The shipbreaking industry in Turkey: environmental, safety and health issues

The shipbreaking industry seems to be an indispensable part of the economy for developing countries since it requires a small amount of investment and, being mainly dependent on manual labour, is locally a major source for employment. From the point of ship owners, it provides a cash flow for the renewal of fleet, by dispensing aged or irreparably damaged ships or vessels that cannot be used further due to the changing international legislation. Properly carried out, it also meets a key sustainability requirement in recycling of resources. One of the major shipbreaking sites is in Aliağa, Turkey; where 2.8% by number and 1.1% by tonnage of the World's global fleet scrapped per year, was scrapped during the 1994–2002 period. The recycled steel from the Aliağa shipbreaking yards is an important component of the steel supply in Turkey, but only recently have the yards begun to care for environmental issues and occupational health. This study addresses these challenges of the Aliağa shipbreaking yards: are the recent improvements of the procedures of the yards and Turkish legislation regarding environment sufficient to allow Aliağa to claim “green recycling” capacity, and thus, allowing ship owners to scrap vessels in a responsible way. The ever-expanding and constantly modernized world fleet has an increasing demand for shipbreaking, and the capacity in responsible recycling is still limited, but Aliağa has taken the first important steps.