Ship Recycling in Northern Germany – A Question of Worth and Value

What happens to the big ships when they no longer travel the world’s oceans? Containerships are considered commodities that are scrapped at the end of their service life. Unfortunately, many former European ships still end up on the beaches of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh for scrapping under unsafe conditions for the workers and the environment, even though the EU has prohibited this. In Germany, there is a great interest in developing a ship recycling industry to offer an environmentally friendly alternative to scrapping and to meet the growing demand for recycled steel in Germany.

The ShipRecGer project uses ethnographic field research to investigate the value – economic, cultural, sentimental – of ships at the end of their life and documents the development of the ship recycling industry in Germany. What influences do the different types of value have on ship recycling? These negotiations and questions lead to larger discussions about green change, sustainability and technologization.

Ships are changing the world – Are they the key to a green steel industry in Germany?