8/9/2019 NGO Shipbreaking Platform (2)

1/3

Articles from NGO ShipbreakingPlatform

National Geographic The Ship-Breakers2014-05-01 15:05:44 Shipb rea king

(Written by Peter Gwin) Access t he original art icle1 May 2014 - I had been warned t hat it would be dif f icult t o get int oBangladeshs shipbreaking yards. It used t o be a t ourist at t ract ion, a localman told me. People would come wat ch men t ear apart ships with their barehands. But they dont let in outsiders anymore. I walked a f ew miles along t heroad that parallels t he Bay of Bengal, just north of the cit y of Chit t agong,where 80 act ive shipbreaking yards line an eight -mile st retch of t he coast .Each yard was secured behind high fences t opped wit h razor wire. Guardswere post ed, and signs warned against photography. Out siders had becomeespecially unwelcome in recent years af t er an explosion killed several workers,prompting crit ics to say t he owners put profit s above saf et y. But they cantblock t he sea, the local said.So lat e one af t ernoon I hired a f isherman to t akeme on a water tour of t he yards. At high tide t he sea engulf ed t he rows of beached oil t ankers and containerships, and we slipped in and out of the deepshadows cast by t heir towering smokestacks and superstructures. Somevessels remained int act , as if t hey had just arrived. Others had been reducedt o skelet ons, t he st eel skin cut away t o reveal t heir cavernous black holds. Wedrif t ed alongside barnacle-encrust ed hulls and beneath the blades of massivepropellers. I read of f names and f lags paint ed on the st erns: Front Breaker (Comoros), V Europe (Marshall Islands), Glory B (Panama). I wondered aboutcargoes t hey had carried, port s where t hey had called, and crews t hat hadsailed them. The life span of such ships is roughly 25 t o 30 years, so most of t hese likely had been launched during t he 1980s. But t he rising cost t o insureand maintain aging vessels makes t hem unprof itable to operate. Now t heir value was contained most ly in their steel bodies. Nearly all the demolit ioncrews had left work for the day, and t he ships st ood silent , except for thegurgling in their bowels and t he occasional echo of met al clanking. The air hung heavy with the odor of brine and diesel f uel. Making our way around onehull, we heard laughter and c ame upon a group of naked boys who had swumout t o a half -submerged piece of wreckage and were using it as a divingplat f orm. Just beyond the line of ships, f ishermen were cast ing t heir net s for schools of t iny ricef ish, a local delicacy. Suddenly a shower of sparks raineddown from t he st ern several stories above us. A head appear ed over t he side,t hen arms waving vigorously. Move away! Were cutt ing t his sect ion, a manyelled down at us. Do you want t o die? Oceangoing vessels are not m eant tobe t aken ap art . Theyre designed t o withstand ext reme forces in some of t heplanet s mo st dif f icult environments, and t heyre of t en const ructed wit h toxicmat erials, s uch as asbest os and lead. When ships are scrapped in t he

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2014/05/shipbreakers/gwin-texthttp://www.shipbreakingplatform.org/national-geographic-the-ship-breakers/http://www.shipbreakingplatform.org/http://www.shipbreakingplatform.org/http://www.shipbreakingplatform.org/http://www.shipbreakingplatform.org/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2014/05/shipbreakers/gwin-texthttp://www.shipbreakingplatform.org/national-geographic-the-ship-breakers/http://www.shipbreakingplatform.org/

8/9/2019 NGO Shipbreaking Platform (2)

2/3

developed world, the process is more st rict ly regulated and expensive, so t hebulk of the worlds shipbreaking is done in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan,where labor is cheap and oversight is minimal. Indust ry reforms have come inf its and st art s. India now requires more protect ions for workers and theenvironment. But in Bangladesh, where 194 ships were dismantled in 2013, theindust ry remains ext remely dirty and dangerous. It also remains highlylucrative. Activist s in Chit t agong told me t hat in three to f our mont hs t heaverage ship in Bangladeshi yards ret urns roughly a one-million-dollar prof it onan invest ment of f ive million, compared with less t han $200,000 profit inPakist an. I called Jaf ar Alam, f ormer head of the Bangladesh Ship Breakers

Associat ion. He denied t hat prof it margins were t hat high. It varies by shipand depends on many f act ors, such as t he current price of st eel, he said.What ever the act ual prof its, t hey are realized by doggedly recycling moret han 90 percent of each ship. The process begins af t er a ship-breaker acquires a vessel from an international broker who deals in outdated ships. Acapt ain who specializes in beaching large craf t is hired t o deliver it t o t hebreakers yard, generally a sliver of beach barely a hundred yards wide. Oncet he ship is mired in t he mud, it s liquids are siphoned out , including anyremaining diesel f uel, engine oil, and f iref ight ing chemicals, which are resold.Then t he machinery and f it t ings are st ripped. Everything is removed and soldt o salvage dealersf rom enormous engines, bat t eries, generat ors, and milesof copper wiring to t he crew bunks, portholes, lif eboat s, and elect ronic dialson the bridge. Aft er the ship has been reduced t o a st eel hulk, swarms of laborers f rom the poorest parts of Bangladesh use acet ylene t orches t o slicet he carcass int o pieces. These are hauled of f t he beach by t eams of loaders,

t hen melt ed down and rolled int o rebar for use in const ruct ion. It sounds like agood business until you consider t he poison that is soaking into our land, saysMuhammed Ali Shahin, an act ivist with the NGO Shipbreaking Plat form. Untilyouve met t he widows of young men who were crushed by f alling pieces of st eel or suff ocat ed inside a ship. At 37 Shahin has been working f or moret han 11 years t o raise awareness about the plight of t he men who t oil in t heseyards. The industry, he says, is controlled by a f ew powerful Chit t agongf amilies who also hold st akes in the ancillary businesses, including the steelrerolling mills. Shahin insist s hes not blind t o his countrys desperate need f or

the jobs shipbreaking creates. I do not say shipbreaking must stop entirely,he says. But it must be done cleaner and saf er wit h bet t er treatment f or theworkers. His criticism isnt reserved just for Bangladeshi ship-breakers. In theWest you dont let people pollut e your count ries by breaking up ships on your beaches. Why is it OK f or poor workers t o risk t heir lives to dispose of your unwanted ships here? In the sprawling shantyt owns that have grown uparound t he yards, I met dozens of t he workers about whom Shahin is mostconcerned: the men who cut t he st eel and haul it of f t he beaches. Many haddeep, jagged scars. Chitt agong t at t oos, one man called them. Some men

were missing f ingers. A f ew were blind in one eye. In one home I meet a f amilywhose four sons worked in the yards. The oldest, Mahabub, 40, spent twoweeks as a cut t ers helper bef ore wit nessing a man burn t o death when hist orch sparked a pocket of gas belowdecks. I didnt even collect my pay f or f ear they wouldnt let me leave, he says, explaining t hat bosses of t en

8/9/2019 NGO Shipbreaking Platform (2)

3/3

int imidat e workers to keep silent about accident s. He point s t o a phot o in asmall glass cabinet . This is Jahangir, my second oldest brot her, Mahabubsays. Jahangir went t o work at 15, af t er their f at her died. He was a cutt er int he Ziri Subedar yard and was f at ally injured t here in 2008. He and his f ellowworkers had been cut t ing a large sect ion f or three days, but it wouldnt f all.During a rainst orm they t ook shelter beneath the piece, and it suddenly gaveway. The third brot her, Alamgir, 22, is not home. He had been assist ing acutt er when he f ell t hrough a hat ch on a t anker, plunging about 90 feet int o t hehold. Miraculously, enough water had seeped int o t he bot tom t o break his fall.One of his f riends risked his own lif e t o shinny down a rope and pull him out .

Alamgir quit t he next day. Now he serves t ea to t he managers in t he yardsof f ice. The youngest brot her, Amir, 18, st ill works as a cutt ers helper. He is awiry boy with smoot h, unscarred skin and a nervous smile. I ask if hes scaredby his brot hers experiences. Yes, he says, smiling shyly as if unsure what tosay next . As we t alk, a t hunderclap shakes t he t in roof . Anot her boom f ollows. Ilook out side, expect ing t o see t he onset of one of Bangladeshs f amouslyviolent monsoons, but the sun is shining. It s a large piece f alling f rom a ship,says the boy. We hear this every day.