Chittagong Ship Breaking Yard () is located in Faujdarhat, Sitakunda Upazila,

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

along the

Sitakunda Sitakunda or Sitakunda Town () is an administrative centre and the sole municipality (''Paurashava'') of Sitakunda Upazila in Chattogram District, located in Chattogram Division, Bangladesh. Sitakunda is famous for the Chandranath Temple and Hin ...

coastal strip, north-west of

Chittagong Chittagong ( ), officially Chattogram, (, ) (, or ) is the second-largest city in Bangladesh. Home to the Port of Chittagong, it is the busiest port in Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. The city is also the business capital of Bangladesh. It ...

. Handling about a fifth of the world's total. It was the world's largest

ship breaking Ship breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship scrapping, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships either as a source of Interchangeable parts, parts, which can be sol ...

yard, until Alang Ship Breaking Yard in India took that spot. It employs over 200,000

Bangladeshis Bangladeshis ( ) are the citizens and nationals of Bangladesh, a South Asian country centred on the transnational historical region of Bengal along the eponymous bay. Bangladeshi citizenship was formed in 1971, when the permanent residents ...

, making it one of the largest ship breaking yard and accounts for around one-half of all the steel in Bangladesh. It is the world's second-largest

yard, followed by Gadani ship-breaking yard (

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

) and Aliağa Ship Breaking Yard (

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

History

In 1960, after a severe cyclone, the Greek ship ''M D Alpine'' was stranded on the shores of

. It could not be re-floated and so remained there for several years. In 1965, Chittagong Steel House bought the ship and had it scrapped. It took years to scrap the vessel, but the work gave birth to the industry in

. During the

Bangladesh Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War (, ), also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, was an War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalism, Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in East Pakistan, which res ...

, a

Pakistani Pakistanis (, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. As much as ...

ship ''Al Abbas'' was damaged by bombing. Later on, the ship was salvaged by a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

team who were working at Chittagong port at the time and the ship was brought to the Faujdarhat seashore. A local company, Karnafully Metal Works Ltd bought it as scrap in 1974 and introduced commercial ship breaking in the country. The industry grew steadily through the 1980s and by the middle of the 1990s, the country ranked number two in the world by tonnage scrapped. In 2008, there were 26 ship breaking yards in the area, and in 2009 there were 40. From 2004 to 2008, the area was the largest ship-breaking yard in the world. However, by 2012 it had dropped from half to a fifth of worldwide ship-breaking. At one stage the industry was a tourist attraction, but outsiders are no longer welcome due to its poor

safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...

record; a local watchdog group claims that one worker dies a week and one is injured a day on average. Workers have neither

protective equipment Personal protective equipment (PPE) is protective clothing, helmets, goggles, or other garments or equipment designed to protect the wearer's body from injury or infection. The hazards addressed by protective equipment include physical, electr ...

nor financial security. In 2014, shipping company

Hapag-Lloyd Hapag-Lloyd AG is a German international shipping and container transportation company, the 5th biggest in the world. It was formed in 1970 through a merger of Hamburg-American Line (HAPAG) and Norddeutscher Lloyd. History The company was forme ...

followed an earlier decision by

Maersk (), usually known simply as Maersk ( ), is a Danish Freight transport, shipping and logistics company founded in 1904 by Arnold Peter Møller and his father Peter Mærsk Møller. Maersk's business activities include Port operator, port operat ...

to stop using the yard for breaking its old ships on account of the yard's poor safety standards, despite the higher costs elsewhere. A scene of the movie '' Avengers: Age of Ultron'' was shot at the ship breaking yards of Chittagong.

Gallery

File:Chittagong Ship breaking yard.JPG, Jafrabad Chittagong shipbreaking File:Jafrabad_Chittagong_shipbreaking_(7).JPG, Jafrabad Chittagong shipbreaking File:Jafrabad Chittagong shipbreaking (6).JPG, Jafrabad Chittagong shipbreaking File:Jafrabad Chittagong shipbreaking (2).JPG, Jafrabad Chittagong shipbreaking File:Jafrabad Chittagong shipbreaking (1).JPG, Jafrabad Chittagong shipbreaking File:Jafrabad Chittagong shipbreaking (3).JPG, Jafrabad Chittagong shipbreaking File:Jafrabad Chittagong shipbreaking (4).JPG, Jafrabad Chittagong shipbreaking File:Jafrabad Chittagong shipbreaking (5).JPG, Jafrabad Chittagong shipbreaking File:Shipbreakingbangladesh.jpg, Ship breaking in Sitakunda File:Shipbreaking Yard Bhatiari, Sitakunda.jpg, Shipbreaking Yard Bhatiari, Sitakunda File:Worlds biggest ship breaking yard in Bangladesh by Idolhunter Lckuang.jpg, Panoramic view of a shipbreaking yard in Chittagong

References

External links

* * {{recycling Economy of Chittagong Ship breaking Economy of Bangladesh

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links