Bangladesh lost its place as the world’s top shipbreaking destination in 2025 as imports of end-of-life ships fell by more than 32 per cent, The Financial Express reported on 25 February 2026, citing data from the NGO Shipbreaking Platform.
Bangladesh imported 88 ships totalling 2.68 million tonnes, down from 130 in 2024, while India took 111 vessels of 3.36 million tonnes. Bangladeshi imports had peaked at 254 ships in 2021. Worldwide, 321 ocean-going commercial vessels were scrapped in 2025, and 214 large ships were broken on the beaches of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, over 85 per cent of global tonnage. At least 11 workers died and 62 were injured in South Asia during the year, the platform said.
BSBRA president Amzad Hossain Chowdhury said 23 Bangladeshi yards are compliant, 17 fully under the Hong Kong Convention that took effect in June 2025 and six provisionally, with 20 more seeking certification at a cost of Tk 300 million to Tk 1 billion per yard. He asked for the industry to be reclassified from “red” to “orange” to ease bank financing.
Source
- The Financial Express: “Bangladesh loses top spot in global shipbreaking as imports of scrapped vessels drop 32pc” (25 February 2026)
File photo: a ship-breaking yard in Sitakunda. Photo: Ha-mim Ebne Alam / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
This article is a summary prepared by Maritime News BD from the report(s) listed above; it was not independently reported by Maritime News BD.
