Sustainable Green Ship Recycling and how its done.
Ship dismantling, also popularly referred to as “ship recycling” is a process of breaking down a ship (also called ship breaking) when it completes its life tenure. As one of the ship disposal techniques, ship dismantling involves the retired ships to be stripped off their machinery, barring the value-adding materials which are rightfully reused for new ships or for other applications. Now Sustainable Green Ship Recycling means dismantling a ship according to the international rules and regulations, for minimal environmental damage.
Ship dismantling is highly necessary as the maintenance expenses of a particular vessel keep soaring with time and it becomes really difficult to handle the same. Therefore, the shipowners seek the easy way out and hand over the old vessel for effective disposal, so that they can concentrate on dealing with other regular expenses like port charges, fuel charges, and also salaries of the crew members.
The vessel on its final journey needs to float steadily and hit the beach of the shipping yard where it staggers and stops. Once on the shore, the engine is shut down and the anchor is dropped to make the ship steady. The ship breakers then start working after preparing a plan. At the site, the laborers pull the vessel upon the beach, with the help of strong chains, cables, and machinery systems. This is one of the most dangerous tasks of the ship dismantling process.
Several regulations have to be followed for dismantling a ship. The Hong Kong International Convention for the Safety and Environmentally Sound Recycling of the Ships, 2009, was adopted to ensure that the ship breaking procedure do not pose any unnecessary risk to human health, safety and environment.
Also, before the dismantling process starts, the fuel tanks of the ships are completely drained to prevent any accidental explosions in the yard. Then the “scrappers” take over the particular vessel to explore it and locate useful items that may include flags, liquor, plumbing, electrical wiring, electronics, furniture, and machinery. All these items are reused or sold in the local market. Traders from different parts of the country visit Alang Ship Breaking Yard to buy scrap and reusable items at bargained price.
The real demolition of the ship begins after the initial scrapping process is over. The shipboard supervisor and other authorized personnel will then inspect the entire ship and decide the immediate course of action. Technically, there are no basic guidelines as such on how to break a ship. It is the intent observation and countless project experiences of the advisors that counts in the process rather than any bookish knowledge. However, strict safety guidelines need to be followed by everyone involved with the ship dismantling procedure.
As the actual dismantling starts, the ship breaking laborers are armed with a variety of torches, sheer elbow greases and sledgehammers to tear down the anatomy of the ship. The period of disassembling can vary anywhere from two weeks to even twelve months
Process Chart