Alang port shipbreakers India

India; Gujarat; Bhavnagar, Shipbreakers
Alang is a census town in Bhavnagar district in the Indian state of Gujarat, India. It is the leading centre of the worldwide ship breaking and recycling industry.
The shipyards at Alang recycle approximately half of all ships salvaged around the world.The yards are located on the Gulf of Khambat, 50 kilometres southeast of Bhavnagar. Visiting Westerners complain that before shipbreaking began there in June 1983 the beach at Alang was pristine and unspoiled. However, locals say that the work provides a reasonably paid job by local standards, with a steady income used to support their families.
Large supertankers, car ferries and container ships are beached during high tide, and as the tide recedes, hundreds of manual laborers dismantle each ship, salvaging what they can and reducing the rest into scrap. Tens of thousands of jobs are supported by this activity and millions of tons of steel are recovered.
The salvage yards at Alang have generated controversy about working conditions, workers' living conditions, and the impact on the environment. One major problem is that despite many serious work-related injuries, the nearest full service hospital is 50 kilometres away in Bhavnagar. Alang itself is served by a small Red Cross hospital that offers only limited services.
Almost one in every six workers could be suffering from an early stage of asbestosis and are at serious risk of contracting lung cancer, according to an expert committee set up by India’s Supreme Court
In a photo: a woman working in the port between two ships
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