud. They are attempting to move a 69-year-old, 704-ft-long, 21,067-tonne object closer to land. An hour later, INS Vikrant has moved 4 feet.

The 10 men heave a sigh of relief. Had they failed, the next opportunity would have come after 15-20 days. “Our work revolves around amavas (new moon) and bahaav (tide),” says a worker.

The Majestic-class aircraft carrier, the only such warship in the world still available of the original six constructed during Second World War — all of them since scrapped — is being torn down at Mumbai harbour. Its bow already gone, Vikrant looks naked. Vulnerable. Exposed.

The cutters and segregators at work on the site. Behind them are the containers with scrap already loaded. 

The last time the ‘Old Lady’ felt this vulnerable was back in 1971. The war was on, and Pakistan submarine Ghazi and the Pakistani Air Force were on her tail on the Eastern Front. “The Indian Air Force then attacked the Pakistani Air Force base. When Ghazi was sunk, Vikrant had a free run of the Bay of Bengal,” says a Naval officer, who served on board the carrier. 

Its crew eventually won two Mahavir Chakras and 12 Vir Chakras for their war efforts. “Vikrant helped shorten the 1971 war and saved lives,” says I C Rao, vice-admiral (retd), who served onboard as a chief engineer in 1975-76. “She was the only aircraft carrier east of the Suez Canal, with the exception of the one with Australia.”

Workers smelting the inside of the ship. They are being extra careful to rule out the presence of petrol, used on Vikrant 

It served for 26 more years, before being decommissioned in 1997. On November 20, 2014, though, as the beginning of the end started for INS Vikrant, there were few from those days present to give her company. 

It will take 200 men six months, working 16 hours a day on an average, to cut up the ship and sort what’s retrieved from it to be re-used or sold as scrap. Every day, around 100 tonnes are being cut from the ship, translating into 50-80 tonnes of useable scrap. 

At the end of the exercise, new owner IB Commercial Pvt Ltd, which bought the ship from the Navy for Rs 63.02 crore, will earn at least Rs 100 crore as scrap. For the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) too, history is being made. Vikrant is the biggest ship and the first Naval one to be broken at the harbour, where shipbreaking began in the 1950s. It is docked at the largest of its 18 plots, spread over 3,000 sq m. The ship is stuck about 5 metres deep in the wet soil, making it harder to pull. At present, eight other ships are being broken down at Darukhana. Vikrant easily towers over them. 

*** Hariram Yadav, 58, oversees the work force of cutters, segregators, crane and winch operators. He is in charge of cutting up Vikrant, breaking its large chunks into smaller pieces, as well as segregating the scrap into rollable sheets, ferrous material, non-ferrous material and unusable junk. His men have with them around 100 cutters, welding machines, oxygen tanks, cylinders and metal content testers. Yadav, a contractor hired by IB Commercial, was himself part of the operations to pull the ship closer to harbour. “Double zor lagana padta hai kheenchne mein (I have to put in twice the effort to pull the ship),” he says.

The bow area falling off after 72 hours of trying to separate it. An important component, it was built to withstand collisions  

At 14,085 metric light displacement tonnes (LDT) — the weight of a ship without anything on board, used to determine the value of its scrap — Vikrant is much heavier than regular merchant ships, some of which weigh in at around 8,000 LDT. While those have large cargo sections and regular steel fittings, Vikrant has cabin rooms, hangars large enough to keep up to 21 aircraft, armament storage areas and is made of gun metal, a type of alloy heavier than steel. At 2.30 pm, on November 20, the breaking began from inside. Around 20 workers entered from the opening on the bow of the ship, from where the anchor comes out, to begin smelting her. 

They started with the 120-ft ramp, cutting off 10 ft, and moved on to the front of the ship, followed by the cable deck. In 72 hours, the bow was brought down. The workers had to made sure the fuel pipeline of the ship was clean before they began smelting. “Unlike other ships that have oil, Vikrant used petrol. Even kachra will burn if petrol is left, so we have to be very careful,” says Ram Yadav, 42, one of the cutters. That’s what makes cutting this ship different from other ships, he adds. Pointing at the broken part from a distance, vice-admiral (retd) Rao says the bow is perhaps the most important part of a ship such as Vikrant. 

With its watertight compartments, it was built to withstand a collision, keeping the rest of the ship intact. “See the protruding parts on the sides, that’s where the anti-aircraft guns, 40-mm short-range ones, were positioned. Further ahead, there were three large hangars, where aircraft were stored and serviced,” he continues. A week into the breaking process, around 500 tonnes of scrap have been removed from Vikrant. Washbasins and broken cabin rooms, frames of the bulkhead and the anchor winch peek out. Cutters first mark a part of the ship and begin melting the edges along it. 

A winch then tugs on the hook attached to the marked portion to remove it, cranes lift the part to a separate area, where it is further cut. Scrap is loaded onto containers at the plot itself. As on Thursday last week, five containers were half full. None of the scrap has been sold so far. With expensive non-ferrous and ferrous pieces kept in the open, security guards keep vigil day and night to prevent stealing, including from sea. 

*** The workers will move next towards the stern (end of the ship), parts of flight deck, the bridge, the operations room, the flying control panel, the mess decks, the engine room and the keel. IB Commercial Director Abdul Karim Jaka explains the process. Unlike the Alang ship recycling ward in Gujarat —the largest in the country — Jaka says, at Mumbai, the soil at the shipbreaking yard is marshy and the ships tend to sink into the mud.

Work on to break the 120-ft ramp inside the ship. By the end of the week, only 10 ft had come off 

“It takes longer to break a ship in Mumbai. We have to break it linearly —cutting an upper portion, pulling the remaining part of the ship closer to land and then cutting below the waterline,” Jaka says. There is no fixed schedule, the cutting decided by tides and whether a particular part is cut or not. Alang has hard mud. The ships there can be broken from many points simultaneously as they do not sink into the soil. But Jaka couldn’t have moved Vikrant to Alang. Given its damaged hull, the ship wouldn’t have survived the journey. Jaka’s firm is involved in shipbreaking at both yards, but this is his first time with a Naval ship and he is restless to get to its engine room. 

“That’s the best part of this ship,” he beams, referring to the part of the ship that will supply him the largest amount of non-ferrous material. The engine room is approximately 400 ft from the bow portion. As per rough estimates, non-ferrous parts will fetch Jaka Rs 100-250/kg, while ferrous parts will fetch him Rs 25-28/kg. 

“Compared to other ships, this ship will give us non-ferrous content of a better quality,” he says. “Baki toh asmaani sultani hai (The rest is God’s wish).” Naval vessels always have more non-ferrous content, Jaka adds. “The Navy does not compromise on quality.” Jaka says he deserves whatever he can make from the ship given that it took him almost a year since buying Vikrant to start breaking it. He doesn’t know much about its history except that it was deployed in the 1971 war. “It helped us win. The warship made us proud.” 

*** It was in November 2013 that the Jaka family first saw a sale notice for the Vikrant. However, the auction was postponed because of a PIL seeking to stop the ship from becoming scrap. After the Bombay High Court dismissed the PIL on January 23 this year, bids were refloated and IB Commercial won in an online auction. The Navy confirmed the sale in April and IB Commercial made arrangements to tow the ship towards Darukhana starting May 15, when the tide would have been high and conditions favourable. But on May 5, another petition was filed before the Supreme Court. The latter gave an order maintaining status quo. Worried over the piling interest on his loan, Jaka wrote to the Navy saying he wanted to back out of the deal. Return the Rs 63.02 crore and keep the deposit till the case is resolved, he told the Navy. The Navy finally informed the Supreme Court that attempts to find bidders to turn Vikrant into a museum had failed and that it had been found to be unsafe. 

A Board of Specialist Officers constituted in early 2012 estimated the float worthiness of the ship to be a few months and said that any damage would result in free flooding of the ship. “It was time for, considering the deteriorated material state of the ship, insulation of electric wiring and systems, inadequate fire fighting and damage control facility on board, keeping the ship alongside any longer would expose her. 

The hull of the 69-year-old ship has become so weak that even cadets cannot go on-board for training purposes,” the HC order quoted the Navy as saying. 

Another aircraft carrier inducted into the Navy also required the berth occupied by Vikrant in the Naval dockyard in Mumbai, it added. Sensing the danger the coming monsoon in Mumbai posed to the ship, the vacation bench of the Supreme Court allowed IB Commercial to tow the ship to near Lakribunder at Darukhana. IB Commercial began seeking permission for shipbreaking from MbPT, the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board and Customs officials. 

Six months later, the shipbreaking began. “My experience will be a lesson for other shipbreakers who buy Naval ships. Emotions run high and shipbreaking gets delayed. I will not buy another Naval ship,” says Jaka. “Also, it is quite expensive to break ships in Mumbai.” 

*** MbPT only issues leases for a maximum of three months, at a cost of Rs 1.25 lakh per day in case of Vikrant. At Alang, shipbreaking firms can buy a plot on a long lease and cut multiple ships simultaneously. Apart from the high costs, a 3 per cent octroi is levied for shipbreaking in Mumbai, making the industry unviable, adds Sanjay Gupta, member of the Iron Steel Scrap & Shipbreakers Association of India. 

“Ship prices worldwide are high and have not fallen, while the demand and prices of steel have gone down,” he adds. The golden period for ship recycling was 2009, Gupta says, as the international freight market had crashed following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. “Now the industry is hit by falling rupee and the slowdown in the construction business. There is no demand for finished product, hitting the recyclable steel industry hard. The future looks bleak too,” he says. 

Workers operate under largely unsafe conditions at the port. While some cutters still wear helmets and gloves, most choose to do without any gear despite possible exposure to harmful substances. Metal shards, oil, flammable oxygen tanks and cylinders surround them, while the firefighting equipment is outdated. The burning sun and humid sea breeze, even in November, also make working tough. The men, mostly from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Assam and West Bengal, work continuously from 8 am to 6 pm with just an hour’s break for lunch, for daily wages of Rs 350. For the duration of this job, they are staying in rooms at Kolsa Bunder, 300 metres away. 

This is the only work that most of the workers know. And most are oblivious and disinterested in the warship’s glorious history. 

The only ones to shed a tear for INS Vikrant or to try record its final moments, in fact, are former or retired Navy officials. While some regularly come to take photographs, they also keep their distance. 

“It is a national shame that we could not save an iconic ship like her. We sold our nation’s pride for a mere Rs 60 crore. Watching her being broken is like seeing our own house being brought down. I blame lack of public spirit and misgovernance by the state and Centre,” says Rao, adding, “She who once controlled the sea and ended a war is now part of the scrap world.” 

‘The Old Lady’ 

Nicknamed ‘The Mother’ by aviators, Vikrant was built in 1945 in Britain as part of WWII effort and commissioned in the British Royal Navy as HMS Hercules (the HMS standing for Her Majesty’s Ship). However, the war came to an end before she could be pressed into service and HMS Hercules was “mothballed”. “Lord Mountbatten was instrumental in getting her to India. The deal was signed in 1957. With Vikrant, the Indian Navy came of age,” says an officer. 

The ship joined the Indian Navy in 1961. It was India’s first aircraft carrier, at a time when India had only frigates, destroyers and other surface ships. Its initial air wing consisted of British Sea Hawk fighters and French Alize anti-submarine aircraft, later followed by Sea Kings and Chetaks.

The Vikrant in her heydays

She was also witness to the first ever successful underwater ejection in the Navy — the world, some claim —when Commander Peter Debras whose aircraft had fallen into the sea managed to eject from underwater successfully, skirting the ship overhead. During the war of 1965, Pakistan reported it had sunk Vikrant. However, she was only undergoing modification on a dry dock as there was a crack in a water drum of one of the boilers. 

In 1971, as India and Pakistan fought another war, Vikrant was stationed off the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, along with frigates INS Brahmaputra and INS Beas. “She was operated from Andaman & Nicobar as it reduced the flying time to East Pakistan and gave the aircraft more time over target. We sent out deceptive signals and the enemy was under the impression that she was stationed at Visakhapatnam,” recalls an officer.

Indira Gandhi with the crew of the ship that helped her win the 1971 war with Pakistan 

On the morning of December 4, 1971, Vikrant’s eight Sea Hawk aircraft launched an air raid on Cox’s Bazar in Dhaka and the same evening, the air group struck Chittagong Harbour. Attacks such as these cut off the escape route of the Pakistani Navy. “With their morale destroyed, surrender was inevitable,” says I C Rao, vice-admiral (retd). According to Naval officers, Vikrant launched more than 1,000 sorties in its lifetime. It was decommissioned in 1997 and turned into a museum, but in 2012, it was found to be unsafe. Earlier this year, it was brought to Lakribunder. A brochure at the time of the decommissioning read, “Sail well Old Lady, sail well. For we shall sail together again, when you and I meet on the jetty on the other side of time.” India now has two warships; a third being built indigenously is called ‘INS Vikrant’.

Source: Indian express. 30 November 2014

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/big-picture-this-ship-has-sailed/

2014 in Review: Dr Nikos Mikelis, GMS

The European Commission is about to create a major divide in the world’s shipbreaking industry. “The Commission is currently proceeding in a path that will wreck the establishment of the international safety and environmental standard for the shipbreaking industry that was adopted under the auspices of IMO, (the not yet in-force Hong Kong Convention)”, says Dr Nikos Mikelis, non-executive director of the world’s leading cash buyer, GMS.

The European Union brought into force its own legislation at the end of 2013 that stopped short of banning shipowners from using shipbreakers that rely on beach locations to dismantle ships. The wording of the new legislation, that was negotiated and agreed by the European Council and Parliament, was left unclear on whether the beaching of ships will be banned or not when the legislation is fully applied in the next four years. It is therefore important to note Dr Petros Varelidis, Greek environmental attaché to the EU and a leading expert in the writing of the EU recycling regulation, who emphasizes that the EU regulation does not ban beaching, as the European Council realizes that it would have been counterproductive to do so.

Nevertheless, the European Commission is currently preparing clarifications to the new regulation in the form of a document on Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), and the first draft of the FAQ, which was made available for public comment in September 2014, makes it clear that the Commission intends to interpret the regulation as banning the beaching of European flagged ships.

This is because beaching is seen as a controversial practice in view of risks to workers and concerns about environmental pollution, according to some officials in the European Commission and to environmental activists. Furthermore, the proponents of a European ban to beaching are also claiming that this will support the European shipbreaking industry, bringing much-needed new jobs in European countries.    

Once the FAQ is published, shipbreaking yards will be able to apply to the Commission to be included in the European List of approved ship recycling facilities. On the basis of the draft FAQ, it would appear that yards in China, Turkey, and Europe will be approved. Unless the Commission makes a wise last minute U-turn, none of the shipbreakers in South Asia, who operate around 70 percent of the world’s ship recycling capacity, are likely to be accepted. Thereafter, the new legislation will fully apply to the recycling of EU flagged ships, either when the European List of approved yards reaches a capacity of 2.5M light displacement tons (ldt), or from 31st December 2018, whichever is the earliest date.

For the last 14 months Chinese needs for ferrous scrap have plummeted and it is only extremely generous government subsidies to Chinese flagged ships that are recycled in Chinese yards that have kept the yards in business. As an example, the two largest shipowners in the world - COSCO and China Shipping - have been scrapping large numbers of ships this year. “China’s ship recycling industry has basically become a domestic market” says Mikelis.

Turkey’s shipbreaking industry is relatively small, representing between 2 and 4 percent of the world’s ship recycling capacity. Furthermore, periodically, imports of cheap ferrous scrap depress the Turkish shipbreaking market, as is the case presently.

The new regulation provides that each European country will authorize its own shipbreaking yards, which will then be listed directly into the European List. “While there should be no difficulties in the approval process of European yards, it has to be understood that Europe’s capacity for recycling large ships is virtually non-existent, with few European yards focusing primarily on the recycling of small, domestic trading, and government owned ships. Even then, most ships in the above categories tend to be recycled in Turkey’s Aliaga breaking yards.” 

The European Union is the second largest net exporter of ferrous scrap in the world, with volumes that are not far behind those of the leading exporter, the U.S., and with almost twice the volumes of the third largest exporter, Japan. The vast majority of the ferrous scrap exports from the European Union go to Turkey (63 percent of EU’s gross exports in 2013), with some quantities also being exported to Egypt (9 percent), India (8 percent), China (4 percent) and Pakistan (2.5 percent).

“It therefore makes economic nonsense to be relying on the establishment of a shipbreaking industry in Europe for large ships, in order to produce ferrous scrap that will have to compete with other European ferrous scrap, and that will have to be transported to countries most of which already recycle ships,” says Mikelis.

“Recycling ships in Europe so that their steel can be exported to countries with shipbreaking industries also makes environmental nonsense, as these countries do not only use the steel from shipbreaking but also make great use of all other materials, equipment, stores and furniture that are found on a ship, unlike Europe where most of the second hand goods would find their way to landfills.

“The European Commission could use the new EU ship recycling regulation to encourage shipbreaking yards in South Asia to improve their safety and environmental performance”. Mikelis believes that the shipbreaking yards in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan that are making positive changes for worker safety and environmental protection should be encouraged and supported by the international shipping community, as well as by the European regulator. As it stands, the FAQ interpretation shuts the door and removes all incentives from the yards that are trying to improve their operations. “That surely cannot be the intention of the European Union”, he says.

Moreover, “a European ban is unlikely to keep ships off beaches,” says Mikelis. “Instead, in the last year or years of their life, ships could be reflagged out of Europe and still arrive in South Asia for recycling. It is naive to think otherwise. A classic case of throwing the baby with the bathwater”, he says.

“Instead the EU, with the fleet of its 28 Member States, should be a force for positive change. Excepting the Commission’s FAQ, the text of the European regulation on ship recycling is compatible with the Hong Kong Convention, which aims to encourage the upgrading of recycling facilities in South Asia and elsewhere, rather than exclude them because of their reliance on beaching. The Commission needs to see the bigger picture.” says Mikelis.

Dr Nikos Mikelis graduated in naval architecture from the University of Newcastle and obtained Master’s and Doctorate degrees from London University. He has worked in ship classification; and then for a shipping company as superintendent, technical manager and then director. In 2006 he joined the IMO, from where he retired at the end of 2012 as Head, Marine Pollution Prevention and Ship Recycling section. Currently he is a consultant and a non-executive director of GMS, the world’s leading cash buyer.

He has served in senior positions in shipping industry bodies, such as Council Member of Intertanko, Chairman of the Intertanko Safety, Technical & Environmental Committee, member of the Safety of Navigation & Protection of the Marine Environment Committee of the Union of Greek Shipowners, and Chairman of the London Greek Technical Committee of Det Norske Veritas. He has written over 50 learned papers and numerous articles in the maritime press and is a freeman of the City of London.

Source: maritime executive. 28 November 2014

http://www.maritime-executive.com/article/2014-in-Review-Dr-Nikos-Mikelis-GMS-2014-11-28

ICS addresses OECD Shipbuilding Working Party:

The OECD should be cautious about becoming involved in the question of what constitutes an ‘eco-ship’, was the message delivered to governments in Paris by the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) at a meeting of the OECD Working Party on Shipbuilding.

ICS believes that this subject is best left to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) or for shipyards to negotiate with their customers. If further consideration were to be given to an OECD definition of ‘eco-ship’ this should not be used as a justification for future subsidies by governments that might lead to market distortion.

Referring to China’s new ship recycling policy whereby it is offering significant subsidies of about $250 per gross tonne for Chinese shipping companies that scrap vessels early and then place orders at Chinese shipyards for at least the same tonnage, ICS expressed concern that such incentives to artificially boost shipbuilding could have a negative impact on the speed with which the global supply/demand balance in shipping is restored.

ICS reminded governments that for reasons of safety, as well as economy, a ship was built with an expected life span of 25 years or more. It was a big thing indeed for ships to be recycled when they are only 15 years old, which in some cases was happening at the moment.

ICS also suggested that the CO2 emissions created by dismantling a new ship far earlier than intended, and then constructing a new one, were considerable, but were often overlooked, and could actually outweigh the CO2 saved through efficiency reductions achieved by the new ship replacing it.

Using the current definition of a fuel efficient vessel, a new-build ship that complies with the applicable Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) – adopted by IMO to help reduce CO2 emissions – it should not always be assumed that ordering so called eco-ships would be in the best interests of the owner, their customers or the environment.

Many older ships, if operated at slower speeds, or given improvements such as engine upgrades or new propellers, may well continue to operate efficiently with low levels of fuel consumption that make them attractive economically and environmentally – especially if the owner has a smaller debt to service.

But in the long run all ships in operation would in effect be ‘eco ships’ as all new builds will have to comply with tighter EEDI IMO standards, and all of the existing fleet will eventually be replaced.

Source: ICS

Source: Hellenic shipping news. 26 November 2014

http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/ics-addresses-oecd-shipbuilding-working-party/

ICS hits out at China's ship scrapping policy

Beijing: The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has criticised China’s ship scrapping/newbuilding policy, saying it could delay the global recovery of shipping markets and release unnecessary carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

China’s incentives to artificially boost shipbuilding through increased scrapping in the country could have a negative impact on the speed with which the global supply/demand balance in shipping is restored, the ICS said today.

The ICS voiced its concerns at a meeting of the OECD Working Party on Shipbuilding, held in Paris today.

Recycling ships earlier than usual and building new vessels could also create more CO2 emissions than could be saved through replacing old vessels with newer, more efficient ones, the ICS said.

China is currently offering subsidies of about $250 per gross tonne for Chinese shipping companies that scrap vessels early and then place orders at Chinese shipyards for at least the same tonnage.

The ICS reminded OECD governments that ships are built with an expected life-span of around 25 years for reasons of safety and economy. In some cases, vessels are currently being recycled at just 15 years old.

Ordering so-called ‘eco-ships’ is not always in the best interests of the owner, their customers or the environment, the ICS told the meeting.  

Source: sino ship news.  25 December 2014

http://sinoshipnews.com/News/ICS-hits-out-at-China's-ship-scrapping-policy/3w3c3346.html

GMS weekly report on Turkey ship breaking industry for WEEK 47 of 2014:

It was yet another week of declining levels in Aliaga as there was no change in the fundamentals influencing prices. As a result, the market witnessed a further drop of about USD 5 per MT due to the depreciating steel prices.

Apart from the diminished supply of vessels, which resulted in several end buyers seeking other opportunities to keep their facilities operating, it is now being reported that the demand for steel from the domestic construction industry too is declining.

As such, Aliaga recyclers are evaluating the best way ahead, in order to survive the harsh prevailing market conditions.

Several stakeholders in the industry have set their attention towards the Far East, hoping for regulatory changes that will positively affect the steel demand in the domestic industry.

Source: steel guru. 26 November 2014

http://www.steelguru.com/international_news/GMS_weekly_report_on_Turkey_ship_breaking_industry_for_WEEK_47/353386.html

GMS weekly report on China ship breaking industry for WEEK 47 of 2014:

Talk that the production and export of (the troublesome) Chinese steel billets is due to slow, has been met with encouragement in the sub continent markets. The reality is that factories may not be allowed to reduce their output, just to adhere to strict governmental targets.

Meanwhile, prices in China have plummeted over the course of the year to the lowest levels since Chinese buyers emerged onto the international stage.

Talk of renegotiations between shipyards and state owners have also been forthcoming showing that in all markets, the perceived price and performance are two different things altogether.

Source: steel guru. 26 November 2014

http://www.steelguru.com/international_news/GMS_weekly_report_on_China_ship_breaking_industry_for_WEEK_47/353383.html

GMS weekly report on Pakistan ship breaking industry for WEEK 47 of 2014:

Pakistan prices and sentiment have sunk shamelessly to the lowest levels of the year. End buyers remain petrified that prices will reduce further and have accordingly refrained from offering on any new tonnage at all, or have offered mind bogglingly low and unworkable numbers.

It was therefore little surprise to see no new sales recorded, with most cash buyers now focused on delivering their high priced vessels without any major hassles.

Gadani buyers also need to keep the pressure up on local government to impose higher duties on the steady stream of cheap Chinese steel. Perhaps, this alone may be enough to see an encouraging rebound on prices.

Source: steel guru. 26 November 2014

http://www.steelguru.com/international_news/GMS_weekly_report_on_Pakistan_ship_breaking_industry_for_WEEK_47/353385.html

GMS weekly report on Bangladesh ship breaking industry for WEEK 47 of 2014:

As reported earlier, Bangladesh was somewhat slow to react to the import of cheap Chinese billets, which left many onlookers somewhat doubtful as to the genuine nature of the recent cooling in prices and demand.

What has been seen over the course of the week however, has been a crash in local steel prices by around USD 10 per LT LDT. However, having seen prices rise last week for the same amount, the market has leveled itself off again.

Yet, several days of consecutive falls in local steel plate prices naturally panicked end users who began to withdraw once again, preferring to wait and watch rather than offer on new tonnage (or offer incredibly low numbers in the hopes of securing a good bargain).

The one market sale concluded saw the handymax bulker GROWING (7,329 LDT) committed for a decent USD 420/LT LDT from Taiwanese owners, who have sold one other handymax bulker earlier this year and have now finished off their fleet with this most recent sale. The deal was done bsdid as is Kaohsiung with about 300 Tons ROB included in the sale at no extra cost.

Source: steel guru. 26 November 2014

http://www.steelguru.com/indian_news/GMS_weekly_report_on_Bangladesh_ship_breaking_industry_for_WEEK_47/353355.html

GMS weekly report on Indian ship breaking industry for WEEK 47 of 2014:

There were small glimmers of hope in the Indian market this week, as steel prices began to improve and more realistic numbers appeared to be forthcoming from end buyers once again.

Previous weeks had seen morale take a battering and renegotiations have now become desperate and frequent, with often the smallest of inaccuracies in vessels details leading to major squabbles at the waterfront.

The popularity of Mr. Modi however shows no signs of waning as he returned from a raucous reception in Australia and there are very real hopes that domestic industries will be protected against the import of this cheap Chinese steel with increased taxes.

Meanwhile, a number of vessels from existing cash buyer inventories were finally committed albeit at disappointingly lower levels. But unless owners were subject to the type of frivolous renegotiations not uncommon of late, significant hits have been taken by the rare few who remained true to their word and performed according to their prevailing MOAs.

There were no new market sales to report, yet it is understood this week that the 6 x older LNGs mentioned for a possible recycling sale earlier in the month during the auction process, have been committed to further trading interests this past week.

Source: steel guru. 26 November 2014

http://www.steelguru.com/indian_news/GMS_weekly_report_on_Indian_ship_breaking_industry_for_WEEK_47/353353.html

Vikrant lost the survival war against its own countrymen: Sena

MUMBAI: Describing iconic INS Vikrant's reduction into scrap as "misfortune" of the country, the Shiv Sena said the decommissioned warship that helped India win the 1971 battle against Pakistan, lost the fight for survival against its own countrymen.

"Every man in the country was against the scrapping of this ship and wanted it (INS Vikrant) to be converted into a museum. We could not accumulate Rs 100-500 crore required to save this ship from being reduced to scrap. This can only be described as misfortune of the country.

The ship that helped India achieve a huge victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war, lost the war of survival against its own countrymen. We regret that we could not see the pain of the ship's defeat on the faces of politicians," the Sena said in an edit in its mouthpiece 'Saamana'.

Earlier, the Maharashtra government had expressed its inability to maintain INS Vikrant, which was decommissioned in January 1997.

In January 2014, during the hearing of a PIL which opposed the plan to scrap the ship, the defence ministry told the Bombay high court that this majestic-class aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy had completed its operational life.

After the SC dismissed activist Kiran Paingankar's PIL on August 14, IB Commercials, the firm which had bought the ship in a scrap auction, set about securing various port and environmental permissions, all of which were done by last week following which the scrapping of the war hero began at ship-breaking yard here.

The Sena said that several industrialists have "looted" various banks to build their business empires, but the government had failed to recover money from such businessmen.

"There are many businessmen who have looted banks to create their business empires but the government did not gather the courage to recover that money from them. These tycoons remove their money bags during the election season and we all know who benefits from them. Inspite of so much money, we could not gather Rs 100 crore to save a legacy ?" the Sena asked.

INS Vikrant joined the Indian fleet at Bombay on November 3, 1961. It was India's only carrier for over 20 years, but by the early 1990s she was effectively out of service because of her poor condition.

Often referred to as the "Old Lady of Indain Navy", INS Vikrant was decommissioned on January 31, 1997.

Source: times of india. 24 November 2914

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Vikrant-lost-the-survival-war-against-its-own-countrymen-Sena/articleshow/45255496.cms

PCB issues memo to ship-breaking unit:

‘Unit started work without obtaining proper clearance’

Protesters who have been campaigning against the functioning of a ship-breaking unit under the control of Steel Industries Kerala Ltd. (SILK) at Beypore got a temporary relief on Friday when the Kerala State Pollution Control Board (PCB) through an order stopped all dismantling work.

The PCB issued the order after an inspection conducted by the board found that the unit started the dismantling work without obtaining proper clearance.

It also found that no sufficient measures were taken to control the pollution threats and to process hazardous objects.

In the order, the PCB directed SILK to submit a report in 15 days after clearing the already pointed out security hazards and pollution threats at the unit.

Directions were also issued to stop all dismantling activities till it got permission from the Pollution Control Board.

Following the order, an official-level discussion planned by the district administration with the anti-ship breaking campaigners at Beypore on Saturday was cancelled.

District-level officials did not turn up for the meeting though the campaigners were present. Rajesh Warier, convener of the anti-ship breaking action council, said they were denied opportunity to meet the District Collector and other senior officers, though they tried to hold a discussion on the issue.

‘Not informed’

“We came here as per the intimation from the Collectorate, but no one informed us about the cancellation of the meeting,” he said.

Mr. Warier said the action committee would go ahead with its protest till the closure of the unit.

“The order of the PCB may not last long as efforts are on to clear the procedures. Our plan is to convene a meeting of all activists next week and continue with the indefinite agitation,” he added.

Source: the hindu. 24 November 2014

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/kozhikode/pcb-issues-memo-to-shipbreaking-unit/article6626839.ece

China’s shipbreakers face grim outlook, ministry warns:

China’s shipbreaking industry is going through a loss-making year and the outlook remains grim due mainly to declining steel prices and high inventory, according to the ministry of industry and information technology (MIIT).

The ministry revealed that domestic scrap prices slid to an average of RMB1,946.3 ($317) per ldt in June, down by 5.6% compared to the price in January this year and a decrease of 12.1% year-on-year.

The government also reported that domestic shipbreaking enterprises generated a combined first half revenue of approximately RMB2.2bn and operating loss of more than RMB200m.

Excessive domestic steel production and the fall in import prices of iron ore, coupled with rising labour and operating costs, have all conspired to put internal and external pressures on the shipbreaking industry, the ministry added.

Zhu Jiaobao, general manager of Zhoushan Changhong International Industry Pack, was reported saying: “On one hand, the cost of environmental protection and taxes are raising the cost of business; on the other hand, demand for scrap steel has plummeted and inventory is piling up, pushing the entire industry into a loss-making situation.”

China National Shiprecycling Association (CNSA) warned that China’s ship recyclers could undergo “a round of consolidation” as the bigger scrapyards are struggling with low margins while the smaller ones are finding it hard just to maintain their daily operations. Moreover, the smaller yards that typically lack cashflow are not expected to make it through the difficult times.

The association highlighted that during this challenging period, it is urging shipbreaking yards to focus on internal reorganisation, improving workplace safety and raising environmental standards in order to enhance their competitiveness.

Source: seatrade global. 25 November 2014

http://www.seatrade-global.com/news/asia/chinas-shipbreakers-face-grim-outlook-ministry-warns.html

71 warship reduced to heap of scrap:

World War II era aircraft carrier INS Vikrant (R11) in action during the Liberation War of Bangladesh. India is scrapping the vessel, the first aircraft carrier of the nation, which played a significant role during the war in 1971. Photo: Wikipedia

The hull of the decommisioned Vikrant, which “once controlled the sea and ended a war”, was torn open on Friday at the breaking yard in south Mumbai, ending the journey of India's first aircraft carrier.

The first to fall, 15 minutes before sunset, was the angled deck, which will be remembered for launching the most iconic air raid which destroyed most ships at the harbours in then East Pakistan, playing a crucial role in the Liberation War, 1971.

“It is a national shame that we could not save an iconic ship like her,” said Vice Admiral (Retd) IC Rao, who served onboard INS Vikrant as a chief engineer in 1975-76. He came to the breaking yard to bid her farewell, The Indian Express reported yesterday. 

“She is irreplaceable. During the '71 war, she cut off the Pakistani Army's route and their morale was destroyed, shortening the war. I will keep complaining about the lack of public spiritedness, value of history and misgoverance. We sold our nation's pride for a mere Rs 60 crore,” said Vice Admiral Rao.

“It was like seeing our own house being brought down because we could no longer afford to live in it. She has now joined the world of scrap.”

In the 1971 war, after successfully evading Pak submarine PNS Ghazi in the Bay of Bengal, INS Vikrant unleashed furious air power on Chittagong, Khulna and Cox's Bazar, completely decimating any defensive capability there. After six days of unrelenting attacks, the Vikrant's Sea Hawk's ensured East Pakistan was fully contained from the sea.

INS Vikrant's performance in the 1971 war cannot be understated, said an India Today article titled “Ten reasons why India should preserve INS Vikrant.”

With severe mechanical problems, including a failed boiler that potentially crippled flight operations and cruising speed, she still managed to bring a formidable fight to the enemy, earning her crew 2 Maha Vir Chakra and 12 Vir Chakra gallantry decoration.

The once-majestic aircraft carrier was bought in an e-auction by Mumbai-based IB Commercials Ltd.

"A team of around 200 people has been deployed to dismantle and break down the ship after we completed all legal and technical formalities and secured all requisite clearances from the agencies concerned," Abdul Karim Jaka, director of the company, told IANS from the breaking yard at Powder Bunder in southeast Mumbai.

IB Commercial Pvt Ltd, which had won the bid to scrap the ship for Rs 63.02 crore in January, now hopes to earn a margin of 2-3 per cent for the scrap.

The process, which started on Thursday with the first blow hammered on its front portion, is expected to be completed within 7-8 months.

More than 60 percent of the artefacts from the aircraft carrier, which was bought from Britain in 1957, were moved to the Maritime History Society in Mumbai while rest was shifted to the Naval Aviation Museum in Goa before she was handed over for dismantling.

At the breaking yard, huge cranes separated the ferrous from the non-ferrous parts as soon as labourers removed parts of the fallen angled deck. Metal inspectors went about recording the content of each piece of scrap metal and separating it.

“Everything that comes of the ship is quality product. The navy is not restricted by budget when spending on a ship, especially an aircraft carrier, so there is no impurity,” said Zuber Jaka, 22, director of IB Commercial.

Jaka said the non-ferrous parts of the ship earns the most and is exported. The ferrous scrap will be sent to the rolling mills and the “unrollable” parts -- referring to thermocol -- will be sent to the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board for “safe disposal”.

If the ferrous parts sell for Rs 24 per kg, the non-ferrous parts sell for Rs 300 per kg, he said. And the ship with a gross registered tonnage of 21,067 tonnes, has a lot of it.

The company, which is paying Rs 1.40 lakh to the Mumbai Port Trust for using its land for ship breaking, will take another six to eight months to dismantle the entire ship.

“When we bought the ship, we were proud to get the opportunity to scrap 'desh ki shaan', but also a little sad. But the long delay and the wishes of many to preserve the ship made us feel bad about the lucrative deal we had struck,” said Abdul Karim Jaka, another director of IB Commercial.

The Jaka family is now relieved that the scrapping had begun.

“The SC ruled in our favour as the authorities and the navy thought it was not feasible to convert it into a museum. We also offered to hand over the ship to those who protested against the dismantling after paying for the ship. Once everything failed and we got permission from the port trust to break the ship, we just got to work,” he said.

Oblivious to Vikrant's historical achievements, the contractor who controlled the winch that brought down the angled deck said he cannot afford to be emotional. “This is my line of work so I cannot get emotional about these things. This is my second naval ship, and I have helped break many a ship in my 12 years of work. But this one was definitely the most famous,” said Ghanshyam Yadav, the contractor.

Earlier, the Maharashtra government had expressed its inability to maintain Vikrant, which was decommissioned in January 1997. In January 2014, during the hearing of a PIL which opposed the plan to scrap the ship, the Defence Ministry told the Bombay High Court that it had completed its operational life.

As a memorabilia, the Jaka family has kept a metallic Ashok Chakra that was onboard the ship.

Source: the daily star. 23 November 2014

http://www.thedailystar.net/71-warship-reduced-to-heap-of-scrap-51656

PCB issues stop memoto ship-breaking unit:

‘Unit started work without obtaining proper clearance’

Protestors who have been campaigning against the functioning of a shipbreaking unit under the control of Steel Industries Kerala Ltd. (SILK) at Beypore got a temporary relief on Friday when the Kerala State Pollution Control Board (PCB) through an order stopped all dismantling work.

The PCB issued the order after an inspection conducted by the board found that the unit started the dismantling work without obtaining proper clearance.

It also found that no sufficient measures were taken to control the pollution threats and to process hazardous objects.

In the order, the PCB directed SILK to submit a report in 15 days after clearing the already pointed out security hazards and pollution threats at the unit.

Directions were also issued to stop all dismantling activities till it got permission from the Pollution Control Board.

Following the order, an official-level discussion planned by the district administration with the anti-ship breaking campaigners at Beypore on Saturday was cancelled.

District-level officials did not turn up for the meeting though the campaigners were present. Rajesh Warier, convener of the anti-shipbreaking action council, said they were denied opportunity to meet the District Collector and other senior officers, though they tried to hold a discussion on the issue.

‘Not informed’

“We came here as per the intimation from the Collectorate, but no one informed us about the cancellation of the meeting,” he said.

Mr. Warier said the action committee would go ahead with its protest till the closure of the unit.

“The order of the PCB may not last long as efforts are on to clear the procedures. Our plan is to convene a meeting of all activists next week and continue with the indefinite agitation,” he added.

Source: the hindu. 23 November 2014

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/kozhikode/pcb-issues-stop-memoto-shipbreaking-unit/article6626839.ece