The shipbreaking Industry

At the end of a ship’s life it will be sold and dismantled to recover the steel.

In 2006, Bangladeshi, Indian and Pakistani shipbreakers took delivery of more than 310 ships with a total light weight of over 1.9 million tons. The majority were beached in Bangladesh which has, in recent years, become the most popular area for ship demolition, no doubt related to the fact that it is the one paying the highest price for regular tonnage. Other players in the field are China and Turkey.

Problem Vessels

A number of cases where vessels have become embroiled in legal battles over their sale for scrap have hit the trade headlines in the last year. As well as the valuable steel, the ships may also contain large amounts of hazardous materials.  The problems tend to involve a vessel which has either been partially decontaminated by owners or not decontaminated at all prior to sale for scrapping. Central to this is obviously the cost of decontamination.

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