Alang's Empty Horizon: Why the World's Biggest Ship‑Breaking Yard Is Losing Business

Standing on the windswept Arabian Sea coast in Gujarat, India, Ramakant Singh peers out at an unusually empty horizon. "In the old days, ships lined up at this yard like buffaloes before a storm," says the 47‑year‑old. "Now, we count the arrivals on our fingers."

Alang—together with the adjacent village of Sosiya—built the modern global ship‑recycling industry. With a gently sloping beach and strong tides ideal for beaching, the yards grew from the 1980s into an ecosystem that has dismantled more than 8,600 vessels, roughly 68 million tonnes of light displacement tonnage (LDT). At its peak Alang accounted for nearly 98% of India’s ship recycling and about one‑third of the global total.

From cables to cupboards, almost all materials are reclaimed and repurposed for construction and manufacturing markets [Anuj Behal/Al Jazeera]

What Has Changed?

Over the past decade, arrivals at Alang have dwindled. Where long rows of hulls once rose against the town’s skyline, now only a few cruise ships and cargo carriers appear on the horizon. The decline reflects a mix of market dynamics, regional competition and regulatory costs.

Market Forces

Shipowners are keeping vessels in service longer because freight markets rebounded sharply after the COVID pandemic. Higher freight rates make it more profitable to keep older ships operating rather than sell them for scrap. Security threats—such as attacks in the Red Sea—and geopolitical disruptions have forced longer voyages around the Cape of Good Hope, raising voyage time and costs. A UNCTAD analysis in June 2022 also found that the Russia‑Ukraine war and other tensions pushed up marine fuel costs by more than 60%, further increasing operating expenses and delaying vessel retirements.

Unused ships quickly become a financial drain, forcing owners to offload them, even if that means dismantling them long before their intended lifespan [Anuj Behal/Al Jazeera]

Regulatory Upgrades and Rising Costs

India adopted the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships (HKC) in November 2019 and passed the Recycling of Ships Act that year. Alang‑Sosiya Ship Recycling Yards (ASSRY) invested heavily to comply: pollution controls, lined hazardous‑waste pits, worker training and inventories of toxic materials. About 106 ASSRY yards have received HKC Statements of Compliance.

Compliance improved safety and environmental standards, but it also raised costs. Each yard invested an estimated $0.56m–$1.2m to meet the new norms, making Alang less price‑competitive against neighbouring markets.

Regional Competition

Shipowners often choose dismantling yards that pay the highest price per LDT. Industry figures show Alang offering roughly $500–510 per LDT, while competitors in Bangladesh’s Chattogram and Pakistan’s Gadani have paid about $540–550 and $525–530 per LDT respectively. As a result, India’s decommissioning numbers have fallen: ships scrapped in India dropped from 166 in 2023 to 124 in 2024, even as Turkiye and Pakistan increased their shares.

All remnants of life on the ocean wind up here – corroded chains, rescue boats, ceramic crockery, martini glasses, and treadmills from ship gyms [Anuj Behal/Al Jazeera]

Local Impact

Alang is more than a set of breaking plots: it is a vast recycling ecosystem. Before cutting begins, valuable items are auctioned and sold in makeshift shops along an 11km road approaching the yards. Salvaged goods—from chandeliers and gym equipment to steel plates and pumps—feed more than 60 induction furnaces and about 80 rerolling mills around Bhavnagar, producing construction steel and other materials.

With fewer ships, the local supply of scrap steel has fallen sharply. Employment has plunged: Alang once employed more than 60,000 workers; union figures put current employment at fewer than 15,000. Small businesses, transporters, furnace operators and hundreds of retail shops have seen sales collapse.

Most shops are stacked with whatever the ship-breaking yards have yielded that day [Anuj Behal/Al Jazeera]

Workers—largely migrants from states such as Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh—now show up only when a ship beaches; many have moved to other towns or found alternative work. Yard owners report that operating capacity has fallen: of 153 developed plots along the 10km coastline, only about 20 remain functional and most run at roughly 25% capacity. Alang’s record year was 2011–12, when 415 ships were dismantled; the contrast with today is stark.

Safety Gains, But Little Relief

Those who remain say the yards are safer than they were a decade or two ago—better training, safety equipment and environmental controls have reduced the death toll. But improved safety cannot replace lost livelihoods when ships are not arriving.

"Compliance and cleaner operations were necessary," says a local yard owner, "but unless market conditions change or owners choose Alang for reasons beyond price, the yards will stay quiet."

Alang’s future will depend on a mix of global shipping economics, regional pricing dynamics and whether the premium for safer, more environmentally compliant recycling begins to matter more to shipowners and insurers. For now, the quiet coast stands as a reminder that environmental progress and economic survival must be balanced to sustain this unique industry.