A recent news article published in the Team BHP intrigues that What happens to the retired ships: Ship breaking industry in India.
The Alang Ship Breaking Yard
The Alang Ship Breaking Yard in Gujarat is one of the largest ship-breaking yards in the world. If a ship is not broken, it might be used for other purposes.
BHPian Aditya recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
Like all machines, ships too become old and have to be retired from service. So what happens to a vessel after it has finished serving its employers?
Cars that are too old to run are taken to scrapyards, while aircraft are sent to sites called boneyards or graveyards. Similarly, ships go through a process called ship-breaking. In this process, ships are disposed of by breaking down for either a source of parts, which can be sold for re-use, or the extraction of raw materials, chiefly scrap. The steel from the ship can be recycled for use in the manufacture of new products which lowers the demand for mined iron ore and reduces energy use in the steelmaking process. Many other fittings can also be reused.
Ship breaking:
The Ship Breaking Industry in India initially took off in Kolkata and Mumbai. While many other ports subsequently began ship-breaking, they eventually declined. At present, the Alang Ship Breaking Yard in Gujarat is one of the largest ship-breaking yards in the world. It is claimed to scrap more than half the ships of the world.
Alang ship breaking yard:
Set up in 1982-83, the Alang Ship Breaking Yard is located in the Gulf of Khambhat in the state of Gujarat. It has the largest share of all in the global ship-breaking industry. It is claimed to consist of 183 ship-breaking yards spread along 14 km of coast and employs close to 40,000 people. All kinds of ships including oil-gas tankers, box ships (container carriers), bulk-cargo carriers, Ro-Ro (car ferries), passenger ships (ferries and cruise liners) and naval ships are brought here for breaking.
Decommissioned ships are towed and beached at the shore which resembles a yard. They are then dismantled by the labourers almost manually. The bow or the front portion of the vessel is dismantled first. This provides ventilation within the vessel for the dismantling of the remaining hazardous parts. The materials are then sold as scrap.
Ship breaking is a tedious process involving a lot of complex issues like ecology, labour health, and safety. It involves immense risk since the vessels generally carry explosive materials like oil and gas.
Ship breaking is done manually and is hazardous:
If a ship is not broken, it might be used for other purposes. Naval ships may be converted into museums or used for research. They may also be sunk as artificial reefs or as targets during naval exercises.
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Source: Team BHP
