10 October 2015

Where boats go to die: Fascinating pictures inside a Bangladeshi ship-breaking yard where once mighty liners are reduced to scrap

  • Bangladesh's Chittagong ship breaking site has 80 yards that break down ships and sell on parts and raw materials
  • More than 200,000 people work on the site in Bangladesh under squalid conditions with limited safety equipment
  • Industry started in the 1960s when a Greek ship sank off the coast and since rapidly grown into a world leader
  • The site is so huge and bleak that it was used in Joss Whedon's Hollywood smash movie Avengers: Age Of Ultron

Graveyard of the seas: This dark industrial graveyard is where some of the world's largest ships got to die when their lives as vessels on the ocean expirs

This dark industrial graveyard is where some of the world's largest ships got to die.

Bangladesh's Chittagong ship breaking site is made from 80 separate yards, where 200,000 people take apart the forgotten vessels of the sea for their parts to be melted and sold.

Industrial heartland: Bangladesh's Chittagong ship breaking site is made from 80 separate yards, where 200,000 people take apart the forgotten vessels of the sea for their parts to be melted and sold

The bleak and filthy scenes are so stark that the site was chosen to film parts of superhero box office smash Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Hollywood glamour: The bleak and filthy scenes are so stark that the site was chosen to film parts of superhero box office smash Avengers: Age of Ultron 

All the ships are broken down, melted and their parts sold by workers in squalid conditions, captured by photographer Sahil Ali, 24, in Faujdarhat, along the 11 miles Sitakunda coastal strip near Chittagong.

Smoke on the water: All the ships are broken down, melted and their parts sold by workers in squalid conditions, captured by photographer Sahil Ali, 24, in Faujdarhat, along the 11 miles Sitakunda coastal strip near Chittagong

Sahil said: 'Our eyes could see nothing but the carcasses of half-cut retired ships and sea liners scattered across the water.

'I was astonished to see how a few dozen men with their bare fingers could dismantle a colossal cruise liner within two weeks.

 Hub of industry: The breaking yard is located in Faujdarhat along the 11 miles Sitakunda coastal strip, 12 miles northwest of Chittagong 
'The environment in which they have to work is truly extraordinary and the dangers in which they face every day are difficult to comprehend.'

The shipbreaking industry started its operations in the 1960s when a Greek ship 'MD Alpine' was stranded on the shores of Sitakund, Chittagong, after a severe cyclone.

The ship remained there for a number of years before the Chittagong Steel House brought the vessel and scrapped it.

According to a 2012 World Bank report: 'The industry grew steadily through the 1980s and, by the middle of the 1990s, the country ranked number two in the world by tonnage scrapped. In 2008, there were 26 ship-breaking yards in the area, and in 2009 there were 40.'

Half a century: The shipbreaking industry started its operations in the 1960s when a Greek ship 'MD Alpine' was stranded on the shores of Sitakund, Chittagong, after a severe cyclone

The entire beach lies hidden by piles of metal, machinery, cylinders, and hundreds of thousands of other ship parts.

Sahil said: 'One of the old workers informed me that no major investments were required for engaging in ship breaking.

Men at work: The yard is a vital employer for 200,000 people who work to retire the aging vessels that no longer have a functional future 

'The present type of ship breaking in Bangladesh just requires a large winch, some blowtorches and maybe a bulldozer. The rest of the operation is just raw human manpower.

'Poverty and millions of people without education are looking for livelihood opportunities.'

Huge loads: The industry grew steadily through the 1980s and, by the middle of the 1990s, the country ranked number two in the world by tonnage scrapped 

Salvageable parts are sold on while the waste rubber and plastics are burnt - potentially exposing the workers to poisonous fumes.

One man's trash is another man's treasure: The entire beach lies hidden by piles of metal, machinery, cylinders, and hundreds of thousands of other ship parts 
And Sahil revealed that Chittagong's giant scale and haunting beauty led director Joss Whedon to use it for a scene in his Avengers sequel.

He said: 'The workers told us about a big Hollywood production that came with their crew to shoot the partly destroyed ships - perhaps the scene of an apocalypse.

'We learned later that the film was The Avengers: Age of Ultron.'

Source: daily mail. 

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