butchers of ships

last week keith and i visited the ship-breaking yards, where old ocean vessels are taken apart piece by piece. the parts are then sorted and re-sold or re-cycled.

the ship-breaking yards are a little outside of chittagong. we rode there in a CNG, which is vehicle that runs on compressed (C) natural (N) gas (G). a CNG is basically a motorcycle with a backseat, all of which is surrounded by a cage. they paint them green here.

it was a little tricky to find the yards, partly because of the language barrier, and partly because they are off the main roads. but eventually we made our way there. they are not keen on visitors - or rather, the managers are uncomfortable with visitors. the workers themselves were very friendly, and pleased by our interest. eventually we discovered a way to get onto the beach and i took pictures.

there was a strange beauty to the place. a small number of men, working mostly with simple tools and their bare hands. the desolate corpses of ships, being slowly dismembered in the mud and water.

i am told that the process is very polluting, and hence controversial. the men who do this job eat (and perhaps sleep) in simple arrangements near the yards. one worker told us that the bengali word for this process means "ship cutting," and he jokingly said they were "butchers" for old ships.