Travel report India

Part 4: Pipavav, a modern scrap yard waiting for orders

South of Alang in the port of Pipavav is situated a modern scrap yard. The port was delivered five years ago. Here ships can be dismantled according to the most modern methods. But: up till now there has never been a ship-for-scrap in Pipavav. The yard is still waiting for orders.

Dikshith and his team welcome us in the harbour. He is proud of his shipbreaking yard. It was invented and built under his direction. He sees it as a solution to the pollution of the Gujarat beaches. The 'environmentally safe' yard was constructed with Japanese financial support. But not without self-interest: to Japan the old ships are a wealth of iron for its national steel industry. In Japan itself shipbreaking has become too expensive because of the high costs of labour and the strict environmental regulations.

The scrap yard offers an unreal sight. Docks, sheds and sewage treatment plants are in the sun waiting for the first ship-for-scrap. Especially the docks are enormous. The yard wants to specialise in dismantling big, single hulled tankers. We take a look at the plant that separates the oil from the water, to dispose the ship of all oil remainders. Dikshith also explains how he plans to dismantle a ship. He will let it sail into the dock and start dismantling it from the top. Big advantage of this method is that the ship is still floating and less waste is being released into the sea. Part of his plans are also the save disposal of asbestos, PCB's and paint, in reaction to the Greenpeace shipbreaking campaign. While we visit his yard we cannot find any trace of such a waste disposal.

We are impressed by the plans and the infrastructure of this shipbreaking yard. It is clearly a step forward compared to other scrapping sites in Gujarat. But even in this yard the polluter avoids his responsibility. Ship owners export their waste to India and there it stays. But the steel returns to Japan. Dikshith partly agrees with us. But he sees the Pipavav yard as the most feasible solution. Of course he wants to return the hazardous substances of the ships to the owners. In that case he would't have to build a waste disposal. In addition the toxic waste would no longer pollute the soil and the scarce groundwater. But he doesn't believe it will work. After all: nobody forces the ship owners to safely dispose of the toxic substances.