The Last Station

Bhavnagar is the last station on the rail. It is a “small” town of 100,000 people, situated on the Gulf of Khambhat, on the western coast of Gujarat. It is our base for three days as we comb the Khaddas (literally “holes”) of the salvage traders of Alang, who sell equipment and furnishings pulled from the hundreds of ships that come to be broken. There are no accomodations in Alang, and just one grubby dhabba, serving only lunch. Indeed, there is not a single toilet in all of Alang. So, here we are at the end of the line.

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Alang: Shipbreaking, Salvage, and Environmental Issues

Photo courtesy of Greenpeace International

We traveled to Alang, a stretch of beach on the Gulf of Khambhat in Gujarat, to witness first-hand what has been described as one of the “Seven Garbage Wonders of the World.” At the moment, there are 70 large ships beached like dead whales on the sands of Alang, where they are being dismantled for the reprocessing of their valuable steel. Shipbreaking is easy on neither the environment, nor the workers.