Bangladesh’s shipyards race for safer future

When Samrat Hossain first started cutting up old ships weighing thousands of tonnes in a southeast Bangladesh shipbreaking yard a decade ago, all he would wear was a cap or a helmet.

But these days, the 27-year-old spends nearly an hour each day before work putting on his protective gear, which includes special masks, gloves, boots and a suit.

“A lot has changed in the last 10 years. Before, PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) was not a factor. But today we are not allowed to work without it,” said Hossain, an employee of PHP Ship Breaking and Recycling Industries in the coastal city of Chattogram.

It is the nation’s only yard - of a total of about 80 - that complies with international health, safety and environmental rules for the risky occupation. “It’s not the same everywhere,” added Hossain. “Some workers from other yards told me they buy their own gloves.”

The industry in Bangladesh is evolving to come in line with new regulations, officials say.

The government, through a parliamentary act in 2018, ordered yard-owners to clean up their practices by 2023 and implement standards laid down in the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships.

That pact, adopted in 2009 and ratified by 17 nations so far, aims to improve worker safety and environmental protection, but has yet to come into force globally.

The changes will include training workers on safety, preventing emissions of ozone-depleting substances and building storage for toxic waste from ships like asbestos and lead.

Bangladesh is one of the world’s top locations for dismantling end-of-life ships, with at least 144 broken down on its beaches in 2020, or about one in every five worldwide, according to Shipbreaking Platform, a global coalition that campaigns for clean, safe ship recycling.

Most of the others ended up in India, Pakistan and Turkey.

The sector has been criticised for failing to prevent workers’ deaths - caused by gas explosions, employees falling from a height or being hit by ship parts - and for damaging the environment through oil spills and spreading harmful waste.

At least 11 workers have died in Bangladesh’s shipbreaking sector so far this year, according to Young Power in Social Action (YPSA), a local non-profit that focuses on shipyards.

Slow progress

In Bangladesh, only PHP - which started work to reform its practices back in 2014 - has so far met the Hong Kong pact’s goals. Although most of the country’s shipbreaking yards have now submitted improvement plans, government and NGO officials expect just five or so to comply with the convention by next year.

They attribute the slow progress mainly to the high investment needed to update the yards’ operations, as well as lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic over the last year.