Breaking Ships: How Supertankers and Cargo Ships Are Dismantled on the Beaches of Bangladesh

By Roland Buerk

Book Overview

Asbestos, explosives, and chemical waste are only a few of the hazards involved in the meticulous work of destroying a giant ship. When new labor laws and environmental standards came to Europe, the ship-breaking industry moved to places like Chittagong on the coast of Bangladesh-places where the lives of workers seem expendable, and the environment is someone else's problem. Breaking Ships follows the demise of the Asian Tiger , a ship destroyed at one of the twenty ship-breaking yards along the beaches of Chittagong. BBC Bangladesh correspondent Roland Buerk takes us through the process-from beaching the vessel to its final dissemination, from wealthy shipyard owners to poverty-stricken ship cutters, and from the economic benefits for Bangladesh to the pollution of its once pristine beaches.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1596090367
• ISBN13: 9781596090361
• Release Date: March 2006
• Publisher: Chamberlain Brothers
• Length: 167 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.4" x 7.7"
• Age Range: 14 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 8