Chittagong Ship Breaking Yards - Bangladesh

I heard about the ship breaking yards in Chittagong a while ago. The reports were not necessary good . Apparently Greenpeace has visited the yards a couple of years ago and published some reports about the conditions around the yards – not good either. Basically the ship breaking yards are the last stop for any super tanker, cargo ship or any other vessel. Ships are being de-assembled and every part is either being re-used or melted in the steelworks on the other side of the highway. There are some other yards in India, Pakistan and somewhere in Africa – well you get the story: countries with cheap(est) labour cost and without any OH&S and any environmental restrictions. The guidebook said that a visit is probably impossible as they don’t let foreigner in anymore…

So, here I am in Chittagong. I am fascinated by the sheer scale of the yards so there should be a way to get in. Just call me Bond, James Bond. I got a tip to talk to some people in one of the hotels, they might have taken some people into the yards, but the controls are hard these days. The guy has left the hotel but somebody knew a friend of a friend who knew somebody at the yards, and he ‘by coincidence’ also was a driver. Done deal let’s go, first hurdle done, there was somebody who was willing to drive out there. After a longer drive through the industrial area along the Dhaka-Chittagong highway, we made a sharp turn into a little dirt track. The industry around there is typically re-using the parts of ships and you can see shops full of pipes, tanks, generators, windows, instruments…anything you can imagine. The dirt track led to some gates, heavily secured by barbed wire and watch towers. I was not welcomed which even I could figure out with my limited (none existent) Bangla skills. Even the question about some (monetary) ‘help’ for their families did not open the doors – so somebody had definitely got into trouble before. Usually some cash opens any door in Bangladesh. James, too early to give up. So the driver/fixer pulled over and disappeared in a shop and returned with two locals. They looked at me and just shook their heads, no this foreigner does not look like a local. The foreigner (me) smiled to them nicely and assured that he was not an activist but only a travelling architect. One called another one who knew a friend’s uncle at one of the yards and after long negotiations, and only with the assurance to not (oh no!) take any pictures there was some movement. So I had to leave my camera in the car and a suspicious supervisor took us into the yard. Wow, unbelievable. The scale of the ships is mind blowing.

At high tide, ships are being winched over the slippery mud onto shore and there they are towering above you. Hundred meters of ships, maybe 70m high, sit on the mud. Some of them are sliced open on one side, some of them are chopped off entirely. Some have only the bridge tower remaining – it looks scary as it looks dangerously high and any piece is unsupported. No problem assured me the worker, before the last bit of the steel monster falls over, the thousands of workers in flip flops take the burners and leave the tipping ship – god bless them.

The scale is just amazing, have you ever seen a super tanker sliced open along the side? It looks like the technical books which show an exploded axonometric of the ship – but this one is real. I was looking around but I couldn’t see any major oil spills. I can understand the environmental concerns about cutting a super tanker apart, but what is the difference to when they clean the tanks in the open sea? If we put the OH&S issues aside (and that is not easy as apparently people die here more than anywhere else) – a sign at the gates said: no women and child worker allowed - every part is being re-used. Probably the best recycling facility you can imagine. Every single part is taken  apart and finds literally a new home. Are we doing the same for example with our cars?

On the way out I could do some shots from outside over the barbed wires, but that was unfortunately it. more images

The winch to pull the massive ships over the mud to shore

source: google

source: google

Not far from the road, we found an area full of emergency rescue boats. As they are typically made from fibre glass and not from steel, the future re-use wasn’t clear and the ended up in a dried out basin. On the other hand, I am sure one day you will see a happy fisherman in a refurbished rescue boat going fishing, good on him.

 A guy called Rich was allowed to take some shots inside a while ago and has written a great blog. Click here to read more and see some more amazing images. Below image is taken from his blog so you understand the scale. The little ants in front are people.

Picture taken by Rich - have a look at his blog (link above)