Alang: On the opening day of India Maritime Week 2025 in Mumbai, the Gujarat government announced plans to recycle 15,000 ships at the Alang shipbreaking yard over the next decade.

The announcement was made by Ramesh Chand Meena, Principal Secretary of the Ports and Transport Department, who said that the state is working to double Alang’s recycling capacity and aims to recycle more than 15,000 ships in the coming ten years while adhering to strict environmental standards.

However, this target of dismantling 1,500 ships annually comes at a time when shipbreaking operations at Alang have been in steady decline since 2011–12, when the yard recorded its highest-ever figure of 415 end-of-life ships recycled in a single year.

In contrast, only 113 ships were brought for dismantling during 2024–25, and merely 44 ships have arrived so far in 2025 (till August).

According to a report by Businessline, Alang has 150 ship recycling yards, of which 128 are operational. However, shipbreakers state that only 25–30% of these yards currently have ships for dismantling, while the remaining units remain idle.

Despite this underutilization, the Gujarat government is moving ahead with its plan to expand Alang’s capacity from 4.5 million LDT to 9 million LDT. DeshGujarat