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>> Ship
Demolition >>
Introduction |
| Introduction |
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Any
industry basically aims at value addition. Generally
the value addition is done through a 'building'
process. However, ship breaking is a typical
activity, which adds value through a 'demolition'
process. When a ship goes uneconomic / unsafe
as per standards of safety to operate, it is
send for demolition to ship breaking yards.at
the same those ships that happen to meet with
accidents and for whom the subsequent repairs
prove to be uneconomic, are also send for demolition. |
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The contribution
of the ship breaking yards is to generate value out
of unusable ships by segregating it into various components
that have their own economic value by subjecting it
to a systematic demolishing process. |
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Obviously,
the net value addition out of ship breaking
will depend upon the cost of doing it. Though
western countries have developed superior technologies,
which result into high productivity, Asian countries
have come up a low cost proposition for two
reasons.One, relatively the manpower is very
cheap in these countries. |
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So even at
a lower productivity rate, operations in these countries
prove to be relatively cheaper. Second, western countries
have very high standards of safety, which calls for
costly measures for ensuring safety. Hence ship-breaking
industry has been diverted from western countries
to India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh etc. However,
with many companies in India mastering the technology
of identifying, removing safely and creating safe
storage facilities for all types of hazardous wastes,
we, who have certification from ICS India for ISO
14001 and OSHAS 18001 also intend to start utilising
the services of these companies for safe removal of
hazardous wastes from the vessels coming for
demolition. In fact, one such unit has been set up at
Alang also in which all ship breakers have become
members. |
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Not only that
value addition in ship breaking is done through what
can be called "a reverse process" , but
at the front of technology absorption also, the same
reverse process is evident. Generally, the industries
begin with labour intensive technology and gradually
march towards sophisticated technology. But in case
of the ship breaking industry, history suggests that
it has reverted back to labour intensive technology,
since the high tech proposition has proved more costly.
Not only has the geographic base shifted from Europe
to Asia, mainly in Seventies but within Asia also,
the base has shifted from Taiwan to Indian sub-continent,
since Taiwan also had made it a high tech proposition.
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High
technology uses more mechanized equipments and
less labour, while the labour-intensive method,
which is dominant at present, call for the labour
to climb on the ship and cut the steel plates
with the help of a gas cutting torch. Often,
the only machinery needed is, the crane to lift
the broken/cut scrap plates and winch machinery
that is required to draw or pull the ship. For
carrying out ship breaking through this approach,
the precondition is that the beach area is large
enough to accommodate the wide spread operations,
and there should be good natural tidal support.
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| At present,
India has the highest (40%) share in this Industry.
India's this leading position can be basically attributed
to the following three factors:
(1) Cheap and abundant labor,
(2) Vast coastal area with good and favorable tidal
impact and
(3) Management ability.
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