Shipbreaking has always been dirty and dangerous work. For years it was performed under inhospitable working conditions, in countries where legal protection for workers was not strong. Then the Hong Kong Convention (HKC) for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships became effective in June of 2025. That changed things. Now there is clear international law marking how recycling yards must operate if they want to handle the world’s discarded ships.
Bangladesh is the largest ship-recycling state, with many facilities, and much tonnage recycled into scrap steel and other by-products. The government has drafted new Ship Recycling Rules 2025, to assure that their recycling yards are compliant with both Bangladesh law and with the HKC. And these rules have been receiving some criticism.
The opinion piece linked below, by a prominent Bangladeshi professor and ship-recycling expert, debunks that criticism. It seems that Bangladesh has managed to thread the needle, creating a legal structure that will support compliant shipbreakers, while giving noncompliant facilities a chance and a time window to become compliant. And it’s done in a way that will not allow the noncompliant yards to persist in a rogue fashion.
The law should be welcomed by the shipping community. Bangladesh is a preferred location for shipbreaking because of its ideal geographical setting and better cost profile. A rising tide of scrapping is coming, because of the need to improve environmental characteristics of ships, and an oversupply created by a newbuilding splurge. Bangladesh needs to be included in the roster of decent places to recycle ships.
Published Jan 11, 2026 2:30 PM by Prof. Dr. Ishtiaque Ahmed
Supply Chain and Logistics 