Narrator:
After World War II, the United States of America and parts of Europe broke the world's ships in specialised dry docks. Then a rise in labour costs and an increase in the supply of steel from traditional capital intensive sources redirected the world's fleet ready for scrapping to China, and - on a much smaller scale - Korea.
China dominated shipbreaking until the 1990s with up to 1,000 facilities operating on its beaches.
But as recently as the mid 1990s, stricter regulations and a lack of demand for steel in China have forced ships to set sail again for a new destination. This time: South Asia.
It is to this subcontinent, specifically India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, that some700 ships are sent each year for breaking.

visual overview of Alang

Narrator:
The yard at Alang in India is the biggest in the business, breaking 500 ships per year. The rest are broken down in Bangladesh, Pakistan and China.
Although their involvement varies, all shipbreaking nations have one thing in common: they have come under fire for becoming dump sites for the industrialized world. Critics say their beaches are an environmental disaster and their shipyards an example of the poorest of working conditions.

Paul Bailey
ILO Ship-breaking Specialist
"Shipbreaking on beach heads in the Asian countries of course represents the downside of globalisation. Because after the industrialised countries of the western world are through using these ships, when they are no longer useable, they just get scrapped on beach heads without dry dock facilities or safety measures for the workers involved. And of course the challenge posed by this is how this can be done in a safer manner, it will never be perfect because the optimal conditions are not there, but improvements can be made and that is the challenge we are faced with."