Bangladesh remained the global shipping industry's first choice for scrapping vessels in 2024, even though the overall import fell to a six-year low amid dollar constraints and subdued demand due to economic woes. 

Shipbreaking yards in the densely populated South Asian country imported 130 ships for scrapping last year, according to an annual list on ship dismantling published by NGO Shipbreaking Platform earlier this week.

The figure was 23.5 percent lower than that last year.

The platform said 409 ships were dismantled globally in 2024, of which 255 ended up in South Asian yards.

To be specific, 80 percent of the vessels were scrapped last year under substandard conditions on the beaches of Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan.

"Bangladesh remains the shipping industry's first choice for scrapping, despite the grave consequences for workers, local communities, and fragile coastal ecosystems," the NGO Shipbreaking Platform said in a press release.

Nine workers lost their lives dismantling ships in South Asia in 2024, with another 45 workers injured due to unsafe working practices, it added.

Of those, Bangladesh saw one of last year's worst accidents.

While dismantling an oil tanker, a massive explosion claimed the lives of six workers and left six others critically injured at SN Corporation, a yard on the beach of Chattogram, the platform said.

Bangladesh's shipbreaking yards, situated in the southeastern coastal division of Chattogram, imported 280 vessels for dismantling in 2021, the highest in the past six years. Imports have fluctuated since then.

"Local market conditions have not been good this year. This is because of problems with imports due to the dollar crisis and a decline in our sales," said Md Abu Taher, president of the Bangladesh Ship Breakers and Recyclers Association (BSBRA).

Meanwhile, the total weight of the imported scrap vessels dipped by around 52 percent, according to data from the Bangladesh Ship Breakers and Recyclers Association.

"Our main buyers are steel re-rolling mills. They are registering a downturn in business as public construction has declined," he added.

"So, our sales have dropped. We are incurring huge losses. But our establishment costs have not declined, even though business has," Taher added.

He said the prospect of a recovery in business looks grim. "Who will buy scrap from us to make steel rods unless the construction sector is revived?" he questioned.

Bangladesh has 150 shipbreaking yards, and around 30 are currently in operation. Seven yards have so far received clearance as "green" yards, while 15 are preparing to become "green" yards, according to Taher.