India Ranks 1st in Ship Recycling Globally, Aims to Double its Capacity

NEW DELHI:
India ranked first globally in ship recycling in 2025, as the country’s share of global ship recycling increased from 30.1 per cent in 2024 to 35.4 per cent in 2025, marking a significant milestone in the country’s maritime and industrial development, an official factsheet said on Tuesday.

Ship recycling volume in India also increased from 1.86 million Gross Tonnes (GT) in 2024 to 2.99 million GT in 2025. This represents nearly 60 per cent growth in recycling volume.

The statement said that the Alang-Sosiya ship recycling cluster in Gujarat forms the backbone of India’s recycling capacity.

It is recognised as the world’s largest ship recycling hub. The cluster accounts for approximately 98 per cent of India’s ship recycling activity. It has an annual recycling capacity of around 6 million GT.

“Around 3.50 million metric tonnes (MMT) of steel is produced per annum at Alang without exploiting natural resources. It is supported by authorised ship recycling yards, downstream steel re-rolling mills, and waste management infrastructure,” the factsheet informed.

Over the years, the cluster has undergone extensive modernisation and represents India’s primary interface with the global ship recycling market.

India aims to nearly double its ship recycling capacity to about 9 million light displacement tonnes (LDT). This expansion will be achieved through the planned development of the Alang Ship Recycling Yard.

The Safety Training and Labour Welfare Institute at the Alang-Sosiya ship recycling yard has trained over 1.5 lakh workers, cumulatively.

The training covers occupational safety, hazardous material handling, and emergency response. In addition to this, India has a ship recycling yard at Amar Iron Udyog in Kolkata and another at Steel Industrials Kerala Limited (SILK) in Kerala.

“The rise reflects India’s expanding capacity and indicates the growing competitiveness of Indian ship recycling yards in the global market. The target set under Maritime India Vision (MIV) 2030 to become the world’s leading ship recycling nation has been achieved five years ahead of schedule,” said the statement.