Ship Breaking Industry in Alang-Sosiya Region: An Overview
History Of Ship Breaking
Till the 1970s, ship breaking was done by large shipyards in the U.S. and Europe. However, tightening environmental regulations resulted in increased costs of hazardous waste disposal in industrialized countries (Basel Convention guidelines, 2003). Therefore, industrialized countries started externalizing their hazardous waste outside their own national borders by sending their obsolete ships to developing countries for recycling (Basel Convention guidelines, 2003; Demaria, 2010; Sonak et al., 2008).
During the 1970s to 1990s, Taiwan and Korea became the major ship breaking players in the world. By the early 1990s, even these nations realized the dangers of ship breaking (Demaria, 2010). So, from the early 1990s, ship-breaking business has gravitated to primarily third world countries such as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh (Demaria, 2010). Global ship breaking is sometimes called as “pollution haven” for its migration from several core countries to Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan and several (semi) peripheral countries (Frey, 2015).
Shipbreaking is the process of dismantling obsolete ships. It includes cutting down the entire ship infrastructure for recovering reusable materials such as steel hulls, batteries, furniture, steel, machinery for recycling (Demaria, 2010). Most of the recycled material is scrap steel (Sawyer, 2002). Shipbreaking is a lucrative industry for developing nations like India, Bangladesh, etc. due to its potential to provide ready employment to unskilled hands, high-quality steel which helps conserve energy while reducing the need for mining ore and direct revenue to the governments (Putchucherril, 2010). For developing countries like India which have the little industrial capacity to meet domestic demands for industrial products, deep-sea ships are almost entirely salvaged for materials ranging from steel to engines to toilets (Rousmaniere, 2007).
Ship Breaking In India
In India, shipbreaking activities started in the docks of Mumbai. Then due to space constraints and the need to diversify activities, ship breaking industry pivoted towards the Alang and Sosiya region in Gujarat (Putchucherril, 2010). Shipbreaking is also done in West Bengal, Kerala, and Maharashtra, but Alang-Sosiya ship-breaking yard is the most prominent (Putchucherril, 2010). At one-point Alang was synonymous with shipbreaking in the world and was described as a ship breaking capital of the world-system (Putchucherril, 2010; Frey, 2015). Alang-Sosiya ship-breaking yard started to function in 1983. Between 1983-2013, Alang and Sosiya yard beached nearly 6,318 vessels and dismantled almost one ship a day, producing three million metric tonnes of scrap annually (Sahu, 2014). Now, it is the largest breaking yard in the world in terms of an actual number of ships broken (Frey, 2015).
On average, 200 ships are broken annually, and it produces about 3.5 million tonnes of steel. This is equivalent to the production of major Indian steel plants (Putchucherril, 2010). Between 1997 and 2007, Alang is estimated to have provided approximately 23 million tonnes of steel (Putchucherril, 2010). Alang ship breaking yard has an annual turnover of over the U.S. $1.3 billion (Basha et al., 2006).
Workforce And Its Living Conditions In Alang-Sosiya Yards
By and large, the ship workers live in rented shanty dwellings, without even basic facilities such as potable water, sanitation, electricity, drainage systems and education for their children (G.Sahu, 2014). Lack of drinking water is a major concern for the migrant workers, and they are forced to spend their meagre income on buying water from local village people (G.Sahu, 2014). The Gujarat Maritime Board has set up six toilets and 12 stand post bathrooms for 35,000 workers, which are flagrantly inadequate for 35,000 workers (G.Sahu, 2014).
Highly unregulated workers are regularly exposed to ill-treatment and social and economic abuses (IMF, 2007). Being uneducated, they always fall prey to caste, religion, gender, region dynamics of the group (IMF, 2007). Most of the workers have no means to contact their families, so they live turbulent lives without any support or guidance (IMF, 2007). Further, the workers are benefits under government schemes such as provident funds as they are employed in informal/unorganized sector (G.Sahu, 2014). Even protection of our labour laws such as Factories act is not afforded to them because these acts don’t apply to the unorganized/informal sector.
Also, many skilled, as well as unskilled workers, receive wages which are below the wages prescribed by the Minimum Wages Act (Misra, 2018). The payment of overtime wages also contravenes the Factory Act of 1948. The wages received by workers for overtime ranges between ₹25–30. This is a clear violation of Sec. 59 of Factories act which states that if a worker works for more than nine hours in a day or for more than 48 hours in a week, then he would be entitled to wages twice the rate of his original wages (G.Sahu, 2014).
Physical Hazards Faced By Ship Workers In Alang-Sosiya
Alang’s critics call it a local version of Victorian Britain’s “dark satanic mills” (Guardian, 2004).
The Supreme Court-appointed a Technical Experts Committee in 2006. The final report of the committee is a polemic against physical exploitation that the ship workers face in India. In particular, the report notes that:
The average annual incident of fatal incidents in the ship breaking industry is 2.0 per 1000 workers while the all India incident of fatal accidents during the same period in the mining industry, which is considered to be the most accident-prone industry, is 0.34 per 1,000 workers.
There are many “extremely” harmful chemicals which are found in the superstructure of ships. Asbestos is used as a thermal and fire insulator throughout the ship, especially in the engine room. It is extremely harmful to health. Breathing asbestos-containing material can cause chest cancer, cancer of abdominal lining, irreversible scarring of the lung tissue (Sawyer, 2002). Lead is another toxic chemical which is commonly found in batteries, paint, motors, generators.
Lead poisoning can impair the nervous system, vision and muscle coordination (Putchucherril, 2010). Mercury, which is found in electrical switches, thermometers, level switches can cause mental retardation, delayed neurological and physical development. Apart from this, there are several other byproducts of the ship breaking process such as oil sludge, radioactive materials, brominated flame retardants, etc. (Putchucherril, 2010).
Workers in the Alang-Sosiya region are continuously exposed to these toxic chemicals (Toxic Issue, 2009). In 1995, following a Public Interest Litigation, Supreme Court constituted a High-Powered Committee on Management of Hazardous Wastes. The committee in its report noted that dismantling of each ship produced approximately five tons of asbestos and workmen were hardly equipped to handle such toxic material (Pelsy, 2008). A study by Greenpeace has confirmed the presence of asbestos dust in the workplace, living quarters and public areas in Alang (Pelsy, 2008).
The workers also face many accidents on site. For example, in 2003, 25 workers were blown up when a torch sliced through a green tanker containing unreleased gases (Guardian, 2004). Since 1983, as much as 400 fires have broken out, causing the death of around 470 people in Alang-Sosiya yard (Sahu, 2014). They lack proper equipment and gears. Gears provided are of substandard quality mostly to clear audits.
“No security, no hand gloves, no holiday, no Sunday pay, no water, no school, no quarters, no rooms, no medical facilities, no provident fund, so many dangers, and very little pay… Who would come to this hell if he wasn’t forced to?” Rajandra, 31, from Karnataka. [1]
No Mass Mobilization
Despite their deplorable conditions, the mass mobilization among the workers is virtually absent. This is due to their fear of losing jobs (Kumar, 2013). Till 2006, there was no trade union which could represent the cause of ship workers (Kumar, 2013). There have been various informal protests, but they are limited to issues of wages and compensations. They do not address the major concerns of health hazards such as accidents (Sahu, 2014). However, in 2006, Alang-Sosiya Ship recycling and general workers association was formed.
“Clemenceau” and “Blue Lady” are two landmark cases which questioned the practice of sending heavily toxic ships in India. In 2003, the French government decided to send their decommissioned aircraft carrier to Indian waters for demolition (Poddar & Sood, 2015). This was widely protested by Greenpeace which began a campaign to prevent French ship from dumping toxic waste in Indian waters.
Further, the court noted that “before a ship arrives at a port, it should have proper consent from the concerned authority or the state maritime board, stating that it does not contain any hazardous waste or radioactive substance onboard” (Pelsy, 2008). Finally, the Supreme Court gave a golden ruling that “all ships should be properly decontaminated by the shipowner prior to the breaking” (Pelsy, 2008).
However, the Supreme Court failed to follow its own precedent in the case of the Research Foundation for Science Technology and Natural Resource Policy v. Union of India (Poddar & Sood, 2015). In 2007, another French ship called “Blue Lady” entered the Indian waters. There were protests, and the case went to the stage of litigation. In this case, the Supreme Court recognized the precautionary and polluters pay principle, but it took a classic economic stance. Unlike the 2006 order which was quite progressive and environmentally friendly, Supreme Court allowed the Blue Bird to be dismantled citing that this would create employment opportunities for 700 workers and yield 41,000 metric tons of steel (Pelsy, 2008).
Conclusion
Alang-Sosiya ship breaking industry reflects the vast difference between the wealthy nations of the North and the impoverished nations of the South. It shows how industrialized countries displace their toxic wastes to the waste disposal frontier of the developing countries resulting in adverse health, safety, environmental and socio-economic consequences for the developing countries (Frey, 2015).
To improve the situation, the government must first focus on raising environmental and labour standards. This would make dismantling in Indian region a less lucrative alternative and would also benefit the workers. Further, they must encourage international organizations such as ILO, UNEP, and IMO to work in close collaboration with Indian governments and adopt their recommended local practices. A strong legal regime is an important element in achieving sustainable growth in this industry. Also, we must move towards more sustainable options such as ship recycling.