It is a good piece of news that the government has, of late, responded positively to the demand for safe environment in the ship-breaking industry. The cabinet approved draft Bangladesh Ship Recycling Act, 2015 this week with the provisions for imposing heavy penalties on the violators of Law.
The proposed law is expected ensure environment and waste management of the coastal areas where ship-breaking is in progress. The draft will now be sent to the ministry of law for vetting. It will be sent to parliament after final approval by the cabinet.
According to reports, none will be allowed to build shipyard outside the places earmarked by the designated authority. If anyone brings any ship for recycling purposes without official permission or builds a shipyard beyond the designated zone, he or she will be subject to imposition of a fine between Tk 1.0 million and Tk 3.0 million or be slapped one-year jail or both.
The draft law also proposed for formation of an authority to be called Bangladesh Ship Recycling Board with a view to regulating the sector's overall activities. Once approved, it will guide all ministries concerned to work concertedly on ship-recycling issue. It will be tough but an environment-friendly policy to give the ship-breaking industry a better look.
The ship-breaking industry, a flourishing and promising sector in the country, plays a significant role in alleviating poverty and contributing to growth of the national economy. Nearly 0.20 million to 0.25 million people are directly and about two million more are indirectly involved in the sector. The government's revenue generation from the sector is nearly Tk 8.0 billion annually.
What is worrying is that more hazardous ship-breaking yards are having a mushroom growth in Chittagong, raising the threat to life and environment of the surrounding areas. Although more yards are being set up, the government is yet to take any effective move to ensure workers' safety or to protect the environment. Rather, local influential people are getting involved in building new yards only to destroy the 'para forest'.
The number of the yards has increased to nearly 100 from 36 in 2008. Almost all the country's ship-breaking yards are flouting the law, endangering the labourers' lives and degrading the environment. Death of ill-fated workers due to inhalation of poisonous gas, fire and falling metal scrap is common in such yards. The labourers work without any safety gear and handle toxic substances with their bare hands.
The government has attached much priority to developing this sector as an industry. Sitakundu in Chittagong is now one of the world's largest ship-breaking destinations. Local importers have reportedly beaten their competitors in India and Pakistan to buy the highest number of scrap vessels that are sold in the international market. The country's ship-breakers offer at least 20-25 per cent more price than their competitors in India and Pakistan, making it the preferred choice for the 'burial ground' of large-and medium-sized ships.
The country cuts ships that generate 12,000-20,000 tonnes of scraps per vessel. According to reports, the country's importers are now financially better off than many of their competitors in India, Pakistan and Turkey, enabling them to scour the world for any old ships up for sale anytime.
What is urgently needed from the ship breakers is that they need to initiate moves to develop some institutes in order to formalise the training and recruitment of workers. The core element of the training should be safety. Workers should be made permanent with basic orientation, as training is meaningless for workers recruited on a daily basis. The labour laws of the country should be followed in the industry.
Some 80 per cent of the country's annual rod demand is met from scrap ships. The ship-breaking business grew tremendously in the recent times as the demand for the steel rose sharply amid recovery in the construction industry. Within a short period of time, it is expected to meet the entire domestic needs for iron goods, help flourish ship-building industry, boost employment generation and develop infrastructural facilities through growth of re-rolling mills, small, cottage and other allied industries. The industry is now the second largest employment-generating sector, next to the readymade garments (RMG) only, according to reports in the media.
The local ship-breakers consider the virulent criticism against them an international 'conspiracy' to harm this prospective industry. As ship-breaking is becoming an emerging economically viable sector here, some European countries are thus allegedly 'conspiring' to destroy it, they think. If the country prospers in ship-breaking, the Europeans, according to them, will not be required to send scraps here any more.
On their part, environmentalists urged the government not to succumb to the pressure from the ship-breakers as they play a very unfair role in sea and environment pollution. No ship-breaking yard in Chittagong, as they point out, has any environmental clearance to operate and they continue to discharge different 'toxic elements' into the seas, causing damage to marine life.
The safety of the workers and safeguarding of a pollution-free environment are of utmost importance in the context of Bangladesh. Yet it is also important to keep its ship-breaking industry alive. If this industry closes for any reason, it could be a major cause for collapse of other industries that depend on it.
The campaign to protect the environment and lives of workers is certainty welcome. But it will also be irrational to ignore the economic value of an industry, only on consideration of some factors that are beyond its control.
Against this backdrop, many cherish the hope that proper enforcement of the proposed Act would be quite useful for ensuring safety of the workers as well as pollution-free environment inside the ship-recycling industry.
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About safe environment in ship-breaking industry
Shahiduzzaman Khan | Published: July 30, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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