Gadani ship-breaking yard

The Gadani ship-breaking yard is a centre for the breaking up of derelict ocean-going vessels for scrap. The yard is located in Gadani, Pakistan about 50 kilometres northwest of Karachi.

In the 1980's the Gadani yard was described as the largest ship-breaking yard in the world, with more than 30,000 direct employees. However, competition from newer facilities in India and Bangladesh resulted in a significant reduction in output, with the Gadani yard producing less than one fifth of the scrap it produced twenty years ago. A reduction in taxes on scrap metal led to a modest resurgence at the Yard, which now employs around 6,000 workers.

Operation

Ships to be broken up are run aground on the beach under their own power, then gradually dismantled. As the weight of the ship lessens, it is dragged further onto the beach until completely scrapped. In common with many other breakers in the region, scrapping ships at Gadani uses large amounts of local cheap labor with minimal mechanical assistance.

History

Informal ship-breaking operations occurred along the Gadani coastline prior to Pakistan's independence in 1947. After independence, a group of entrepreneurs made serious efforts to develop this casual trade into a regular industry. Despite their efforts, Gadani beach at that time lacked necessary infrastructure facilities including roads, utilities or accommodation or medical services for workers.

Realizing the potential importance of the ship-breaking industry to the national economy, the government announced in 1978 a number of measures including the declaration of Gadani as a port, a reduction in import duties for ships designation for breaking up, and a government task force to address infrastructure and logistics issues.

The years between 1969 and 1983 are considered to be the golden period of the ship-breaking industry. In the 1980s, the Gadani ship-breaking industry provided employment to over 30,000 workers directly, while over one-half of a million people earned their living indirectly, through trade and industries which used ship scrap as raw material.cite news|url=http://www.dawn.com/2001/12/24/ebr20.htm|title=Ship-breaking attracting entrepreneurs|publisher=DAWN group of newspapers (online)|author=Alauddin Masood|date=2001-12-24|accessdate=2007-09-09] It was described as the largest such yard in the world.cite news| last =Aslam |first =Syed M. |coauthors = |title =Ship-breaking industry: Uncertain future | work =Pakistan and Gulf Economist | pages = | publisher =Pakistan and Gulf Economist | date =2001-04-23 | url =http://www.pakistaneconomist.com/issue2001/issue17/i&e1.htm | accessdate =2008-08-12 ]

However, increased competition from rival ship-breaking yards in Alang, India and Chittagong, Bangladesh, coupled with a by now relatively high import duty for decommissioned vessels, led to a disastrous decline in Gaddani throughput. After producing an average of one million tonnes of scrap in the 1980's, by 2001 the yard produced less than 160,000 tonnes and for ten months had no new vessel arrivals.

In response, in 2001 the Government of Pakistan reduced ship-breaking duties from 15% to 10% and offered further incentives if industry activity improved.. The measures have been effective, with a modest increase in employment to a total of aroound 6,000 workers and a throughput of around 10 ships a year.

See also

* Ship breaking
* Gadani
* Gadani Fish Harbor
* Lasbela District

References

External links

* [http://www.lasbeladistrictgovt.com/ Lasbela District Government]
* [http://www.lasbeladistrictgovt.com/gaddani/ship%20breaking.htm Gadani Ship-breaking Yard]