With unsustainably low shipping rates and
overcapacity, vessel owners are sending ships to scrap yards, such as the one
in Alang, India.
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Beached ships await recycling at Alang,
India, site of one of the world’s largest ship-scrapping operations. KARAN DEEP
SINGH/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
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A worker cuts through metal at a ship-breaking operation in Alang. KARAN DEEP SINGH
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Workers pull a metal rope attached to the
M.V. King David, a bulk carrier that used to carry iron ore from Australia to
China. KARAN DEEP SINGH/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
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Workers pull a metal rope attached to the
M.V. King David, a bulk carrier that used to carry iron ore from Australia to
China.
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About 1,000 ships that have the combined
capacity to haul 52 million metric tons of cargo—about the weight of 142 Empire
State Buildings—will be dragged onto beaches, cut into pieces and sold for
scrap metal this year. KARAN DEEP SINGH The last portion of the bulk carrier
M.V. King David, sits beached for scrap.
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The last portion of the bulk carrier M.V.
King David, sits beached for scrap.
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The global economic slowdown is putting
shipping through its most bruising period since the 2008 financial crisis.
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The typical age for recycling a ship is 30
years. This year the average age of ships getting scrapped is about 15 years,
says Anil Sharma, president and chief executive of U.S.-based Global Marketing
Systems, the world’s largest cash buyer of ships for recycling
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In the past, recycling a ship typically
generated about one-quarter of the price of a new vessel of the same type and
size. But owners say a sharp drop in the price of steel has cut the rate of
return to an average of 10% to 15% of the price of a new ship.
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Source: wall
street journal. 14 August 2016
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