Ayman Amdad

Ms. Spivy

ENSP 101 (0106)

How does shipbreaking in Bangladesh impact the people and the coastal regions?
Introduction

Bangladesh is one of the few known countries left that are keeping the difficult and

dangerous industry of shipbreaking alive. The concept of shipbreaking is that decommissioned

ships are brought to shore and are dismantled. The purpose of dismantling these ships are for

their raw material, which can then be used for other industries and their products. The value of

steel from these ships are so high that it gives the poor people of Bangladesh a reason to

overlook the serious anthropogenic effects of shipbreaking on its people and the coastal

environment. This paper will be looking further into what procedures and byproducts of

shipbreaking are and their hazardous effects. Also focusing on flaws within regulation, policies,

and practices and how the economy impacts this. Overall getting a better understanding of the

situation that this third world country has put itself in as shipbreaking is integral to the country’s

economy, but comes with degradation of the coastal area and serious health hazards for the

workers.

Background

Bangladesh has faced over the years many issues in regards to the overpopulation,

poverty, and its economy. Bangladesh is the eighth nation in the world with the highest

population. This overcrowding could potentially increase from approximately 158,000,000

people living in an “Iowa-sized nation. . .Bangladesh groans under a population density of about
3,300 per square mile”(Szczepanski,2018). The overpopulation has created a problem for the

nation. Due to the high competition people struggle to find decent paying jobs and are forced to

work for little to no pay at times. Bangladesh not only relies on its agriculture but it also depends

on its manufacturing industries that are in constant competition to produce the cheapest labor, in

turn the worker suffer mistreatment. In an article by Simon Perry, "[industries] have higher

production targets. If [workers] cannot fulfil them they have to work extra hours but with no

overtime. It is very tough; they cannot go for toilet breaks or to drink water. They become sick.

They are getting the minimum wage as per legal requirements but they are not getting a living

wage."(Parry, 2018). The economy has also been significantly affected “having a per capita GDP

of just about $4,200 U.S. per year as of 2017”(Szczepanski,2018).

With this low standing the country is open to industries such as shipbreaking even though

it comes at such a cost to the people and the environment. There has to be a better overall

understanding of how these chemicals from shipbreaking impact sea life, and how it is so

harmful to the environment and the people, but necessary for their livelihood. For the impact on

marine life there is a scientific understanding of how these contaminants are found in sea life in

the coastal regions from shipbreaking practices. This scientific process is called

bioaccumulation. Bioaccumulation is the process in which an organism’s diet has a concentration

of a contaminant within its system and the build-up of that contaminant within the organism as

the net result of its uptake and loss process (Spivy, 2018). Not only is the sea life impacted but

also the workers on these shipyards. With continuous work around fumes and minerals such as

asbestos it can be dangerous in the short and long term. For example with asbestos inhalation it
can cause scar tissue to form within the lungs in the short term and in the long term can cause

cancer (Misra 2007).

Environmental Impacts

Bangladesh is a country where the coastal regions are vital as they provide habitats for

many species: aquatic and terrestrial. These species are then critical to the people as they provide

environmental goods and services such as air and water quality control, and benefits their living

as it impacts the fishing and agricultural industries (Abdullah et al., 2013). With the

anthropogenic impacts of shipbreaking it brings a danger to the coastal regions. There are

procedural issues to the method of shipbreaking that lead to pollution dangerous to the aquatic

life and cause for water contamination.

For example, there was a study in Sitakunda, Bangladesh a region where shipbreaking

occurs the results showed that the fish had high levels of a chemical called Butyltins which

shows the harmful bioaccumulation occurring as they were above the acceptable rate. This is

direct support for their reasoning that due to the ships being “dismantled in the shores in the

intertidal zone that liquid contamination and oil pollution cannot be avoided”(Abdullah et al.,

2013). This is a serious issue as this one chemical’s movement from the ships to the water and

then to the aquatic life within only exemplifies the passage of many other chemicals and

pollutants.

Many factors are contaminating the water which is worrisome as it is the natural habitat

to many marine life. Contamination is apparent due to the shipbreaking and disposal methods

used in shipyards. When the ships are brought into the coast to be dismantled they need to be

cleaned. The process of cleaning includes manually cleaning with wire brushes removing
particulate and residues and removing all the solid waste within the ship. As for solid wastes

such as cement, glass wool, and rubber there have been surveys done where the results show that

unauthorized and environmentally unsound disposal of solid waste has occured on shipyards

which leads to further contamination of the surroundings. The cleaning process for the ships is

quite harmful as it becomes a source of pollutants. An example of this would be the results of

cleaning an oil tanker. With these ships in particular they contain a high accumulation of oil

sludge that has no market value so it is either dumped on land or drained into the water. Even the

sand and powders used to clean this sludge within the tankers get washed into the sea along with

the fuel oil that is comprised of sludge (Rawal, 2006).

Moreover, for the soil in coastal regions the situation is no better. The shipyards due to

the “beach breaking of ships the soil is contaminated with hazardous radioactive materials such

as radium and thallium”(Abdullah et al., 2013). These contaminants pose a serious threat to

mammals and other animals because they are water soluble and can spread to ground water thus

affecting the soil that is composed of a great part water. They may cause damage to the nervous

system or cancer,“these are consequences[due to] thallium uptake through food”and the

absorption of radium from the soil which “animals that eat these plants will accumulate

radium”(“Water Treatment Solutions”). Not only do they affect the consumer these contaminants

can have serious toll on agriculture, it was seen in an experiment performed by Dixon and

Wigham at Dublin that radium can slow down crop growth rates and as an effect biodiversity of

plant life (Russel, 1915). Similarly this “destructive potential” on vegetation due to thallium was

also investigated by the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research (Horn et al., 1934).
 From this industry there is a worry of it contributing to the air pollution in that region as

well. There was research done on a Persistent Organic Pollutant(POP) called Polychlorinated

Biphenyls (PCB) which is actually a banned chemical in Bangladesh. It has been discovered that

PCB’s are harmful to the environment by contributing to climate change and also result in

harmful effects, like cancer, to people if exposed to high rates (Environmental Health and

Medicine Education, 2016). The results showed that there were higher levels of PCBs near

coastal regions. The possible reasons given were that most of the “waste electrical and electronic

equipment (WEEE) that came from shipbreaking activities and parts” became contributors of

PCBs. Also that they can even be generated through burning of organic material that come from

the ships which occurs frequently in shipyards (Nost, 2015).

Shipbreaking as seen from evidence has had a major negative influence on the coastal

areas contaminating the air, water, and land that affects the vegetation and aquatic life in the

region. There has been frustrations shown and complaints as this impacts people's way of life

stating that “Coastal fishing in Chittagong has almost finished, 14 species of fish becoming

extinct, thousands of acres of mangrove forests are chopped off”(Pakistan: Harm ship breaking

causes to environment highlighted, 2011), these products of Bangladesh are being destroyed and

harmed by shipbreaking activities.

Social Impacts

Shipbreaking impacts the people not only indirectly through its toll on industries

dependent upon organic products, but has direct health effects on the people working.

Bangladesh is an overpopulated country where the people suffer from high levels of poverty and

unemployment. Shipbreaking for them is an opportunity as it provides jobs and a large majority
of the steel needs of the country. The dire need for the people of Bangladesh of this shipbreaking

industry makes them fall prey to improper practices, procedures, lack of supervision, and lack of

enforcement of regulation.

Shipbreaking is an extremely dangerous occupation as seen by fatalities that occur at

these shipyards. It is said that within two decades at least a thousand have died within these

shipyards. There was an event that occured on a shipyard where four workers died instantly as a

cylinder full of carbon dioxide went off . A major cause of this event was due to negligence by

the company owner as was the verdict of an inspector that visited the shipyard. The workers

were supposedly given protective gear which the father of one of the deceased refused happened,

but were not chosen to be worn by the workers (Roy,P & Dey.A, 2015). With supervision and

protective gear it just might have been enough to save those four victims’ lives.

We can see from first accounts from workers how the working conditions were lacking. A

man named Mohammad Murad worked in this industry for a decade and then suddenly in a

horrific accident that included “a twenty ton metal slab falling on his leg making him lose his

leg”(Rivers, 2010). His description of his treatment during his time there and after his accident

proves the harsh nature of the work. In his words Murad says “ They tell us to do it quickly, to

cut quickly, if you die in the field, no problem, but you have to work quickly.” which is a very

harsh mentality for any occupation. As well the company even refused to pay for any

compensation he needed even though he lost his leg in a work related incident.

The repercussions of working in the shipbreaking industry can become prevalent over

time. Workers are constantly in contact with chemicals, fumes, asbestos, and e.t.c leading to

higher chances of getting a disease. Inhalation of toxic particles can lead to allergies or cancer;
for example with asbestos and lead being prominent in the shipyards as ships that are being

broken carry tons of asbestos and the process of cutting creates lead fumes all that with

continuous exposure can lead to lung cancer or kidney damage (Misra, 2007). In shipyards

workers are in an extremely accident prone environment due to negligence and lack of training

as well as exposure to hazardous chemicals which is part of the job. The workers are ill informed

of the chemicals that they come in contact with and the serious effects they have, which causes

there to be less care taken by the workers when handling material (Rivers,2010).

Economic Impacts

There are rules and regulations put in place but the application and enforcement of them

have been proven to lack. The reasoning behind this is due to the fact that safety and protection

are costly. For a third world country sadly the workers are prized for providing cheap labor due

to their desperate situations. This industry will not die either due to the fact that many other

industries within the country are dependent upon the metals and other resources that are found

from ship breaking.

Previously the dangers of toxic particles and the effects they have were touched upon in

the Alang shipyard where the death of the four workers occurred. Surprisingly there is a

Factories Act in which a section states that dust should be cleaned everyday, but for example the

Alang shipyard was full of toxic substances and dust (Misra, 2007). This shows that there is a

lack of enforcement of the rules nor is it a priority for the shipyards.

Shipyards are always looking for loopholes which overall lead to negligence of the

workers. There is a lot of complaints about the asbestos and other chemicals within the ships.

The reasoning is that Bangladesh as a poor country which doesn't have the resources to properly
clean and get rid of the waste during the shipbreaking process. There was then a 2009 ruling by

Bangladeshi courts that stated that ships entering must be “precleaned” in line with the Basel

Convention which focuses on Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes. Even with this

court ruling there are still statements about how there are workarounds that the shipbreaking

industry have. The rules placed supposedly only work in effect to the cargo of the ship and not

the ship itself, and at times ships are re-registered so it does not go through as many inspections

(Rivers, 2010). The lack of care for health and safety due to the desperate need for a living are

what result in suffering to the workers and the coastal environment.

Shipbreaking is integral to the economy of the country as it supports other industries

companies, factories, and mills and provides material at lower than market price. Shipbreaking is

valued most for the steel extracted as it is crucial for construction companies to use within their

projects and in order to do so the recycled material needs to be converted to finished steel. The

furnace industry and re-rolling mills are mainly doing this type of work which is why they are so

dependent on the ship breaking industry. Not only is the steel valuable but there is said to be

“more than 70 types of materials other than steel recovered that can be reused”. For example non

ferrous metals such as copper and brass are very valuable and demand is high from other

industries as they are sold lower than market value. Even the generators on board of the ships are

sold to sugar industries as they are more affordable. (Rawal,2006)

Discussion

The issues that stand at large with this industry is the method with which they proceed to do the

process of shipbreaking. This method is called the beached method where they bring the ship

into the coast in the low tide region and dismantle it on water. This is a major concern as there
can be water contamination from the material not properly removed from the ship or from the

equipment used in order to break the ships. What seems to be a way of resolving this issue is

through the “Shiplifting method”. This method’s process is that a platform is created on the water

where the ship can be moved on then be lifted into the air using hydraulics, and then on land

where it will be dismantled. Although it does not solve all the environmental issues that come

with shipbreaking it is a step in the right direction with reducing water pollution/contamination if

put in place. It is even said that as on land it can be a “speedy and economical method because it

lowers gas cutting charges” which can give reasoning to the shipyard owner for use of this

method (Rawal,2006). Another concern is for the health and safety of the workers, and finding

an affordable method for accounting these concerns. One way could be through the focus on

informing the workers the hazardous chemicals and byproducts that come from shipbreaking. If

the shipbreakers themselves are informed it allows them to be able to make proper inspections of

the ship and decisions when proceeding with dismantling the ship. Putting into place what is

called the “group multi attribute risk ranking method” allows the workers to go as a group and

inspect the ship, ranking health and safety risks. This will help them better understand what they

need to be cautious about and how to go about it. It was seen through the research study in the

article that when team members used this method it seemed to work the best and be the most

effective for the people in the long run (Willis 2002).

Conclusion

Bangladesh is one of the last places where the shipbreaking industry still stands strong.

This is an industry that is vital out of necessity of the people and the country. It provides steel for

the country to utilize and it gives jobs to the impoverished, but with a major cost. The sacrifice of
the environment and the people are apparent with the increase of fatalities and illnesses in

shipyards and the contaminants that these decommissioned ships bring into the shores. Although

the shipyards overlook regulations to save on extra costs there needs to be an understanding that

possible procedural methods and techniques need to be put in place that could even lead to better

efficiency of work. For example, maybe using the Shiplifting method for the ships instead of

placing them in the tidal regions can help prevent contaminants from entering the waters

(Rawa1,2006l, 2006).

Focusing on the workers if there is a possibility for them to be more well informed about

the hazards of the work and be able to assess risks by themselves (Willis, 2002) then it'll be

beneficial for the shipyard making it a safer environment and safer for the coastal environment as

there is less carelessness with the materials.

If shipbreaking continues on in the manner it is doing currently the degradation of the

coastal regions and effects on the people will continue to worsen. Shipbreaking is an industry

that cannot be removed, so it must be adjusted for the benefit of the environment and the people.
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