The NGO Shipbreaking Platform is a global coalition of organisations working to reverse the environmental harm and human rights abuses caused by current shipbreaking practices and to ensure the safe and environmentally sound dismantling of end-of-life ships worldwide.

Just as the goods they transport, ships too become waste when they reach the end of their operational lives. Yet only a fraction is handled in a safe and clean manner. The vast majority of the world's end-of-life fleet, full of toxic substances, is simply broken down - by hand - on the beaches of South Asia. There, unscrupulous shipping companies exploit minimal enforcement of environmental and safety rules to maximise profits.

Ship owners from East Asia and Europe top the list of dumpers that sell ships for breaking on South Asian beaches.

In Bangladesh, India and Pakistan ships are broken apart directly on the beach instead of in an industrial site: a practice known as "beaching".

Since 2009:

2020 shipbreaking records: most shipping companies continue to opt for the highest price at the worst scrapping yards.

Decommissioned deep-sea vessels are floating toxic waste. Their disposal is laborious and costly, and regarded as a menace by those who want to protect both the workers Read More

In August 2016 the FPSO NORTH SEA PRODUCER was beached in Chittagong, Bangladesh. The ship was allowed to leave the UK based on false claims that it Read More

It all started with an anonymous letter informing us that the EIDE CARRIER was sold for scrap. Having been laid up for many years on the Norwegian Read More

Nineteen workers suffered an accident on South Asian beaches in the third quarter of 2021.

At least seven workers lost their lives while scrapping vessels on the beach of Chattogram in what is the worst quarter in terms of number of accidents Read More

Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE) has been awarded the Alternative Nobel Prize

In the last weeks, seven workers tragically died while dismantling vessels in Bangladesh and Turkey.    Five workers were killed and three severely injured in seven separate Read More

Yet another passenger ship is heading towards the shipbreaking beaches of South Asia, in clear violation of European rules that are aimed at preventing the trade of Read More

Eleven workers suffered an accident on South Asian beaches in the second quarter of 2021.

Yet another fatal accident recently took place at the ship recycling yards of Aliağa, Turkey. On 12 July, Yılmaz Demir (55 years old) and Oğuz Taşkın (30 years Read More

On 25 June, the Court of Antwerp dismissed the charges pressed against ship owner Bocimar NV for the scrapping of a vessel in a Bangladeshi yard where Read More