Scrapping yard

Scrapping in Bangladesh

A scrapping yard is a company in which old ships that are no longer needed are dismantled in order to recycle the individual components - above all thousands of tons of steel . In addition, spare parts of all kinds, from navigation devices to lifeboats to complete motors , generators and other assemblies are resold. The efficiency of a scrapping yard is given in English light displacement tonnage (LDT) per year.

Location of the dismantling facilities

Wrecking yards existed in all areas of the world up until the 20th century, the development in many industrial countries can be traced back to the example of ship scrapping in the United Kingdom . After the First World War , the Kriegsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven became a large scrapping yard: By 1923, around 300 war and merchant ships from both Germany and abroad had been scrapped.

Since the 1970s more and more ships have been scrapped in East Asia, especially in Taiwan and South Korea . In 1976, around 60% of the world's demolition tonnage was scrapped in Taiwan, a good fifth in Spain and around 3.7% in South Korea. Great Britain and Pakistan, which were at the top until the 1960s, were tied with 2.8% each in 1976. Since the costs of scrapping in Europe, especially due to expensive labor and strict environmental regulations, are very high and the shipyards for the scrapping of large tankers and other large ships are too small, around 70 to 80 percent of all ships scrapped worldwide are in India today , Pakistan , Bangladesh and the People's Republic of China scrapped.

One of the centers of the global ship scrapping industry is in Alang , a coastal city in the Indian state of Gujarat , where around 50% of the world's decommissioned ships are scrapped: It is a wide stretch of beach , not a shipyard in the traditional sense. At spring tide , the ships are driven onto the beach at full speed and dismantled there. India, for example, gets 15% of its annual steel production from the scrapping of ships. Other centers of these regions are in: Mumbai , Southwest India, Chittagong , Bangladesh and Gadani , Pakistan.

There are also smaller demolition centers, such as the Aliağa shipyards in Turkey , Esbjerg and Grenaa in Denmark or near Abidjan on the Ivory Coast . Ship demolition is also taking place on a significant scale in the USA .

In some places there are ship cemeteries for derelict ships as a collection of ships that have not yet been scrapped. They arose, among other things, for cost reasons; the ships lying there are left to decay.

criticism

The dismantling companies in the third world have come under fire because the working conditions are considered desolate, even for low-wage countries . The systems work under the simplest of conditions. The working hours for the day laborers employed there are up to 95 hours per week. In the absence of cranes and heavy equipment, most of the ships are dismantled by hand. Due to the high pace of work and the inadequate occupational safety, serious accidents repeatedly occur due to explosions, deflagrations or falling metal parts. The workers are usually barefoot and wear T-shirts and shorts. Footwear or safety helmets are rarely provided. Serious injuries and deaths are to be mourned almost every day. In particular, the disposal of ships from the 1970s using the methods commonly used in scrapping yards is increasingly encountering resistance, as ships from this era are sometimes heavily contaminated with asbestos and other harmful substances. Environmental organizations also complain that such materials are not properly and safely disposed of in the relevant countries.

In 2006, the fall of the French aircraft carrier Clemenceau hit the headlines. International protests had the effect that the asbestos-contaminated ship was refused entry into Indian territorial waters for the purpose of dismantling, which, after extensive debates, ultimately led to the demolition in 2009 in Hartlepool , England . At least a sparing renaming is common, often by partially painting over the ship's name. For example, the Regal Voyager reached the scrapping yard in India after its name was shortened to Regal V.

Environmental compliance projects in industrialized countries

Together with India, Japan built a scrapping yard at Pipavav port , about 80 km from Alang Beach, India. The facility was designed for the simultaneous, environmentally friendly dismantling of four single-hull tankers ( VLCC / ULCC ) of the Japanese fleet with two docks in the English semi-dry dock system. The scrapping yard received no order during its existence and was ultimately converted into a shipbuilding yard.

legislation

The Hong Kong Convention of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) was adopted on May 15, 2009 and will come into force 24 months after ratification by at least 15 countries. According to these regulations, an ' Inventory of Hazardous Materials ' (IHM, colloquially referred to as a Green Passport , which does not meet the new requirements of the IMO) should be drawn up for each ship (a list of certain hazardous substances on board that will be used when the ship is demolished pose a risk to humans and the environment). The scrapping yards have to draw up a “Ship Recycling Plan” which shows how each individual ship is to be demolished and how the hazardous substances to be expected are to be dealt with.

This means a considerable effort for the demolition contractors in Southeast Asia, whose existence depends on the demolition of the ship, for shipowners (= ship owners), for manufacturers of components and materials as well as for shipyards. Shipowners can (despite the presence of pollutants) earn income after using the ships by selling them to a scrapping yard. Up to 97% of the materials used in old ships can be sold. The steel and iron scrap can have the most varied of qualities (it is often inferior); Non-ferrous metals (for example brass) are of considerable value.

“The share of ship scrap in the international scrap trade is relatively low. This is mainly determined by the available quantities of leftovers from iron and steel production and processing and not so much by the supply of scrap from the dismantling of plants or even the scrapping of old ships. Only where there is no high-quality scrap available for industry due to a lack of foreign exchange, a national market for low-quality ship scrap can develop at all. Even in India, the main scrapping country (with approx. 300 to 500 ships scrapped per year), trade in ship scrap only accounts for 10 to 15 percent of the total scrap demand (3). The way ships are built changed a lot in the 1970s and 1980s. Changed constructions and higher-strength steel alloys have significantly reduced ship plates and struts in weight and quality (their processing also leaves behind highly toxic dusts and welding fumes ). In addition, there are long travel times and insufficient maintenance. This has increased the proportion of rust dramatically, and copper and brass have largely replaced the use of inferior alloys in pipe construction. Consequence: the generations of ships that are now to be scrapped have considerably less mass of salable metal scrap. "

Film adaptations

In an episode of Michael Glawogger's documentary Workingman’s Death from 2005 , the conditions of the workers at the scrapping yard in Gadani , Pakistan , are described.

In June 2008 the documentary Eisenfresser by Shaheen Dill-Riaz was released in German cinemas, which shows the grievances in the scrapping yards using the example of a shipyard in Chittagong . The film won several film awards.