Narrator:
 The question then is: is there a decent way to break ships? In an ideal world yes, but it costs money. Here conditions are different. Shipyard owners want change, but say the funds are lacking. Thus they look to the government for help in providing hospitals, accommodations for workers, a fire brigade. 25% of the ship's value is paid as customs duties. Owners say this money could easily give shipbreaking a more human face.

Mohamed Rahman
 President of the Shipbreaking Association of Bangladesh
 Actually we are getting no co-operation from the Government, nor any help from the government. Supposing in other industries you get tax holidays, but here, no tax holiday. In other cases there is government interference, but here it is the seaside, nobody bothers. Government is only interested in getting the big amount of taxes and bets and all these things.

Salamoth Ullah
 Chief Inspector: Ministry of Labour and Employment
 "If someone starts a business, he definitely has to come up with some capital, and in case of any lack of capital, banks are there, so he can take a loan from the bank And they can run their business from this money, this loan taken from the bank. So [he] should not face any problems. It's not that they are not making any profit. So if someone earns profit he must invest also."

Close-up, of ship

Narrator:
 In the meantime, workers have few options. In the most densely populated country in the world, they are only too grateful to have a job, no matter what the cost in health and safety. But if local conditions are not conducive to widescale improvement, what is the international contribution going to be toward changing the nature of shipbreaking in South Asia?

The River Thames, London

Narrator:
 We went to the International Chamber of Shipping in London to determine the role of ship owners in this global question.