Have you been forced to say goodbye to your favorite cruise ship lately? Due to the impact of the closure of the cruise industry due to COVID-19, some travel routes have sold off some of their oldest hardware in an effort to eliminate costly maintenance on ships that have been in service for decades.
Some lucky ships were purchased by other operators, but most were sent to tourist graveyards after they were sold for scrap.
What exactly does that mean? Where will the cruise ships die, and what happens to those abandoned cruise ships when they get there?
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Cruise ship graveyard
Decommissioned ships are almost always sent to one of two scrap yards. The largest company is Alang, located in India’s Khambhat Bay, which recycles more than half of the world’s decommissioned cruise ships. The second largest is Aliaga in Turkey.
When the ships reached the graveyard — usually on their own but sometimes with tugboat assistance if their engines were out of service — they ran aground on the beach.
Then, workers known as ship breakers would use machines to pull them up onto the sand further so they could begin disassembling them.
Demolition process for abandoned ships
Peter Knego, a journalist and maritime historian who runs the YouTube channel: “In both places, the ships ran ashore and gradually cut back.” Peter Knego’s MidShip Cinematold TPG.
“In Alang, this is mostly done by cutting huge blocks of structure and letting them fall onto the embankment, then cutting those pieces into smaller, slab-sized pieces that can be transported. to the steel mills. In Aliaga, the cutting structure is removed by large cranes, then further cut onshore.”
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Knego added that tides also play an important role. “In Alang, [beaching] usually done at high tide to bring the ship up as far as possible, then when the tide goes out, the worker steps out to the ship and does his job. In Aliaga, workers are loaded onto ships by cranes with cage-like baskets, and in Alang, workers climb onto ships using ropes or… ladders.”
The initial demolition process was difficult, as it involved removing leftover fuel and stripping away any furniture and fixtures on board – even the toilets – that could be salvaged and sold. Once complete demolition is in progress, wreckers can bring a ship down to its hull with incredible speed, along with scrap metal to be sold or recycled.
Environmental concerns
There are also strict environmental precautions that must be taken to avoid fuel leaks and other harmful chemicals that can contaminate water and harm marine life. Although scrap yards strive to follow local regulations, there is still quite a bit of contamination that can occur over the life of the scrap.
“Asbestos, largely banned in the ’80s, used to be the biggest concern,” Knego said when asked about the environmental impact of getting rid of cruise ships. “But now most of the ships that are being scrapped are past the age of asbestos. [Carcinogenic compounds called polychlorinated biphenyls], oil, fuel residue, paint and other contaminants remain on most ships and these can cause havoc if not handled properly. And, of course, plastic… produces toxic fumes when burned and [present] Other problems [when] broken (or not) in the landfill.”
bottom line
If you’ve recently lost your favorite ship to shipbreakers and you’re feeling nostalgic, you can lessen that loss in a few ways.
Book a trip on a sister ship that is still sailing, revisit old photos for reminiscence, or check eBay from time to time to see if anyone is selling memorabilia.
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