Lives saved, ships broken: the human cost and promise, of ship recycling17 April, 2025Progress has never come easy to the shipbreaking yards of South Asia. Dangerous conditions, fragmented regulation and deep-rooted employer control have long defined an industry that dismantles the world’s ships, and too often, the people working on them.
Progress and challenges in Bangladesh’s shipbreaking sector15 April, 2025As we approach the entry into force of the Hong Kong Convention (HKC) on 26 June 2025, IndustriALL and its affiliates are pushing to ensure that the transition to a compliant shipbreaking industry does not leave workers behind. In early April, two training sessions, a yard visit and a roundtable discussion took place in Chittagong, Bangladesh, bringing together workers, union leaders, employers and experts to confront the challenges and opportunities facing the sector.
Health and safety is our right 28 March, 2024In the lead up to International Workers’ Memorial Day on 28 April, IndustriALL is putting the spotlight on health and safety in the workplace. A staggering more than 3 million workers die every year because of their work, and tens of millions are injured. Health and safety at work is neither a perk to be bargained for nor a favour to be asked. It is our right.
The Hong Kong Convention is ratified – what next?27 February, 2024After a long campaign by IndustriALL and its affiliates, the Hong Kong Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships has been ratified and will enter into force on 26 June 2025. What does this mean for shipbreaking workers?
The Hong Kong Convention: what is needed?27 February, 2024The Hong Kong Convention is an incredibly important step forward for workers’ human rights and environmental management. However, it is not enough to transform the industry, which will require sustained attention and activism by unions.
Shipbreaking unions plan for entry into force of Hong Kong Convention 27 November, 2023South Asian shipbreaking unions met in Kathmandu, Nepal, on 24-25 November, to evaluate a three-year organizing project supported by FNV Mondiaal, which ends this year. The industry is going through tremendous change as it prepares for the entry into force of the Hong Kong Convention (HKC).
Hong Kong Convention round table in Bangladesh30 August, 2023A round table meeting was convened by IndustriALL in Bangladesh on 30 August, bringing together government, shipbreaking yard employers and local unions to plan the way forward after the country’s ratification of the Hong Kong Convention.
Shipbreaking industry set for transformation with Hong Kong Convention28 June, 2023The Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships (Hong Kong Convention) will enter into force in June 2025, after Bangladesh and Liberia became contracting states to the Convention on 26 June 2023.
Solidarity visit to Alang shipbreaking yards11 November, 2022A global delegation of shipbuilding and shipbreaking unions visited the Alang shipyards in Gujarat, India, and the downstream industries in the ship recycling ecosystem, as part of IndustriALL Global Union’s campaign to clean up shipbreaking.
Bangladesh’s dangerous shipbreaking yards claim two more lives23 September, 2021In just a week, two more workers have been killed and three have been injured due to the deplorable lack of safety in Chittagong’s shipbreaking yards. IndustriALL affiliates BMF and BMCGTWF have repeatedly brought up the issue of health and safety with both Bangladesh’s government and the ship owners, but to no avail.
