Editing Ship breaking (section)

==History==
[[File:Breaking-up HMS Queen at Rotherhithe - ILN 1871.jpg|thumb|{{HMS|Queen|1839|6}} [[Heeling (sailing)|heeled over]] on the [[River Thames|Thames]] [[Intertidal zone|foreshore]] off [[Rotherhithe]], {{c.}} 1871]]Wooden-hulled ships were simply set on fire or "conveniently sunk". In [[Tudor times]] (1485–1603), ships were dismantled and the timber re-used. This procedure was no longer applicable with the advent of metal-hulled boats<ref name="Bowen-1936">{{cite magazine | title = The Shipbreaking Industry |url = http://www.naval-history.net/WW1NavyBritish-Shipbreak.htm |magazine= Shipping Wonders of the World | publisher= www.naval-history.net |access-date = 3 August 2015 |first = Frank C |last = Bowen |date =10 November 1936}} [https://www.shippingwondersoftheworld.com/shipbreaking.html alternate URL]</ref> in the 19th century.

In 1880 Denny Brothers of Dumbarton used forgings made from scrap maritime steel in their shipbuilding. Many other nations began to purchase British ships for scrap by the late 19th century, including [[Germany]], [[Italy]], the Netherlands and Japan. The Italian industry started in 1892, and the Japanese industry after the passing of an 1896 law to subsidise native shipbuilding.<ref name=Bowen-1936/>

After suffering damage or disaster, liner operators did not want the name of a broken ship to tarnish the [[brand]] of their passenger services. Many Victorian ships made their final voyages with the final letter of their name chipped off.<ref name=Bowen-1936/>

In the 1930s it became cheaper to "beach" a boat by running her ashore—as opposed to using a dry dock. The ship would have to weigh as little as possible and would run ashore at full speed. Dismantling operations required a {{convert|10|ft|adj=on|0}} rise of [[tide]] and close proximity to a steel-works. Electric [[Shear (sheet metal)|shears]], a [[wrecking ball]] and [[oxy-acetylene]] torches were used. The technique of the time closely resembles that used in developing countries {{as of|2020|lc=on}}. [[Thos. W. Ward]] Ltd., one of the largest breakers in the United Kingdom in the 1930s, would recondition and sell all furniture and machinery. Many historical artifacts were sold at public auctions: the Cunarder {{ship|RMS|Mauretania|1906|6}}, sold as scrap for {{GBP|78000}}, received high bids for her fittings worldwide. However, any weapons and military information, even if obsolete, were carefully removed by Navy personnel before turning over the ship for scrapping.<ref name=Bowen-1936/>

[[File:Redoutable in Toulon-Agence Rol-1.jpeg|thumb|Dismantling of {{ship|French ironclad|Redoutable||2}} in Toulon, 1912]]

In 2020, as the [[COVID-19 pandemic]] [[COVID-19 pandemic on cruise ships|crippled the cruise ship trade]], cruise vessels began to appear more frequently in ship breaking facilities.<ref>
{{cite news
| last1                 = Frishberg
| first1                = Hannah
| title                 = Luxury cruise ships being scrapped for metal amid ongoing pandemic
| url                   = https://nypost.com/2020/10/12/luxury-cruise-ships-being-scrapped-for-metal-amid-ongoing-pandemic/
| work                  = New York Post
| publisher             = NYP Holdings, Inc. 
| publication-date      = 12 October 2020
| access-date           = 23 October 2020
| quote                 = As the cruise ship industry continues to be battered by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, boats once considered to be opulent, top-of-the-line vessels are now being sold for scraps.
}}
</ref>

===Location trends ===
Until the late 20th century the majority of ship breaking activity took place in the port cities of [[industrialized countries]] such as the [[United Kingdom]] and the [[United States]]. {{As of | 2020}} those dismantlers that still remain in the United States work primarily on government-surplus vessels.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}

Starting in the mid-20th century, East Asian countries with lower labour costs began to dominate ship-breaking. As labour costs rose, centres of the ship-breaking industry moved—initially from countries such as Japan and Hong Kong, to Korea and Taiwan and then to China. For example, the southern port city of [[Kaohsiung]] in Taiwan operated as the world's leading dismantling site in the late 1960s and 1970s, breaking up 220 ships totaling 1.6&nbsp;million tons in 1972 alone;<ref name="TR-1973">{{cite news |url= https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=8,8,29,32,32,45&post=13609 |title= Shipbreaker to the world |date= March 1, 1973 |work= Taiwan Review |access-date= 9 December 2019}}</ref> in 1977 Taiwan continued to dominate the industry with more than half the market share, followed by Spain and Pakistan. At the time, Bangladesh had no capacity at all. However, the sector is volatile and fluctuates wildly, and Taiwan processed just two ships 13 years later as wages across East Asia rose.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |url = http://siteresources.worldbank.org/SOUTHASIAEXT/Resources/223546-1296680097256/Shipbreaking.pdf |title = SHIP BREAKING AND RECYCLING INDUSTRY IN BANGLADESH AND PAKISTAN |date = Dec 2010 |access-date = 3 August 2015 |website = siteresources.worldbank.org |publisher = [[International Bank for Reconstruction and Development]] / [[World Bank]] | last = Sarraf |first = Maria}}</ref><ref name=":11">{{cite web |url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vV3M4jqD-Sg |title = Echoes of Ship Breaking |date = 17 July 2014 |access-date = 4 August 2015 |website = www.youtube.com |publisher = Vega Productions |last = Rane |first = Prathamesh V.}}</ref> For comparison, depending on their profession, shipbreakers in Kaohsiung earned from {{NTD|40}} (day labourer) to {{NTD|180}} (torch operator) per day in 1973.<ref name=TR-1973/>

[[File:Ship beached in recycling facility in India.jpg|thumb|Ship recycled in [[Beaching (nautical)|beaching]] method]]

In 1960, after a severe cyclone, the Greek ship ''M D Alpine'' was stranded on the shores of [[Sitakunda]], [[Chittagong]] (then part of [[East Pakistan]]). It could not be re-floated and so remained there for several years. In 1965 the Chittagong Steel House bought the ship and had it scrapped. It took years to scrap the vessel, but the work gave birth to the industry in Bangladesh.
Until 1980 the [[Gadani Ship Breaking Yard]] of [[Pakistan]] was the largest ship breaking yard in the world.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}

Tightening environmental regulations resulted in increased hazardous waste disposal costs in industrialised countries in the 1980s, causing the export of retired ships to lower-income areas, chiefly in South Asia. This, in turn, created a far worse environmental problem, subsequently leading to the [[Basel Convention]] of 1989. In 2004 a Basel Convention decision officially classified old ships as "toxic waste", preventing them from leaving a country without the permission of the importing state.<ref name=":22">{{Cite web |url = http://www.grida.no/files/publications/vital-waste2/VWG2_p3to46.pdf |title = Vital Waste Graphics 2 |date = November 2006 |access-date = 1 August 2015 |website = www.grida.no |publisher = The Basel Convention Secretariat |last = Heberlein |first = Claudia |page = 31 |archive-date = 4 March 2016 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304205017/http://www.grida.no/files/publications/vital-waste2/VWG2_p3to46.pdf |url-status = dead }}</ref> This has led to a resurgence of recycling in environmentally compliant locations in developed countries, especially in former shipbuilding yards.<ref>{{Cite web |title = AMERICAN SHIP BREAKING IT ALL COMES APART AT THE BOTTOM OF AMERICA |url = http://www.clui.org/newsletter/spring-2010/american-ship-breaking |website = www.clui.org |access-date = 3 August 2015 |date = Spring 2010 |publisher = The Center for Land Use Interpretation}}</ref>

On 31 December 2005 the French Navy's {{ship|French aircraft carrier|Clemenceau|R98|2}} left [[Toulon]] to be dismantled at the [[Alang Ship Breaking Yard]], India—despite protests over improper disposal capabilities and facilities for the toxic wastes. On 6 January 2006 the [[Supreme Court of India]] temporarily denied access to Alang,<ref>{{cite news |url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4588922.stm |title = Stay out, India tells toxic ship |access-date = 5 March 2009 |author = Zubair Ahmed |date = 6 January 2006 |work = BBC News}}</ref> and the French [[Council of State (France)|''Conseil d'État'']] ordered ''Clemenceau'' to return to French waters.<ref>{{cite news |url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4716472.stm |title = Chirac orders 'toxic' ship home |access-date = 5 March 2009 |date = 16 January 2006 |work = BBC News}}</ref> [[Able UK]] in Hartlepool received a new disassembly contract to use accepted practices in scrapping the ship.<ref name=":6">{{cite news | title = Praise for 'toxic' ship scrapping |url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tees/8439308.stm |date = 4 January 2010 |work = [[BBC News Online]] |quote = The dismantling of the former Clemenceau is a positive and pioneering operation in Europe}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tees/7877204.stm |title = Ghost ship arrives in north-east |access-date = 5 March 2009 |date = 8 February 2009 |work = BBC News}}</ref> The dismantling started on 18 November 2009 and the break-up was completed by the end of 2010; the event was considered a turning point in the treatment of redundant vessels.<ref name=":6"/>{{failed verification|date=October 2020}} Europe and the United States have had a resurgence in ship scrapping since the 1990s.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

In 2009 the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association won a legal case prohibiting all substandard ship breaking. For 14 months the industry could not import ships and thousands of jobs were lost before the ban was annulled.<ref>{{cite magazine | title = Ship breaking in Bangladesh: Hard to break up | url = https://www.economist.com/news/asia/21565265-controversial-industry-says-it-cleaning-up-its-act-activists-still-want-it-shut-hard-break | magazine = The Economist | date = 27 October 2012 | issn = 0013-0613 | access-date = 3 August 2015}}</ref>{{request quotation|date=October 2020}} That same year, the [[Great Recession|global recession]] and lower demand for goods led to an increase in the supply of ships for decommissioning. The rate of scrapping is inversely correlated to the freight price, which collapsed in 2009.<ref>
{{Cite web |url = http://www.moneycontrol.com/news_html_files/news_attachment/2012/ShipBreaking_ICRA_260912.pdf |title = Ship Breaking Industry: Key Trends and Credit Implications|date = September 2012|access-date = 3 August 2015 |website = www.moneycontrol.com |publisher = ICRA Limited, An Associate of Moody's Investors Service | last = Ravichandran |first = K.}}
</ref>