Cleaning up shipbreaking
The Galloo shipbreaking plant in Ghent, Europe's largest, processes some 35,000 tonnes of metal every year. It employs only about 30 staff, with most of the heavy work done by machines.
The European Union plans to impose strict new rules on how companies scrap old tankers and cruise liners, run aground and dismantled on beaches in South Asia.
Some 35,000 mostly migrant and unskilled workers operate on Gujarat’s ship-breaking beaches.
The volume of ships recycled at the Galloo yard has more than quadrupled over the past 10 years.
Workers prepare to dismantle a decommissioned ship at the Alang shipyard.
A crane lifts a container at the Galloo ship recycling plant.
Depending on raw material prices, ship owners can make up to $500 per tonne of steel from an Indian yard, compared with $300 in China.
A worker dismantles the hull of a barge at the Galloo plant.
Workers on a vessel at the Alang shipyard.
The steering cabin of a French navy vessel is taken apart at the Galloo plant.
A worker dismantles a ship at the Alang yard.
A worker pauses near a barge at the Galloo plant.
A worker watches television during his break at the Alang shipyard.
Workers pause as they dismantle parts of a French seismic vessel at the Galloo plant.
