This is a summary of an analysis published by The Business Standard. The views are the author’s, not Maritime News BD’s.
In an analysis published on 15 August 2026, the day after nine workers died in a gas leak at Ferdous Steel’s certified yard in Sitakunda, Shamsuddin Illius argues that Hong Kong Convention listings and “green yard” labels do not ensure worker safety unless rules are enforced, and that certification risks becoming greenwashing if standards slip after approval.
Citing YPSA data, the piece says 12 shipbreaking workers had died in 2026 by then, four times the 2025 total of three and the highest annual toll since 2021, with 161 deaths from 2014. Bangladesh has 23 green-classified yards, 17 notified to the IMO, and yard owners say they invested over Tk2,000 crore in two years. YPSA’s Muhammad Ali Shahin said a green certificate “does not guarantee that a ship recycling yard is 100 percent safe”, while Bangladesh Ship Recycling Board Director General Shafiul Alam Talukder said the yard had been authorised after proper assessment and the deaths were its responsibility.
Source
- The Business Standard (analysis): “How ‘green’ are Bangladesh’s shipbreaking yards if workers keep dying?” (15 August 2026)
File photo: a Chattogram ship-breaking yard. Photo: Naquib Hossain / CC BY-SA 2.0, 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.
