ગુજરાતી
English
Bhavnagar Small ships are coming to ruin, recession on big ships
Alang, the world’s largest shipyard in Talaja taluk of Bhavnagar, has been in recession for years. The recession is increasing. A rally was expected after the visit of the European Union (EU) delegation in October 2024. There has been no response from the EU. 100 ships were ruined in the 11 months of the year 2024. Even if 15 more ships come in December, it will be 115 ships. 137 ships came in the year 2023.
The international market is affecting the shipping industry. Impact on the ship recycling industry. 8100 ships have been ruined in 41 years from 1983 to 2024. In which fewer ships have come as compared to the last 5 years.
Hope
The number of ships has increased in November 2024. But they are of smaller size. Hence less waste is generated. 3 ships of 15 metric tonnes came. There is a ship breaking industry on the 11 km coastline.
The ship named MV MSC Alexa weighed 16 thousand 228 MT,
MV MSC Rafaela 16 thousand 24 metric tons,
This ship named DV Sion weighed 22 thousand 314 metric tons.
The other 11 ships were less than 10 metric tons.
Out of business
The goods coming out of the ships were purchased from ship brokers and retail trade was done in 2 thousand bighas of government padar and gauchar land between Alang-Manar. Due to the demolition of shops, 50 percent of the business here has been ruined. There are more than 1,000 furniture shops in an area of 12 km. Land worth Rs. 50 crore was opened. Out of a total of 2418 in Alang Manar, 2 religious places were found and 55 pressures were removed.
12 hectares of land was opened out of 264 hectares. 100 structures in Pawliya area are residential houses. Poor people of Dalit, Maldhari, Koli community have built houses on cattle. A rally was taken out to ensure that these are not demolished.
2024 ships in Alang
January – 15
February – 08
March – 05
April – 03
May – 12
June – 10
July – 04
August – 10
September – 07
October – 12
November – 14
Total – 100 in 11 months
To reiterate
The country has 98 per cent share of ship recycling capacity and contributes 32.6 per cent to global recycling volume.
BIS ban
Ship iron is used to make iron rods in the re-rolling mill in Bhavnagar. New BIS rules were implemented in 2008. Both industries are in recession due to BIS ban on ship iron. Moving ahead in international competition. Earlier, after breaking the ship, its iron was used to make pipes, bars and angles in addition to rods in local rolling mills and yards. Now rods cannot be made according to BIS rules. According to the maritime rule, the iron of the ship is very strong. The rods made from it are also very strong. If the BIS Act is amended by the central government, only then the concerned ship breaking yards can survive in the world-class competition. Ramesh Mendpara of the organization believes so.
Growing
The highest number of 415 ships was seen in 2011-12. However, the number of ships has decreased since then. The decline in this industry has accelerated since Prime Minister Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister. 14 passenger ships were dismantled during November-2020 to October-2021. The 14-storey ‘MV Karnika’ arrived (November-2020). Alang arrived in ‘MV Ocean Dream’ (January-2021). The nature of recruitment is extremely favourable.
Fall for five years
The number of ships wrecked at Alang has been declining for five consecutive years.
415 ships wrecked in 2011,
230 in 2017,
219 in 2018,
202 in 2020,
189 in 2021,
131 in 2022,
81 in 2023.
Ships arrived as per financial year
357 in 2010-11
348 in 2009-’10
415 in 2011-12
275 in 2014-15
249 in 2015-16
259 in 2016-17
202 in 2019-20
187 in 2020-21
209 in 2021-22
131 in 2022-23
Shipping business in the world
111 in 2023
Bangladesh 54,
Alang 29,
14 in Turkey,
9 in European countries,
Pakistan had 5 ships.
Scrap weight
2.49 lakh tonnes of scrap produced in 2014-15, 2.43 lakh tonnes in 2015-16 and 2.59 lakh tonnes in 2016-17.
Recession
This is the longest recession in 42 years since Alang was established.
In 2008, the iron market crashed.
In 2015, market and dollar prices went down.
Silence and indifference of GMB officials.
Import duty.
Fixed costs are high.
Ship fares are good in the international market.
Piracy in the night sea.
Low demand for bars, strips made in rolling mills.
Competition from Pakistan and Bangladesh
Scrap imports have increased.
Non-cooperation of the central and state governments.
The BJP government of Gujarat cannot say anything to the central government.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become disillusioned with Gujarat.
Rerolling of food
Due to recession, only 10 percent of rerolling mills will remain operational now. There are 120 steel re-rolling mills in Sehore city. 90 mills were running per year in 2023. 40 in 2024. 15 mills will be closed in 2025. Shutdown due to shortage of steel plates. Daily production of small size mill has come down from 20 tonnes to 5 tonnes. About 25 to 30 lakh tonnes of steel was used for recycling every year in Alang. Which is sent to Maharashtra and Punjab besides Bhavnagar. The prices of melted scrap metal have come down to Rs 10,000 per tonne.
Transportation
1,000 trucks were loaded with steel plates, furniture, scrap and other materials. The number of trucks per day has come down from 10 to 20.
Employment
According to the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, about 5 lakh 15 thousand tonnes are transported from Alang
People get direct and indirect employment. In which 40 thousand employees and indirectly 1 lakh 50 thousand people were employed in oxygen plant and rolling.
GMBA will employ more than 23,000 people in 2024
Ron took training and built a special hospital in Alang. It takes 6 days of manpower to get one ton of scrap. 1 lakh people get direct employment in Alang. Laborers from Bihar, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh work. In boom Rs. 500 laborers get. In recession it decreases. 25 percent of the people have migrated from Alang. Laborers who have bought a house or have any property are working on low wages. Labor works only for 15 days.
Story
In the beginning there were 60 plots. At present there were 173 plots in Alang and surrounding villages. Then there were 153 plots. Now, out of 130 plots, only 30 plots are used for ship breaking. The government plans to increase this number to 203 in the next few years. The government announced to increase the size of the yard from 10 km to 20 km in 2021. The plot is given for 10 years.
The Gujarat Maritime Board charges Rs 700 per square metre even if no ship arrives on the plot. This charge has doubled within three years.
Alang
Alang means, separate, different, isolated, far, laga bheege nahi mem, water stream, very large, place, mare means season.
Located on the Manari river near Manar village, 1.6 km from the open sea on the western coast of the Gulf of Khambhat, 20 km from Talaja and 50 km from Bhavnagar.
The industry in India started in Mumbai in 1970. Ships of 26,000, 82,000 and 1.28 lakh tonnes were wrecked in 1973, 1978 and 1981-82 respectively. In 41 years from 1983 to 2024, 8100 ships have been wrecked.
In 1981, Sanat Mehta, the then finance minister of Gujarat state, approved industries in Alang. After visiting Vansi Borsi (Navsari), Porbandar, Sachana, Mandvi and Alang Bandar and observing barren coastal land, calm sea, favourable tides, deep water near the shore, storms, less sea currents, the committee decided to develop Alang in 1982. Open land, big baru arrived
First ship
The first ship in Alang, MV Kota Tenjong, is said to have been beached on 13 February 1983, while others say the first ship, ‘The Dadier’, first came ashore in Alang on 13 December 1983.
Electricity saving
A steel mill needs 450 kW of electricity for one tonne of steel lump. While for scrap steel, 110 to 115 kV electricity is used.
During the period 1966 to 1978, the annual growth rate of re-rolling mills in the organised sector was only 4%, while the production growth rate of scrap re-rolling mills was 20%.
Investment
The investment of Rs 3 crore has now increased to Rs 300 crore.
Since its inception in 1983, the total assets of the shipyard are estimated to be US$110.6 billion.
The separate facility had 183 ship breaking yards along 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) of shore, with a total capacity of 4.5 million light displacement tonnage (LDT).
Earlier there was 3.5 million tonnes of steel production and a turnover of $1.3 billion per annum, but that is no longer the case.
A large portion of the total scrap is consumed by re-rolling mills and foundries in towns and villages like Bhavnagar, Shihor, Varatej, etc. 101 truckloads of scrap are exported outside the state of Gujarat.
The businessmen are mainly from Haryana and Punjab. There are also some Rajasthani and Gujarati industrialists. In the year 2021, India’s largest warship Vikrant was brought here for breaking.
The Japanese International Cooperation Agency took a soft loan of $76 million for the repair and the Gujarat Maritime Board took a loan of $35 million.
The world’s largest ship accident
In October 2024, the world’s largest fish factory ship sank in Alang, Bhavnagar, but there was no boom. Which was built in 1980. The motor ship Divo was built in Russia. The weight was 26,136 metric tons. The owner of plot number 169 bought this ship.
Vehicle did not become a junkyard
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Road and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari announced the opening of the country’s first scrap plant for old vehicles in Alang. The new policy came into effect from October 1, 2021, but vehicle junkyards did not start at 5 places in Gujarat including Alang.
The government gave in-principle approval to set up a vehicle scrapyard at Madhiya GIDC near Bhavnagar. Six companies were keen to set up vehicle recycling units. Three of them were from Bhavnagar. The MoU was signed in August 2021 itself.
Vehicle scrapping is a natural process for the ship recycling business. Steel, plastic and rubber products can be made well. There is a steel scrapping facility in Shihor.
The mess
In October 2023, 10,000 tonnes of iron ore was being extracted from Alang every day. There are 127 truck weighing scales for measuring. In which the weight of cattle ranging from 1 thousand to 4 thousand rupees is reduced in one truck. Every year 30 lakh tonnes of scrap was loaded in trucks and taken out here. Here fraud of crores of rupees is being done annually by ship breaking contractors. This was going on for 20 years. The 127 way-bridge of Alang-Sosia was inspected by the Additional District Magistrate of Bhavnagar.
Theft
Pirates are looting and stealing from ships. There have been incidents of looting valuables. Pirates come with a boat. Threaten the crew members
are lured, offered money and forced to hand over valuables. Attacked with stones. Many criminal activities like theft of valuables, robbery, assault, tax evasion have become an everyday affair.
Pollution
Waste from 80 percent of the state’s industries
The Gulf of Rane Khambhat has become the ‘Poison Bay’. Apart from Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Alang has also contributed.
The plot was upgraded according to the Hong Kong Convention. Hazardous waste is dumped into the sea or burned. Garbage is dumped anywhere. Pollution is relentless.
Sheep come from abroad. Which also includes poisonous gas. Full of fiber, waste oil and waste. Which is also disposed of on this bank. Protects the coastal environment. Suffers diseases like AIDS. Drain water is released into the sea. Marine plants and marine animals are destroyed.
Waste from ship wrecks in Socio Yard is dumped into the sea.
Shipbreakers do not send waste to the TSDF site.
It is dumped in the river bed.
The Gujarat Maritime Board and Gujarat Pollution Control Board keep an eye on the ships. Intensive environmental scanning was done separately by CSMCRI. According to the findings, 40 years of pollution was wiped out during the 3-month lockdown. PM 2.5 and SPM values reduced by four times.
In 2022, the Additional District Magistrate of Bhavnagar had to pass an order banning the burning or burning of solid waste, plastic, plastic coated wire in the Alang Extension Area Authority as per the Indian Criminal Code.
A massive oil spill occurred in the sea at the Alang ship breaking yard.
Heroin and RDX
On 30 July 2018, the Indian Coast Guard intercepted a foreign ship going to Alang, during which 1500 kg of heroin was found hidden in diesel tanks and pipes. The accused were planning to detonate the RDX hidden in the ship under the pretext of wrecking the ship.
Controversy
There was also a dispute over the asphalt carrier ship Infinity-1.
Oil spill
In September 2024, waste oil was spilled on the river bank. The oil of the ships which was not sold in the market was dumped in the river on a large scale. Which went into the sea. Oil got into the fishermen’s nets. Millions of fish died. Oil has spilled in the sea many times before this. Everything is covered with corruption.
Ship dispute
The history of the Exxon Valdez ship is unique. Despite the ban, this well built in Naka was repaired and reused under the provisions of the Oil Pollution Act under the name Prince William Sound. Relaunched as Exxon Mediterranean and operated in the Mediterranean. In 2008, it was converted into an ore carrier by a Hong Kong company. In 2012 it was sold for scrap in Alang, India under the name Oriental Nicety.
International regulations and markets
“Shipbreaker” redirects here. For the novel by Paolo Bacigalupi, see Shipbreaker.
Removing steel plates from ships using cranes at the Alang ship breaking yard in India
Ship breaking, recycling, demolition, scrapping, dismantling or cracking is the work of breaking and renovating ships.
In 2012, 1,250 ocean-going ships in the world were wrecked. Their average age was 26 years. The ships mostly come from China, Greece and Germany. In 2013, 29.1 million tonnes of waste was generated in the world. India’s share of recycled iron is 10%. As of January 2020, Alang had a 30% share of the world. It employs 225,000 workers in the world.
Hazardous materials must be destroyed only after they have been legally removed.
Many other countries, including Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Japan, began buying British ships for scrap by the end of the 19th century. The Italian industry began in 1892. The Japanese industry began in 1896. Many Victorian ships made their final voyages by having the last letter of their names cut off.
Until the late 20th century, most shipbreaking activity took place in the port cities of industrialized nations such as the United Kingdom and the United States.
As of 2020 dismantlers still in the United States work mainly on government-surplus ships. [citation needed]
Ship scraps began to arrive in India after the 1980s when countries around the world tightened environmental regulations.
On 31 December 2005, despite protests over inadequate toxic waste disposal capacity and facilities, the French Navy’s Clemenceau surrendered Toulon for scrapping at India’s Alang ship breaking yard. Then there was a legal dispute. The Supreme Court temporarily denied entry to Alang and sent the ship back to the French.
It takes about 50 labourers three months to dismantle a normal-sized cargo ship of 40,000 tonnes.
The ship contains fuel, hydraulic fluids, lubricating oil and firefighting fluids.
Waste such as plastic, garbage or oily sand is sent to landfill facilities such as the Common Hazardous Waste Treatment Storage Disposal Facility (CHW-TSDF) set up by the Gujarat Maritime Board at Alang. Usable oil is sent to government-authorised refineries where the used oil is chemically treated.
Dry docks are considered more environmentally friendly as all the spillage is contained and can be easily cleaned.About 96 out of 120 ship recycling yards in India have received Statement of Compliance (SOC) to the Hong Kong Convention from various IACS class societies including ClassNK, IRClass, Lloyd’s Register and RINA. (Google translation from Gujarati)
