This photo is courtesy of Mr. Raja Islam. The place is Gadani’s Ship Breaking area some 40 km west of Karachi. Ships of all sizes and shapes are broken down into small pieces of scrap here using mostly the hand tools. It is a work of sheer labor. When I first saw this picture in Raja Islam’s collection it was titled as ‘Egyptian slaves at work’. Breaking a ship into small pieces by using simpe hand tools is probably very close in effort to building a Egyptian pyramid.
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I think this picture shows us part of the story. The thing missing in picture, is a simple pulling machine with a large pulley.These guys might be unwinding the cable from the pulley. Who knows ? I may be totally wrong.
Neena,
I am very well versed in the dynamics of ship breaking having done a lot of research recently on scrap steel market in Asia for one of my clients.
I know the condition of the labor is not great but that problem exists everywhere from mining to farming in Pakistan.
If a ship breaker is to invest a large amount of money (in Millions of U.S$$$) in his operation including cranes and hydraulic cutters he will have to amortize that cost in the price of his product (steel plates). His competitors i.e India and Bangladesh will beat his price and run him out of business. With his absence from the local market we will have a shortage of steel and we will be forced to import steel plates from India or Bangladesh. See how a competitor can run our people out of business just by using cheap labor and machines and still sell us that very product??
Unless all the countries involved in the business impose strict standards, this practice will go on. Even if strict measures are imposed, the market for recycled steel may see a decrease because of the price hike.
Harris – you can get a real idea here.
Harris,
True, but some machines will make life easier for these workers.
Bangladesh also has a big ship breaking industry which rivals Gadani. A while ago, I saw their photos in a National Geographic magazine.
For Gadani, when ship breaking industry was at peak, more than 40 ships were brought ashore at a time and broken to pieces.
It is said the industry got a big blow in Nawaz Sharif’s second govt when heavy taxes were levied on Gadani Ship breaking. It is alleged that it was done to promote steel from Ittefaq Industries and to discourage otherwise cheap steel coming out of Gadani ship breaking industry.
Many useable household items from ships at Gadani made their way to the spare parts market in Sher Shah Karachi. I remember I once bought a lamp shade which had been salvaged from a ship at Gadani and was at sale in Sher Shah market.