The video documentary “Echoes of Ship Breaking” is Vega Productions film is representing the hard working hours of the over 66,000 employees in the ship breaking yards at Alang in Gujarat and Darukhana in Mumbai.
Most of the workers migrate from UP, Orissa, Bihar and various other states across India in search of employment and better life. Their job is to strip the raw materials from these ships and sell them to various integral industries such as construction companies, steel mills and many others.
According to the film’s authors, the ship breaking industry has always been surrounded with myths and controversies.
Very often in the news media, the ship demolition of old vessels is described as "hazardous to environment", completely contrary to its actual purpose, which is the re-use of valuable raw materials from already dead ships, which if have been left at sea would be much more dangerous.
Оne of the main problems in this industry, which was avoided for a long time is regarding the workers involved in the process of ship demolition.
The process of ship-breaking requires many employees from the beginning to the end.
Very often, the companies prefer to hire untrained contractual workers and to ignore safety equipment in order to reduce the cost of the whole demolition operation.
In the video documentary 'Echoes of Ship-Breaking' the authors show the others side of the ship-breaking industry. The video represents how the industry processes labour and ships; how ships are brought in and labourers are hired, and how it starts.
The documentary points the industry's questionable history regarding worker laws. It is mentioned as well why and how ship breaking reached India; how ship breaking affects the environment.
Authors underline the contribution of ship breaking to India and what might be its future in the country.