People celebrate the maiden voyage of a new cruise ship. But its last journey is quiet and unnoticed. The decommissioned ocean liners are on a direct course to the Cruise Ship Cemetery.
Some shipping companies organize farewell tours for their famous ships. They do it before the complete disappearance from the fleet.
Ship companies decommission more than 700 larger ships every year. The corona pandemic throws more and more cruise ships can be available among them.
The pandemic had plunged the multi-billion dollar cruise industry into crisis. Since then, the scrapping yards have been very busy, without any doubt.
Shipbreaking Port in Aliaga is Booming
One of the largest and best-known is the dismantling port in Aliaga. It is almost 50 kilometers north of Izmir. It has experienced a real upswing as a result of the corona pandemic:
Only the scrapping of cargo and container ships filled the order books. But, since two thousand twenty decommissioned cruise ships have increased the works.
The workers dismantle ocean liners within six to nine months. The fixtures, electrics, and scrap metal recovered become transformed into cash.
The Number of Cruise Ships Scrapped is Increasing
The Carnival Ecstasy last set course for Cruise Ship Cemetery in mid-November 2022. And it has been in the big scrapyard ever since.
She traveled the seven seas for 31 years before reaching her last destination. Carnival has retired six ships from the fantasy series since the pandemic.
The Carnival Ecstasy is the 16th cruise ship its owner sold to a scrap port in 2022. Last year set a new record. The number of cruise ships cleared for scrap is increasing every year.
Coast at Shipbreaking Ports Faces Contamination
Shipping companies also send their cruise ships to Alang in India for scrapping. Workers have been dismantling hundreds of vessels in the north of Mumbai.
The working conditions are controversial, as the “Business Insider” reports. Incidents keep happening. The once-clean seacoast became contaminated with asbestos, heavy metals, and oils.
It is different in Chittagong in Bangladesh: The ocean liners also come to this cruise ship cemetery to die. And here, too, environmental pollution is high.
The business with the discarded ships is lucrative for the shipyard owners. But it is often life-threatening for the workers. More than 14 people died on the site of shipbreaking in 2021 alone.
Cruise Ship Cemetry in Bangladesh
There is a thriving ship-breaking business in Bangladesh. It is in the coastal area of the Chittagong division. Thousands of people work in the shipbreaking industries of the country.
This work plays a significant role in developing the economy of the people of this country in South Asia. But poor people get a small amount of money after completing this hard work.
The shipbreaking industry is spreading all over the world. The owners of the expired cruise ships sell them to developing countries.
They sell it, especially to South Asian countries like Bangladesh. Large recycling industries have developed on the beaches of these countries. These recycling industries break the old ships.
The main wheel of the economy of the areas revolves around these industries. These industries are providing work for poor people, without any doubt.
But these industries generate a severe problem. The problem has a relationship with the environment. The materials of the ships pollute the area.
The governments of Bangladesh should take the necessary steps to prevent pollution. They should also try to increase the working quality of the workers in these industries.
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