Desolation at Gadani

World’s second-largest shipbreaking yard at a standstill

SUKKUR: Gadani beach, is located on the Arabian sea, in the province of Balochistan, and it holds a unique title, it is famous for being the world’s largest shipbreaking yard. It is the second-largest shipbreaking industry in the world.

Due to the unique nature of the business at Gadani, it has gained popularity the world over; shipbreaking yard as it is fondly called attracts tourists from all over Pakistan, and abroad. Needless to say, this massive yard is responsible for employment to thousands. The jobs range from technical personnel to labourers, the shipbreaking industry is huge, and many lives are associated with it.

The area is vast, and workers are many, who are engaged in the shipbreaking business. Any ship that develops a defect is sent there, to be broken. The ship’s equipment is taken out and sold off. The scrap iron from the broken ship is shipped off to the rolling mills and iron factories, which operate different parts of the country including Balochistan, Karachi and Punjab. The iron factories make iron for the ships, which includes iron rods, iron girders and tarns, including iron sheets of various sizes and other articles. The furniture and other household items are made from high-quality ship timber. Heavy vehicle trawlers and trucks are used to transport the goods from Gadani shipping yard to other parts of the country. Small vehicles are also engaged to transport small equipment. Thus the Gadani shipbreaking industry employs thousands of people for the smooth operation.

On normal days, all the plots of Gadani shipping yard, located about 50 km from Karachi, are extremely busy, as thousands of workers are working, cranes are running, and the work of cutting various parts of the ships brought to the seashore continues. It seems like a world in itself, however, the world these days is desolate. Where it was bustling with life once, it lies deserted, workers absent, work, non-existent. There is silence in the area, and small and big hotels established for the workers are closed. There is no vehicular traffic, there is desolation everywhere. A few watchmen are present in front of the shipbreakers’ plots. Some plots are being cleaned off the parts of the ships bought last year.

The incessant movement of cranes that used to lift heavy weights from one place to another has also ceased, it looks like life at Gadani has ceased to exist. In some plots, the work of keeping the cut parts of the ship, and iron sheets in order, is going on. Bol News team went to Gadani to investigate why the world’s second-largest shipbreaking industry is in such a state and the reasons behind it. The team met with the Chairman of Pakistan Ship Breakers Association (PSBA) and industrialist Dewan Rizwan Farooqui. Dewan Farooqui explained the dire straits of the shipbreaking industry, saying, “our ship breaking industry is going through a tough situation these days, as you are aware that this Gadani shipbreaking industry is the second largest shipbreaker industry in the world; the workers and the technical staff employed here gets paid handsomely, as compared to India and Bangladesh.” He said that the industry employs more than 25,000 workers and technical staff. When the ships come to Gadani, all the plots are full. It looks like a city. It means that there is a boom; but now, there is no work as the ships are not coming to this port anymore.”

The reason for this state is simple, no ship has been brought to the port for scrapping, in the last three months, “the reason being that the letters of credit (LCs) have been closed by the government, and they are not being opened, that is why we have not bought any ship for scrapping.”

According to Dewan Farooqui, more than 25,000 workers and technical staff working there are residents of nearby villages. However, some people employed there have also come from other areas of Pakistan. Due to the ships not coming to Gadani to be scrapped, people are losing their jobs as they have no work to do. According to Dewan Farooqui, “this increasing unemployment will prove to be dangerous because these people have no work to do,” He said that Gadani Ship breaker Industry pays 15 billion rupees annually to the Government of Pakistan in the form of various taxes, while more than one billion rupees of various types of taxes are paid to the government of Balochistan province. He added that in the supply, road route, no facility has been given in terms of payment of taxes for this industry.  He also explained that in an event of any accident, “first aid and ambulances are also available here, we immediately take the injured workers to the hospital and provide them with all kinds of treatment.”

It is to be noted that many people were killed and injured in the accident that took place in Gadani in 2017. The Gadani Ship breakers Association paid the compensation. Financial assistance was also given to the injured. “It is our duty, the nature of this work is such that there may be accidents, so we take all the safety rules and try to ensure that there is no harm to those working in this ship breaking yards,” he said. The recent rains which played havoc in the country also damaged the roads leading to the Gadani Ship Breaking Plots, including some communication bridges, which broke.

The federal and provincial government need to realise the importance of Gadani, which is a huge tax payer as well. According to Dewan Farooqui, “the government should open a letter of credit today. We will buy the ship today, but this is not happening. We understand what the government wants,” he said. “Prices of iron and steel have increased by thousands of rupees per tons. If we had the ships to break, we would be able to sell to the rolling mills, steel mills and other iron ore factories.”

By providing the material, which would also benefit the shipbreaking industry, rolling mills and iron factory owners would also be able earn some profit. Workers would be reemployed, and the government would get billions of rupees in taxes. The chairman of Pakistan Ship Breakers Association said, “when we buy a derelict ship for breaking up and bring it to the shipyard, the government gets the full tax in advance, even though the ship breakers earn money by selling the scrap material. It’s a system that keeps everyone busy,” he said.  He added during the work, there is vehicular traffic for transport purposes. Nowadays, as the shipbreaking yard is not getting any work, it has affected the transport business as well. Dewan Rizwan Farooqui stated that the government needs to pay attention to the problems faced by the Gadani shipbreaking industry, and to open LCs. This would provide employment at the Gadani shipping yard. He said that the governemt also needs to, construct and repair the roads leading to and from the Gadani shipping yard. He said, “if the government does not pay attention to these issues in time, the situation will worsen.”

The concerns raised by Dewan Rizwan Farooqi are logical. Will the LC’s be opened so that this industry thrives again, or is it going to be a desolate picture in the future as well, only time will tell.