Alang, India – A Giant Industry Falls Silent
Along the blustery shores of the Arabian Sea in India’s western state of Gujarat, the beach at Alang stretches endlessly into the distance. Once crowded with towering steel hulls awaiting dismantling, the coastline today looks eerily bare.
“For years, ships stood here one after another, like animals waiting to be slaughtered,” says Ramakant Singh, a ship-breaking worker who has spent two decades cutting apart massive vessels. “Now, days go by without a single arrival.”
Alang, located in Bhavnagar district, is home to the world’s largest ship recycling yard. At its peak, it was a global powerhouse — dismantling nearly one-third of the world’s end-of-life ships and accounting for almost 98 percent of India’s ship recycling volume. Today, the industry that sustained tens of thousands of workers is facing an unprecedented slowdown.
How Alang Became the Backbone of Global Ship Recycling
Alang’s rise dates back to the 1980s, when its gently sloping shoreline and extreme tidal variations made it ideal for beaching ships — a low-cost method of grounding vessels before dismantling them manually.
Over four decades, more than 8,600 ships weighing an estimated 68 million tonnes of light displacement tonnage (LDT) were dismantled here. Tankers, cargo ships, cruise liners and container vessels from Europe, East Asia and the Middle East all met their final fate on Alang’s beaches.
The operation became a vast recycling ecosystem. Steel plates fed India’s construction boom. Engines, pipes, wiring, furniture and even crockery were salvaged and resold across the country.
At its height, Alang employed over 60,000 workers, most of them migrants from India’s poorer states such as Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh.
A Global Fleet Is Ageing — But Ships Aren’t Coming
Ironically, the global shipping industry is ageing rapidly. Of the world’s roughly 109,000 active vessels, nearly half are more than 15 years old — typically the age when ships are retired.
Each year, around 1,800 ships are scrapped worldwide. But despite this, fewer vessels are arriving at Alang.
According to the Ship Recycling Industries Association of India, Alang’s busiest year was 2011–12, when 415 ships were dismantled. Since then, activity has steadily declined. Of the 153 developed plots along Alang’s 10km coastline, only around 20 are still operational, many running at just 25 percent capacity.
Why Shipowners Are Holding On to Old Vessels
Industry experts say the primary reason is simple: shipping has been too profitable to stop.
Following the COVID-19 pandemic, freight demand surged, sending shipping rates soaring. Shipowners began extending the operational life of older vessels rather than selling them for scrap.
Geopolitical disruptions have added to the trend. Attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea, linked to the war in Gaza, forced vessels to reroute around the Cape of Good Hope, driving up freight prices. The Russia-Ukraine war and Middle East instability further inflated fuel and insurance costs.
“When owners are making money, they don’t scrap ships,” says Haresh Parmar, secretary of the Ship Recycling Industries Association. “That’s why Alang is empty.”
Compliance With Global Rules Has Raised Costs
Alang’s challenges are not only global — they are also regulatory.
In 2019, India ratified the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships (HKC). The move transformed Alang into one of the most compliant ship recycling clusters in the developing world.
Yards invested heavily in:
- Pollution control systems
- Hazardous waste containment
- Worker safety training
- Toxic material inventories
Today, more than 100 yards in Alang-Sosiya have received HKC compliance certification.
But this compliance came at a steep cost. Each yard invested between $560,000 and $1.2 million, significantly raising operating expenses.
“Safety has improved, but prices haven’t,” says Chintan Kalthia, a yard owner. “On paper, compliance gives us an edge. In reality, it makes us more expensive.”
Losing Business to Regional Rivals
As costs rose, Alang lost its competitive edge.
Shipowners now receive better offers in:
- Bangladesh (Chattogram): $540–550 per LDT
- Pakistan (Gadani): $525–530 per LDT
- India (Alang): $500–510 per LDT
Unable to match these prices without incurring losses, Alang yards are losing business. In 2024, India dismantled 124 ships, down from 166 in 2023, while ship recycling activity increased in Pakistan and Türkiye.
Collapse of a Recycling Economy
The slowdown has devastated the region’s broader economy.
Along the road leading to Alang, hundreds of shops sell salvaged ship materials — from lifeboats and anchors to chandeliers, gym equipment and ceramic crockery. Many now sit half-empty.
“Earlier, customers came from across Gujarat,” says Ram Vilas, a shop owner. “Now, there’s no stock and no crowd.”
Downstream industries are also struggling. Scrap steel from Alang once supplied dozens of induction furnaces and rerolling mills in Bhavnagar, producing construction-grade steel. With fewer ships arriving, raw material shortages have disrupted production.
Transporters, gas suppliers, warehouse workers and factory operators have all felt the impact.
Workers Leave as Jobs Disappear
For workers, the decline has been brutal.
Employment has fallen from over 60,000 workers to fewer than 15,000, according to labour unions. Many migrants now return only when ships arrive, taking temporary jobs elsewhere in the meantime.
“The work is safer now,” Ramakant admits. “But safety doesn’t feed families. Without ships, there is nothing.”
Standing on the silent beach, he watches the horizon — waiting for the next steel giant to appear.
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