23 Replies to “Contest #124”

  1. Alang, India – the home of the largest ship-wrecking/ship-breaking yard in the world.

  2. Alang in the State of Gujarat in India, ship breaking yards. Some of the worst pollution in the world.

  3. This is Alang, India, the ship breaking capital of the world! Coincidentally, I just heard an amazing song about this very site last week which lead me to look more into the industry. The song was Mark Knoffler’s “So Far from the Clyde” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6nyfXu5fWs
    Touching.
    A few lines:
    They had a last supper the day of the beaching,
    She’s a dead ship sailing, skeleton crew.
    The galley is empty, the stove pots are cooling
    With whats left of the stew.

    The time is approaching – the captain moves over;
    The hang man steps in to do what he’s paid for.
    With the wind down the tide, she goes proud ahead steaming…
    And he drives her hard into the shore.

  4. Ship salvaging yards at Alang, Gujarat, India

    This was a difficult one for me to find!

  5. Alang India, home to a large low-tech shipbreaking industry. I noticed this is not the way most ships in the world are moored, and the lack of waves. I also found a cool add on at vesseltracker.com that shows ship locations worldwide. It did not help on this week’s contest. Be sure to zoom in.

  6. Alang is a census town in Bhavnagar district in the Indian state of Gujarat, India. In the past three decades, its beaches have become a major worldwide centre for ship breaking.
    The shipyards at Alang recycle approximately half of all ships salvaged around the world.[citation needed] The yards are located on the Gulf of Khambat, 50 kilometres southeast of Bhavnagar. Environmentalists complain that before shipbreaking began there in June 1983 the beach at Alang was pristine and unspoiled.[citation needed] However, locals say that the work provides a reasonably paid job by local standards, with a steady income used to support their families.

    Large supertankers, car ferries, container ships, and a dwindling number of ocean liners are beached during high tide, and as the tide recedes, hundreds of manual laborers dismantle each ship, salvaging what they can and reducing the rest into scrap. Tens of thousands of jobs are supported by this activity and millions of tons of steel are recovered.
    The salvage yards at Alang have generated controversy about working conditions, workers’ living conditions, and the impact on the environment. One major problem is that despite many serious work-related injuries, the nearest full service hospital is 50 kilometres away in Bhavnagar. Alang itself is served by a small Red Cross hospital that offers only limited services.

  7. It’s Alang in India, where they scrap 50% of the world’s ships according to wikipedia

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