With the revival of work in Gaddani shipyard in Balochistan, the ship-breaking industry has been currently meeting 70 per cent iron and steel requirements of the country, according to a report.
With the increase in activity at the Gaddani shipyard, the number of people employed there has risen to 12,000, said Engineering Development Board reported (EDB) report quoting Pakistan Ship Breaking Association.
The ship breaking activity at Gaddani Shipyard has broken last 12 years recorded with more than 50 big ships being hammered currently, report added. It said that 95 per cent of the old scrap is recycled and reused, adding that the shipyard industry meets country’s demand for steel, steel-related products and non-ferrous products and machinery.
Pakistan Steel Mills has not been working on its full capacity and cannot fulfill the country’s requirements, so iron and steel obtained from the ship breaking helps meet the demand, report said. Most of the re-rolling and re-melting mills have once again become dependant on the Gaddani ship breakers for supplies and hundreds of steel re-rolling and re-melting mills in the country depend heavily on the ship breaking industry for the supply of ship plates.
Even wash basins, toilets, wooden doors and other such things in old ships are reused, it said adding ship prices in the international market are high but the increasing demand at home for steel and steel products has led to purchase of more and more worn-out ships for dismantling.
“Purchasing even expensive vessels is profitable because of high demand,” the report claimed. It is to be noted here that a few years ago, the ship breaking industry was on the verge of collapse with little activity there which had made room for smuggling of pipes from Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet states.
The smuggled pipes had fulfilled the requirements for sometime but then it stopped, putting the local mills in a very difficult situation. Karachi Iron and Steel Merchants Association said that currently Gaddani ship breaking is making most of the requirement of re-rolling mills.
About 20 per cent requirement is fulfilled by imports from Ukraine, Turkey and former Soviet countries and by Pakistan steel. But material supplied by ship breakers is much cheaper than that sold by Pakistan steel as Gaddani ship breaking raw material is available at cheaper rate of Rs.55,000 per ton.
