Alang Ship Breaking Yard, Ship breaking yard in Alang, Gujarat, India.

Alang Ship Breaking Yard is a ship dismantling facility on the Gulf of Khambhat in Gujarat, India, with 183 yards along 14 kilometres of coast. Ships are beached on the mud flats at high tide; as the tide recedes, labourers dismantle them by hand. Photographs show the black and red hull of the Panagia I standing upright on broken concrete, and the green and orange hull of the Stag 16 with its white superstructure and orange lifeboat.

Operations began in February 1983 with a cargo vessel that marked the start of an industry attracting thousands of people. Over the following decades the site developed into the largest center of its kind worldwide, where hundreds of ships are processed each year.

Workers live for months in temporary shelters along the coast, salvaging steel parts and sorting recyclable materials. The group of men follows a rhythm between tide and ebb that determines the dismantling work and structures daily life.

The site is remote and accessible to visitors only with permission, as work takes place continuously. The best view of the facility comes from the nearby road section, from which you can see the rows of beached ships.

The tides are so favorable that ships can drive straight onto the beach at high tide and rest dry at low tide, eliminating the need for docks or cranes. This natural advantage makes dismantling easier than at most other coasts worldwide.