Steel recovered when ships are dismantled — hull plate, frames, machinery and fittings — graded on the beach into re-rollable plate, melting scrap and non-ferrous lots.
Steel recovered when ships are dismantled — hull plate, frames, machinery and fittings — graded on the beach into re-rollable plate, melting scrap and non-ferrous lots.
A ship delivered to a recycling yard is bought by its light displacement tonnage, and most of that weight is steel. Hull plate and deck plate are cut into rectangles that can be re-rolled directly into bars and small sections; this re-rollable plate is the prize of the trade and sells at a premium to melting scrap. Frames, stiffeners, pipework and machinery are cut for the furnace and sold as HMS.
Non-ferrous recoveries — propellers, condenser tubes, cables, bearings — are sold separately, as are engines, generators and marine equipment that can be resold whole.
Alang–Sosiya in India, Chattogram (Sitakunda) in Bangladesh, Gadani in Pakistan and Aliağa in Turkey are the main beaches and yards; Chinese and European facilities handle a smaller share under stricter rules. Our ship-recycling guide covers how ships are bought and the Hong Kong Convention. Re-rolling mills cluster around the yards — Bhavnagar near Alang and the Sitakunda belt near Chattogram — so much of the plate never travels far.
Plate thickness, corrosion pitting and paint are the grading points for re-rollable plate; a plate that is too pitted or too thin goes to the furnace instead. Melting scrap from ships is inspected for asbestos, oil residue and non-ferrous attachments.
Code: Ship plate (re-rollable), HMS from ships
The main importing countries for this grade — each links to the country page with its mills, smelters, price references and named firms.