Ship Recycling Industry in Pakistan Ship Breakers Association

Ship Recycling Industry in Pakistan Ship Breakers’ Association Presented by Asif Ali Khan

Presentation Plan • • Introduction & Brief History Tonnage Imported during last 10 years Steel Demand & Government Policies Economic Importance Strengths & Dismantling Procedures Our Weaknesses Our Commitment

Introduction & Brief History • • Ship Recycling has a long history in Pakistan. Perhaps we are the oldest ship recycling Industry in the sub-continent region. Though activity somewhat remained inconsistent over the years due to various local & international factors. Initially the Ship Recycling was done at Ghans Bandar near Karachi Port. However this was restricted basically for dismantling barges , tugs, boats & smaller vessels. • During late 1960 s Gadani started to operate and later in 1970 s the activity picked up the momentum and it became an organize Industry in Pakistan. • Gadani is situated about 50 km from the Karachi city, the financial capital of Pakistan, a drive of roughly an hour from the Karachi city. • The Ship Recycling area at Gadani is a stretch of about 10 km in length. It presently consists of about 130 operating yards with each yard having a uniform water front of 220 ft and onshore depth of 550 fts or more.

Introduction & Brief History…continued • Majority of these yards are privately owned by locals with about 30 yards owned a the Balochistan Development Authority. • Most of the yards at Gadani has an excellent drafts suitable to take any size of the ship for recycling. We have scrapped up to 73, 000 ldt super tankers at Gadani. • At Gadani generally we don’t need high tide for beaching excepting only few very high draft vessels. • The Tidal variation at Gadani beach is between 1 -3 mtrs only. • The current available recycling facility is around 6. 000 million tons however same grossly under utilized and we have still not crossed the scrapping of around a million tons of ldt per annum, which is about 20 -25% of Country’s current annual steel consumption.

Introduction & Brief History…continued • Other sources of steel supply are Steel Furnaces, Pakistan Steel Mills and scrap imports. • Ship Recycling in a labor intensive industry and currently providing on-site employment to about 6, 000 skilled/unskilled laborer and more than hundred thousand people in terms of indirect labors, office and ancillary worker etc. • It is the largest single Industry providing employment to such a huge number of people and is the backbone of the Industrial activities in the much under developed Province of Balochistan.

Tonnage Imported in last Ten years • • • • From TO NO. OF SHIPS LDT July 1, 1999 June 30, 2000 38 548, 400. 0 July 1, 2000 June 30, 2001 27 180, 770. 19 July 1, 2001 June 30, 2002 36 759, 040. 22 July 1, 2002 June 30, 2003 43 240, 536. 42 July 1, 2003 June 30, 2004 62 355, 257. 01 July 1, 2004 June 30, 2005 27 57, 780. 69 July 1, 2005 June 30, 2006 21 69, 501. 05 July 1, 2006 June 30, 2007 37 153, 113. 00 July 1, 2007 June 30, 2008 59 133, 328. 20 July 1, 2008 June 30, 2009 84 682, 200. 68 July 1, 2009 June 30, 2010 107 846, 159. 45 Total……………………. 4, 026, 087. 42 ====== * Tonnage figures are according to financial year starting July 01 and ending June 30 every year.

Steel Demand & the Government Policy • Pakistan’s current steel consumption is around 4. 5 -5. 00 million tons per annum, however keeping with the current pace of growth this projected to increase to around 12 millions by 2015. • The Government of Pakistan is fully aware of the importance of the ship recycling industry in the Country and are trying to provide all necessary assistance to prepare this industry not only for the steady growth & development but also to face the new upcoming changes in the National & International Standards in terms of safety and environment etc. • The Ministry of Environment is the lead Ministry /focal point for the Recyclers. This Ministry is coordinating with all involved Ministries ie. Commerce, Industries, Ports, Customs, Shipping and Finance etc to organize a coordinated effort to facilitate the ship recyclers. • In view of the growing demand of steel and in order to keep the prices stable in the Country, for the past few years there is NO Import Duty on ships for Recycling or Remelting/ Re-Rollable Scraps. However we have Sales Tax, Withholding Tax and other levies etc which makes the total import taxes more than double than our competing ship recycling nations in sub-continent region.

Steel Demand & the Government Policy… continued • Ship Recycling being an Industry has to fully comply with all the legislative framework imposed by the various Government departments. As any other Industry this includes compliance with various Financial Regulations and Labor Laws, Labor Compensation Act, Employees Old Age Benefits and various Environmental compliances. • Ship Recycling also has to comply with requirements laid down by the EPA, Balochistan and without an NOC from the EPA the recycling work cannot commence. EPA issues NOC only upon completion of the survey of the arriving vessel and their fullest satisfaction about Haz. Mats onboard and provides guidelines on their satisfactory disposal. • Tankers & Gas Carriers etc are not put to cutting operations unless they are made fully gas free safe for men entry and hot works.

Economic Importance of the Industry • As mentioned earlier Ship Recycling in Pakistan has a great importance for the Country. It not only provides employment to thousand of workers, a substantial revenue to the Government but it also provides the quality and cheapest raw materials to our national steel industry and playing a vital role in the national growth. • We all know that Ships are not only cheap source for steel but it also provides a good quantity of re-useable wood, furniture, sanitary fittings, generators, motors, pumps, boilers, the non-ferrous metals which all goes into various national industries and all of which if separately imported, may cost fortunes to Country.

Our Strengths and Breaking Procedure • At this occasion, I would like to highlight to the audience that contrary to what being done in other ship recycling countries in the sub- continent, at Gadani we are: • FULLY MECHANIZED : USE OF HEAVY CRANES, WHEEL LOADER, LIFTERS, WINCHES ETC ARE VERY COMMON • NO MANUAL HANDLING OF ANY HEAVY ITEMS BY LABORERS • NO LIFTING ON SHOULDERS • STRICTLY NO CHILD LABOR • NO BAREFOOT WORKERS • SAFETY GEARS AND PPEs ARE IN COMMON USE AT YARDS. • NO GAS CYCLINDERS USED AS WE HAVE A WELL MANAGED AND WELL SECURED NETWROK OF UNDER GROUND GAS PIPE LINES WHICH CONNECTED FROM MAIN LIQUID OXYGEN/ ACETYLENE GAS TANKS TO DESIGNATED CUTTING AREA INCLUDING SUPPLY FOR ONBOARD CUTTING.

Our strengths and Breaking Procedures …CONTINUED We are fully committed to ensure our workers are not exposed to any dangerous situations. No tanker is put to cutting unless all tanks are properly cleaned by specialized contractors and are made gas free for hot works. Oils and sludge are carefully pumped out through proper lines connected with shore receiving tanks. Some of our breakers already acquired ISO certifications and other marching towards it. We are doing whatever we can to enhance our safety standards within our available resources and a very small profit percentage. According to World Bank Consortium Group Report Pakistani Recycler making a profit of just 3 percent compared to Indians making 8 percent and Bangladeshis making 15 percent. • • •

Our Strengths and Breaking Procedure …. CONTINUED • Ladies and Gentlemen , the Pakistan Ship Recycling Industry is fully committed and are continuously working towards making it safer for everyone. While we do not know or say anything about China or Turkey however it is not a secret that at Gadani we have the lowest rate of accidents or deaths compared to our counterparts in sub-continent. • The Laborers working at Gadani Recycling Industry are a mix of local and migrant workers. Workers , transporters and petty jobbers have their very strong & active Trade Unions. • It would be interesting to tell this audience that an average unskilled & unqualified basic labor earns a minimum wage of Rs. 15, 000 per month compared to same worker earning not more than Rs. 7, 000 a month in other areas of the Country. Skilled Worker/Gas Cutters/Crane Drivers etc earns around Rs. 25 - 30, 000 per month basic. • Free accommodation with basic amenities and food is provided to all permanent workers at all yards at Gadani.

Our Weaknesses …. we need support • Having given you a brief background and introduction on the Ship Recycling in Pakistan. I feel sad in saying that in spite of so much of activity in ship recycling over last more than four decades, Gadani still lacks regular supply of Drinking Water, Electricity for domestic consumption or telephone lines. We bring potable water for our laborers and self use through trucks from Karachi or Hub, Electric is generated through self owned generators. All this costs us substantially over & above any other Industry. • Sadly we DO NOT have any organized Landfill site or the Solid Waste Management Facility for Gadani. Our friends from Ministry of Environment are taking keen interest on this subject and we are hoping that they will be able to soon organize something in this respect. • One has to appreciate that without backup facilities, the recycler cannot really do what they are expected to do in terms of safe disposal of hazardous wastes.

Our Weaknesses …………. . we need your support • Pakistan Recycling Industry needs help and assistance from friends like Turkey , China and others. We are thankful to Basel Convention Secretariate, specially Ms Susan Wingfield for taking this initiative and organizing this event here in Turkey. We are keen to learn and we hope to collect maximum possible guidance from our friends here in Turkey which we can implement back home in Pakistan in due course of time within our available facilities. • Pakistan Ship Recyclers are also extremely thankful to the Government and Ship Recyclers Association in Turkey for consenting and providing us with this Technology and Knowledge Transfer opportunity. • Here I would also like to extend our appreciation for Dr Nikos Mikelis who without any doubt doing a great service for the humanity working with ship recyclers on improving the safety and environmental standards.

Our Commitment • We are here to share our experiences with the Recyclers from Turkey and to go back home with new ideas to make our operations more safer and more environmentally friendly, though one thing we all have to appreciate that at present in Pakistan we severely lack the basic facilities I mentioned earlier ie. the Landfill , the Solid Waste Management Facility, the Roads, supply of Electric, Water and Communication lines etc. Moreover one more most important thing we have to understand is the difference in various arrival preparations and actual cutting procedures due beaching and non-beaching methods used in Turkey and Pakistan. • Ladies & Gentlemen, Pakistan Sip Recyclers are committed towards safer environment and we pledge to do whatever best we can do to further improve on our standards and prepare ourselves on war footings to proceed towards full compliance with Basel and IMO Regulations in due course of time. • Some pictures from Gadani.