Ship Breaking Yards: A Threat to Coastal

Environment of Bangladesh

Hasan M. Abdullah

M Golam Mahboob

Ahmad al Biruni

Gifu University, Japan

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Background

More than 80% of international trade in goods by

volume is carried by sea. Ocean-going ships are

owned and used for trade and are often

demolished, together with their toxic materials, in

developing countries.

Ship breaking is the process of dismantling an

obsolete vessel's structure for scrapping or

disposal.

Ship owners and ship breakers obtain large profits

by dumping the environmental costs on workers,

local farmers and fishers.2

Pros-

Supply cheaper steel: 80-90% of domestic demand

Materials recycling: saves nonrenewable resources

Government revenue: 9000 million BDT/ year

Employment generation: 20,000 people

Cons-

Huge environmental degradation

Violation of occupational health, safety and work

environment

Child labor

Pros and cons of ship breaking

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Shipbreaking in the world

• 1960s: UK & USA

• 1980s: Korea, Taiwan

• 1990: Bangladesh, India, China, Pakistan

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Shipbreaking in Bangladesh

• Starts with a cyclone driven ship in 1970

• Starts commercially 1990s

Deadweight tonnage (DWT) is a measure of how much weight

a ship is carrying or can safely carry. It is the sum of the

weights of cargo, fuel, fresh water, ballast water, provisions,

passengers, and crew.

Light displacement ton (LDT) the weight of a ship without

anything on board, used to determine the value of a ship

which is to be scrapped

Green recycling is ideally defined as scrapping performed in

full accordance with the developed recycling guidelines.

Basel convention to "Control the Transboundary Movements

of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal”

Terminology

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Process of ship break down

1. Journey to the shore : The ship blows its sharp whistle for a

last time. It puts its engine on full speed and heads for the

land, wailing and groaning as it reaches a speed that it would

never have dared risk at sea. Its steel hull scrapes the sand,

reaching into the earth from where it came . Then it stops,

grounded, on the end of its final charge, its last journey… -

Sebastiao Salgado

2. Removing the furniture and other goods from the ship

3. Cut into pieces for rerolling iron mills.

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Study Area

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Landsat imagery

Landsat 5 TM

• January 05, 1989,

• December 19, 1999

• January 23, 2010

Secondary data collection

• Clarkson's ship register,

• Lloyd’s ship register

• Monthly shipbreaking report of Cotzias group,

• DoE report on Coastal and marine environment of Bangladesh

• Published reports in media and scientific journals

Remote sensing image classification

Object based supervised classification was performed

Data used

Result and discussion

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Ship recycling volumes (LDT) by countries during 1994-2009

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Amount of LDT recycled by countries in different years

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Global phase out scenario of single hulled oil tankers

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Global ship breaking statistics for the year 2010

Breaker Units LDT Average

LDT/Ship

Bangladesh 107 1,246,306 11,647.72

India 466 3,306,642 7,095.80

China 191 1,502,108 7,864.44

Pakistan 112 1,004,354 8,967.44

Turkey 211 277,533 1,315.32

Others 169 430,517 2,547.44

Total 1256 7,767,460 6,184.28

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Existing Global Green Recycling capacity

Country Existing green recycling

capacity LDT/year

Italy 80,000

Belgium 120,000

Holland 30,000

China 550,000

USA NA

Total 780,000

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Expansion of shipbreaking yard in last two decades observed from

Landsat TM imagery

Areal information of negatively impacted area

Year Area (ha) Length (km)

1989 367 3.45

1999 890 6.95

2010 1500 12.78

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1989 2010

Landuse and cover in Sitakunda coast

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Degradation of coastal land due to ship recycling

Image source: Google Earth

November 19, 2008

April 09, 2009

Destruction of forest for new shipbreaking yard

Pollutant Materials containing pollutant

Asbestos Hanger liners, mastic under insulation, cloth over insulation,

cable, lagging and insulation on pipes and hull, adhesive.

Polychlorinated biphenyls

(PCBs)

Rubber products such as hoses, plastic foam insulation,

cables, silver paint, and habitability paint.

Lead Lead and chromate paint, lead ballast, batteries, generators,

and motor components.

Excess noise With grinding, hammering, metal cutting, and other activities.

Fire Ignited insulation, matting, lagging, and residual fuel; and

from lubricants and other flammable liquids.

Radioactive isotopes 226Ra, 232Th and 40K

Others Heavy metals in ship transducers, ballast, and paint coatings;

mercury in fluorescent light tubes, thermometers, electrical

switches, light fittings, fire detectors

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Pollutants in the recyclable ship

Source: Hossain et al., 2010; Demaria, 2010; Hossain & Islam, 2004; Islam & Hossain, 1986; Zhijie, 1988

Conclusion

Coastal environment of Bangladesh has been degraded horribly

due to reckless shipbreaking activities

This sector has strength and potential to stand as a viable industry

and contribute more to our economy

This business should be brought under strict rules and regulations

to be operated taking care of the environment and occupational

safety

All coastal activities should be monitored to save ecosystem and

Remote Sensing tools can be exploited for convenience

Further study can be conducted to develop an efficient coastal

environment monitoring system using high spectral and spatial

resolution remote sensing imagery supported with in situ sampling

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Thank You ……

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