What Actually Happens to the Retired Vessels?
In this shipping industry, we celebrate the birth of new vessels with press conferences and bottles of champagne but on the contrary, we rarely address what actually happens with the retired ships. If you are one of those who have been wondering about what happens to the retired ships, then here's what you need to know about ship demolition and scrapping. What happens to old vessels? As the ships age with each passing year, vessel owners have various choices which include refurbishing and relocating the vessels into smaller regions, selling them to other lines or sending them to the yard for scraping purposes. At the end, all the ships will be retired and scrapped and yes of course, with some few exceptions like QE 2 which are later turned into hotels or attractions. How the process of ship recycling is carried out at the yards? Ship recycling involves a systematic removal of all items on board the ship and then cutting the ship metal into small blocks. Although it must