Gadani ship-breaking yard is the world's third 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 located across a long

beachfront A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from Rock (geology), rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle beach, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological s ...

Gadani Gadani () is a coastal town and administrative centre of Gadani Tehsil, Hub District in the province of Balochistan, Pakistan. It is located along the Arabian Sea, and lies 50 km west of Karachi. The population of Gadani was estimated to be aro ...

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# ...

. The yard consists of 132 ship-breaking plots."Record 107 ships dismantled at Gaddani" by Parvaiz Ishfaq Rana, ''Dawn'', 29 June 2010 (http://archives.dawn.com/archives/business/2010-06-29.html) It is located about northwest of

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

, the largest city of

. In the 1980s, Gadani was the largest ship-breaking yard in the world, with more than 30,000 direct employees. However, competition from newer facilities in

Alang Alang is a census town in Bhavnagar district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Because it is home to the Alang Ship Breaking Yard, Alang beaches are considered the world's largest ship graveyard. Demographics As of the 2001 Indian census, Al ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and

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 ...

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 ...

resulted in a significant reduction in output, with Gadani today producing less than one fifth of the scrap it produced in the 1980s. The recent reduction in taxes on scrap metal has led to a modest resurgence of output at Gadani, which now employs around 6,000 workers. More than one million tons of steel is salvaged per year, and much of it is sold domestically. In the 2009-2010 fiscal year, a record 107 ships, with a combined light displacement tonnage (LDT) of 852,022 tons, were broken at Gadani, whereas in the previous 2008-2009 fiscal year, 86 ships, with a combined LDT of 778,598 tons, were turned into scrap. It is the world's third-largest

yard after

Alang Ship Breaking Yard The Alang Ship Breaking Yard is the world's largest ship breaking yard, responsible for dismantling more than a third of retired freight and cargo ships salvaged from around the world. It is located on the Gulf of Khambhat by the town of Alang, ...

(

) and

Chittagong Ship Breaking Yard Chittagong Ship Breaking Yard () is located in Faujdarhat, Sitakunda Upazila, Bangladesh along the Sitakunda coastal strip, north-west of Chittagong. Handling about a fifth of the world's total. It was the world's largest ship breaking yard, ...

(

), and followed by

Aliağa Ship Breaking Yard Aliağa Ship Breaking Yard is the world's fourth largest ship breaking yard located across a long beachfront at Aliaga, Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a rela ...

(

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 ...

). Workers may earn as little as $12 a day, and are exposed to many dangers.

Capacity

Gadani currently has an annual capacity of breaking up to 125 ships of all sizes, including

supertankers An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined cr ...

, with a combined LDT of 1,000,000 tons. Although Gadani ranks as the world's third largest ship breaking yard after Alang and Chittagong in terms of volume, it is the world's leading ship breaking yard in terms of efficiency. At Gadani, a ship with 5,000 LDT is broken within 30 to 45 days, whereas in India and Bangladesh it takes, on average, more than six months to break a vessel of the same size.

History

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 ...

was conducted in Gadani on rare occasions before Pakistan became a sovereign country. The activity of ship breaking at Gadani greatly increased in the 1960s. In 1978, the city of Gadani was designated by the

Government of Pakistan The Government of Pakistan () (abbreviated as GoP), constitutionally known as the Federal Government, commonly known as the Centre, is the national authority of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, a federal republic located in South Asia, con ...

as a port. It was described as the largest such yard in the world. However, increased competition from rival ship-breaking yards in

, and

, coupled with relatively high import duty for decommissioned vessels, led to a disastrous decline in Gadani's output. After producing an average of one million tonnes of scrap in the 1980s, by 2001 the yard produced less than 160,000 tonnes and for ten months had no new vessel arrivals. In 2001, the

reduced ship-breaking duties from 15% to 10% and offered further incentives if industry activity improved. After these changes employment increased to a total of around 6,000 workers.

Disasters

2016 ''Aces'' fire

On 1 November 2016, at least 26-31 workers were killed and 58 wounded as a result of gas cylinder explosions on a ship being scrapped, the floating production storage and offloading oil tanker ''Aces'' (, built 1982 as ''Mobil Flinders''), causing a huge fire. Reportedly more than 100 people were dismantling a tanker in the yard. Some 30 other workers were also reported missing. On November 13, 2017 it was reported that another fire broke out on the same vessel. NGO Shipbreaking Platform reported that Aces laid untouched at the same yard a year after the explosion. The Pakistan Department of Environment gave permission for work to resume on her recycling. On the first day that the breaking recommenced, a fire broke out again, as the oil residue inside the tanker had not been removed.

References

External links

*
short documentary
{{recycling Ship breaking Economy of Balochistan, Pakistan Economy of Pakistan Water pollution in Pakistan

Ship A ship is a large watercraft, vessel that travels the world's oceans and other Waterway, navigable waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research and fishing. Ships are generally disti ...