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Characterization of ship breaking industry in Bangladesh

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Abstract

Dismantling (or “breaking”) of ships invigorates global shipping by replacing older ships and recycling or reusing as much as 95 % of their materials. Recently, Bangladesh is dominating global ship breaking. Here, we aimed basically at expounding the inflows of the ship breaking industry (SBI) in Bangladesh from the perspectives of origin, types, and lifespan of dismantled ships in order to develop a better understanding of this industry. The inflows in SBI have been increasing and the tonnage dismantled rose to a record high of 2,308,525 LDT (light displacement tonnage) in 2009. Interestingly, ships dismantled in Bangladesh were relatively younger having the mean age of 27 years. Of the outflows from ships dismantled, reusable/recyclable steel comprised 85 % of the total weight of ships; the rest were machinery, hardware, fittings, and consumable items. The major hurdle we faced was the unwillingness of stakeholders in disclosing available but relevant information due to widespread suspicion. We suggest that keeping organized records and their disclosure is critical to developing a comprehensive understanding of this industry. We are hopeful that this research will pave the path for continued objective scientific investigations into the contributions, both positive and negative, as well as the evolution of SBI in Bangladesh.

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Notes

  1. GT stands for gross tonnage and is a measure of volume rather than weight.

  2. LDT represents light displacement tonnage which reflects the actual ship weights.

  3. Ship hull steel includes all steel parts for the hull, such as bottom and side constructions and pillars, while upper construction includes the structures above the hull.

  4. The flag state of a commercial vessel is the state under the laws of which the vessel is registered or licensed.

  5. Fiscal year refers to July in the listed year to June in the next year.

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Acknowledgments

Part of this research was based upon the work supported by The Kikawada Foundation. The first author acknowledges Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT), Japan for providing him funding as a Monbukagakusho scholar for doing his research in Japan. Besides, we would like to thank all the ship breaking yards’ owners, beaching masters, yard managers, owners of different industries and all the government and non-government organizations who helped us in providing information. We also would like to thank all the experts for their invaluable suggestions while doing our research especially to Dr. Nikos Mikelis (Former expert from IMO).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Systems Innovation, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-865, Japan

    Mohammad Sujauddin, Takahiro Komatsu & Shinsuke Murakami

  2. Overseas Consulting Administration, Nippon Koei Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan

    Ryu Koide

  3. Institute of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, University of Chittagong, Chittagong, 4331, Bangladesh

    Mohammad Mosharraf Hossain

  4. Faculty of Science and Technology, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Okubo, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 169-8555, Japan

    Chiharu Tokoro

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  1. Mohammad Sujauddin
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  2. Ryu Koide
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  3. Takahiro Komatsu
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  4. Mohammad Mosharraf Hossain
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  5. Chiharu Tokoro
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  6. Shinsuke Murakami
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Correspondence to Shinsuke Murakami.

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Sujauddin, M., Koide, R., Komatsu, T. et al. Characterization of ship breaking industry in Bangladesh. J Mater Cycles Waste Manag 17, 72–83 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-013-0224-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-013-0224-8

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