In Kesennuma—where the 330-ton, 60-meter-long Kyotoku Maru No. 18 was washed ashore by tsunami following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake—heavy machines roared as they carried steel plates cut from the fishing vessel. Although plans to preserve the ship as a reminder of the disaster were once discussed, work to dismantle the ship was completed on Oct. 28.
Demolition work was contracted to Ship Recycle Muroran, a nonprofit organization based in Muroran, Hokkaido. Steel parts taken from Kyotoku Maru No. 18 will become automobile parts, manholes and other useful items. The ship’s screw was also sold. Most of the ship’s parts have been recycled.
Demolition work was conducted in a way that prevents toxic substances, such as asbestos, from spreading to the environment, and unclean water created during the work was purified before being released into the ocean.
Ship Recycle Muroran is also working on improving water jet technology to cut steel plates. The technology can prevent heavy fuel oil and chemical substances in ships from catching fire because pressurized water is used in dismantling ships.
94% of demolition done abroad
Shimizu, who is director of the nonprofit organization, was referring to a site in Chittagong, Bangladesh, which he visited on an inspection tour in 2009.
According to Shimizu, the beach was jet black and muddy with heavy oil that had leaked from the ships. It was virtually impossible not to hold one`s nose as the air reeked of the smell of sludge.
The operating life of a ship is usually believed to be 30 years. In ships of that age, harmful asbestos was widely used as an insulating material for engines. However, barefoot workers wore no masks and even boys of middle school age worked among them, he said.
In cutting steel plates with oxyacetylene torches, sparks fell onto the beach, setting oil on fire. No one was surprised even when they heard the sounds of huge explosions, Shimizu said.
As of 2012, 94 percent of the world’s ship demolition was carried out by four countries—India, Bangladesh, China and Pakistan—because of low labor costs and strong demand for iron in these nations.
Although Japan is a leading shipbuilding and maritime country, which builds 18 percent of the world’s ships and owned 14 percent of ships in terms of tonnage as of the end of 2012, ship demolition has decreased in this country after peaking in 1985.
Except for vessels belonging to the Self-Defense Forces and Japan Coast Guard, hardly any ship is scrapped here.