Ship Breaking in Bangladesh/mapfotoagency.com

• Ship Breaking 

  in 

  
  

  Bangladesh

A ship, be it a serviced ship, oil tanker, cargo vessel or a container ship, is dismantled (in six months) almost entirely by hand in Bangladesh on the open beaches. 24-30 yards are in operation in Chittagong spreading over an area of 24 kms cutting through the century old fishing villages. The owners are not directly involved in the dismantling. It is commissioned to middlemen and contractors. This industry supplies almost 80 percent of the raw materials for the re-rolling millions and steel factories and provides about 50,000 in Sitakunda area, both on the beaches and buying and selling of items gathered from the ship. But this comes with a price and environmental pollution is the biggest worry for the shoreline. “We have less and less catch year as the water in the channel is contaminated; on the shore feet get a burning sensation. The rich people came and took the open beach, cornered us in pockets”, told one fishermen. In the last 20 years, more than 400 workers have been killed and 6,000 were seriously injured or disabled (YPSA, 2005) due the toxic explosion, fire and fall from the ship.