ILO seeks to map gaps in Pakistan’s shipbreaking sector in the wake of HKC

June 30, 2025, by Sara Kosmajac

The International Labor Organization (ILO) has opened submissions from qualified consultants to conduct a diagnostic study of the ship recycling value chain in Pakistan.

Illustration; NGO Shipbreaking Platform 2014

According to officials from the ILO, the study is to inform national action planning by mapping ‘key’ stakeholders, pinpointing policy gaps and examining training needs, particularly in the context of Pakistan’s ratification of the Hong Kong Convention the safe and environmentally sound recycling of ships (HKC), which went live June 26, 2025.

The assignment is envisioned to support the promotion of decent work, occupational safety and health, gender inclusion and the shipbreaking/ship recycling sector’s green transition.

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As informed, the consultancy is part of the “Safe and Environmentally Sound Ship Recycling and Decent Work (SENSREC-DW) in Pakistan” project being done in collaboration with the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which is anticipated to be wrapped up within four months.

The project aims to ‘tighten’ legal frameworks, improve occupational safety and health, and enhance hazardous waste management in shipbreaking, particularly at the Gadani yard in Balochistan. It is understood that SENSREC-DW is funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

As the IMO has noted, Pakistan’s ship recycling industry, centered at the Gadani shipbreaking yard, has long held a ‘prominent’ position in the global market, accounting for 16.6% of global recycling activity in 2022.

The sector, however, grapples with a myriad of challenges, including outdated infrastructure, weak regulatory enforcement, unsafe working conditions, as well as environmental risks. Pakistan is also home to several shipbreaking yards that are infamous for beaching, one of the most hazardous recycling and dismantling methods typically done on the beaches of South Asian nations like India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

In fact, according to Belgium-based NGO Shipbreaking Platform, 80% of the global vessel tonnage scrapped in 2024 alone—i.e., 255 out of 409 dismantled ships—was broken under substandard conditions on sites in this part of Asia.

The government of Pakistan has been ramping up efforts to make the sector safer and greener by attempting to align hazardous waste management with global labor and environmental standards.

Together with the IMO and the ILO, the nation’s Ministry of Maritime Affairs (MoMA), for instance, held a workshop in May this year, where stakeholders could ‘enhance’ their understanding of the HKC, ILO’s Chemical and Occupational Safety and Health conventions as well as the legal requirements for worker safety and ecological compliance.

At the time, Geir Thomas Tonstol, Country Director for ILO Pakistan, underscored: “The management of hazardous waste is not just an environmental obligation—it is a labour rights imperative. Through this project, we are working to strengthen safety standards and ensure decent working conditions for all.”

Seeking to revitalize the ship recycling sector in Pakistan, in late June 2025, the MoMA revealed a $42 million initiative that would specifically go toward turning the Gaddani shipbreaking yard into a “model green yard” and a “hub for green recycling.”

This injection is seen as a ‘significant’ aspect of Pakistan’s efforts to revamp its industries, especially as Gaddani has reportedly seen its business decline due to many reasons, including but not limited to threats to workers’ safety, the dangerous practice of beaching, low wages, and others.