Ship scrapping industry booming in Turkey

Stripping cruise ships for spare parts and metal has become a big industry in Turkey following the pandemic's effects on the tourism and maritime industries.

Cruise ships formed a large part of the first wave of the virus as the resulting pandemic swept across the globe earlier this year.

Many have laid dormant in foreign ports after the US issued a no-sail order back in March.

The Turkish port town of Aliaga, located on the west coast, has become a hub for scrappers. On Friday dozens of workers came together to strip ships for walls, railings, floors and windows, with three more ships waiting to be dismantled.

Kamil Onal, chairman of a ship recycling industrialists’ association told Reuters that before the pandemic, the ship-breaking yards were typically handled cargo and container ships. 

He added: "After the pandemic, cruise ships changed course towards Aliaga in a very significant way. There was growth in the sector due to the crisis. When the ships couldn’t find work, they turned to dismantling.”

Onal said it would normally take 2,500 people splitting into small teams a six month period to completely dismantle a full passenger vessel, which would typically arrive from the UK, US and Italy.

They hope to increase their volume of steel taken from ships to 1.1 million tonnes by the end of the year, up from 700,000 in January.

Onal said they were trying to turn a crisis into an opportunity.

He added that no parts of the ship go to waste, as hotel operators come to the yards often to buy non-metal fittings and any other useful materials.

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