Alang Accounts for More Than a Third of World Ship Breaking Trade
·
Global leadership: India
became the world’s leading ship recycling nation in 2025, with its
global market share rising from 30.1% in 2024 to 35.4% in 2025.
·
Recycling volume jumps: India’s
ship recycling volume increased from 1.86 million gross tonnes (GT) in 2024
to 2.99 million GT in 2025, representing nearly 60% growth.
·
MIV 2030 target achieved early: India
achieved the Maritime India Vision (MIV) 2030 target of becoming the world’s
leading ship recycling nation five years ahead of schedule.
·
Alang-Sosiya remains the
hub: The Alang-Sosiya
cluster in Gujarat accounts for approximately 98% of India’s ship
recycling activity and has annual recycling capacity of around 6 million
GT.
·
Steel production: Alang
produces around 3.50 million metric tonnes of steel annually through
ship recycling, without exploiting natural resources.
·
Capacity expansion planned: India
plans to nearly double ship recycling capacity to about 9 million light
displacement tonnes (LDT) through planned development of the Alang Ship
Recycling Yard.
·
Worker training: The Safety Training and Labour
Welfare Institute at Alang-Sosiya has trained more
than 1.5 lakh workers in occupational safety, hazardous-material handling
and emergency response.
·
Modernised facilities: Indian
yards now have engineered recycling plots, impermeable surfaces and drainage
systems, mechanised material handling, segregated hazardous-waste storage,
authorised waste-treatment linkages and structured safety/emergency
arrangements.
·
Comprehensive legal framework: Ship
recycling is governed by the Ship Recycling Act, 2019, Ship Recycling
Rules, 2021, and Ship Recycling Regulations, 2026, covering
authorisation, certification, inspections, hazardous-material management,
worker safety and compliance monitoring.
·
Hong Kong Convention alignment: The Hong
Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling
of Ships (HKC) entered into force on 26 June 2025. India has aligned
its domestic framework with the Convention.
·
Financial support for compliance: The
Government provided ₹53.5 crore for modernisation of ship
recycling yards, helping 115 facilities achieve compliance with the Hong
Kong Convention.
·
EU green-listing: 35
Alang yards have applied for EU green-listing, with the EU having initiated
inspections. Shree Ram Vessel Scrap and Y.S. Investments have
been included in the draft 16th European List of Ship Recycling Facilities.
·
Inventory of Hazardous Materials (IHM): India
follows a lifecycle-based IHM approach to identify and record hazardous
substances on ships, improving transparency, traceability and risk mitigation
before recycling.
·
Ship-breaking Credit Note Scheme: Under SBFA
2.0, shipowners receive a credit note equivalent to 40% of the recycled
ship’s scrap value, which can be used for payment of up to 5% of the
value of a new vessel built at an Indian shipyard.
·
Economic and environmental benefits: Ship
recycling supplies ferrous scrap to domestic steel producers, reduces
dependence on imported raw materials, supports circular-economy objectives,
lowers energy use and greenhouse-gas emissions compared with primary steel
production, and generates employment and ancillary industrial activity.
·
Ex-INS Viraat: Its recycling at Alang
demonstrated India's ability to safely handle and recycle a large, complex
vessel while maintaining environmental and occupational safety standards.
Key takeaway: India’s
ship-recycling sector has moved from conventional ship-breaking towards a modern,
regulated and internationally aligned circular-economy industry, with
Alang-Sosiya at its core and India now ranked No.
1 globally in ship recycling.
[ABS News Service/12.08.2026]