WELCOME

MARITIME
MARITIME(Adj.)-connected with the sea, especially in relation to seaborne trade or naval
matters.

THE TERM ‘MARITIME’ MEANS A LARGE SUNSHADE OVER THE

INTERNATIONAL AND INLAND COMMERCIAL, NAVAL AND FISHING FLEET,
MARITIME ADMINISTRATION, CONSULTANCY, EDUCATION AND TRAINING,
PORT AND SHIPPING OPERATIONS, TRADE, SHIP-BUILDING, MARINE
ENVIRONMENT CONSERVATION, SUB-SEA EXTRACTION, OCEAN RESEARCH
AND SO ON.
 MARITIME HISTORY OF BANGLADESH
Until the 1960s, shipbreaking was considered a highly mechanized operation(using machinery in
lieu of hands to do something) , concentrated in industrialized countries –
mainly in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Italy. 

From early 1980s to maximize profits ship owners sent their vessels to the scrap yards of India,
China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Vietnam where pay, health and safety standards
are minimal and workers are desperate for work. It is estimated that over 100,000 workers are
employed at ship breaking yards worldwide. Of the approximate 45,000 ocean-going ships in the
world about 700 are taken out of service every year. At the end of their sailing life, ships are sold
so that the valuable steel - about 95% of a ships mass can be reused.
 SHIP RECYCLING IN BD

The shipbreaking industry started its operations in the 1960s when a Greek ship ‘MD Alpine’
was stranded on the shores of Sitakund, Chittagong after a severe cyclone. The ship remained
there for a long time before the Chittagong Steel House brought the vessel and scrapped it.

During the Liberation War in 1971, a Pakistani ship ‘Al Abbas’ was damaged by bombing. It
was later salvaged and brought to the Fauzdarhat seashore.

In 1974, Karnafully Metal Works Ltd bought it as scrap, introducing commercial shipbreaking
in Bangladesh. The industry flourished during the 1980s. Today it has become large and
profitable industry for Bangladesh. 
SHIP RECYCLING IN BD
WORLD RANKING OF SHIP RECYCLING
WORLD RANKING OF SHIP RECYCLING
 BENEFITS OF SHIP RECYCLING IN BD

Shipbreaking plays an important role in the national economy for a number of reasons:
Production of steel
In some ways it can be considered a “green industry”(The scrapping of ships supplies raw
materials to steel mills, steel plate re-manufacturing, asbestos re-manufacturing as well as
providing furniture, paint, electrical equipment and lubricants, oil to the number of businesses)
It generates large amounts of revenue for various Government authorities through the payment
of taxes.
Employment
 IMPACT OF SHIP RECYCLING IN BD

Negative Impacts

Intoxication by dangerous Accidents on the plots Workers’ Right Violation & Others
substances
 INTOXICATION BY DANGEROUS SUBSTANCES

Though shipbreaking has earned a good reputation for being a profitable industry in developing
countries there are a number of environmental and human health hazards:
Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP’s) 
Asbestos (Cancer & Asbestosis)
Heavy metals
Oil pollution(Soil & Sea Water)
Impact of shipbreaking on physiochemical properties of seawater
Impact of shipbreaking on biodiversity 
Impact of shipbreaking on inter-tidal sediments and soils 
 ACCIDENTS

Over the last twenty years more than 400 workers have been killed and 6000 seriously
injured according to the Bangladeshi media. These are the ones that have been
reported. The explosion of the Iranian tanker TT Dena on 31st May 2000 alone is said
to have caused 50 deaths.
Explosions of leftover gas and fumes in the tanks are the prime cause of accidents in
the yards.
Another major cause of accidents is workers falling from the ships (which are up to
70 m high) as they are working with no safety harness.
Other sources of accidents include workers being crushed by falling steel beams and
plates and electric shocks.
 WORKERS’ RIGHTS VIOLATION
◦ A lack of occupational health and safety standards, training or personal protection equipment provided.
◦ Limited or no access to treatment, emergency services and compensation when a worker is injured or killed on the job.
◦ Less than minimum wages.( Tk. 50/60 per day for a child labor)
◦ Extensive working hours with no right to overtime, sick or annual leave.
◦ Lack of job security: no work no pay.
◦ In the majority of the shipyards, workers are being deprived of their rights. They work under risky conditions but have
no access to safety equipment, job security or a living wage.
◦ Use of child labor.
The Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum (BASF) has identified 430 risky jobs. Within these 67 professions are
classified as very much risky and 11 are classified as dangerous. Shipbreaking is falls in the latter.
YPSA’s baseline survey in 2003, 10.94% of the labor force is made up with children (age up to 18).
 EXISTING LAWS OF BANGLADESH
◦ Labor Act 2006 has provisions on working conditions, health and safety, hours, leave and
compensation. However, enforcement and compliance is almost non existent. There is a lack
political will and resources on the Government side while the owner's see no reason to comply.
◦ Workmen’s Compensation Act,1823
◦ Factory Law,1965
◦ The Ship Breaking and Ship Recycling Rules 2011
◦ Bangladesh Ship Recycling Act, 2018.
◦ The Government of Bangladesh has recently introduced new national policies and legislation to
improve the environmental and occupational health and safety standards in the ship breaking
yards.
 EXISTING INTERNATIONAL LAWS
◦ The Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of
Ships, 2009 (the Hong Kong Convention).
◦ ILO(International Labor Organization)
◦ The ‘Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and
their Disposal’ was completed in the late 1980s and came into force in 1992.
◦ NGO Platform on Shipbreaking(YPSA is one of them)
◦ Flag State
◦ International Ship Recycling Association (I.S.R.A)
◦ International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
◦ The Industry Working Group on Ship Recycling
THANK YOU