How Covid-19 pandemic has impacted the Cruise Tourism?

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the Alang Shipbreaking Yard in Bhavnagar district of Gujarat has witnessed slump in the business since the economy is robust. In the last 50 days, three luxury liners have been dismantled in the Shipbreaking yard.

Why there is slump in the dismantling business?

The cruise liner sector attracts foreign tourists so often. But in the aftermath of Covid-19 Pandemic this sector has come to a standstill because there are still travel restrictions. The tourists are avoiding and postponing their journey after they got scared of the Cruise Vessel Diamond Princess Incident.

Cruise Vessel Diamond Princess Incident

In the month of February 2020, there was the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic on cruise vessel Diamond Princess docked in Japan. This has left a global scare with respect to the cruise tourism. In the incident, more than 3,600 passengers and crew were quarantined on the Diamond Princess at Yokohama port. This has led to 700 Covid infections and seven deaths.

How Pandemic has impacted the sector?

Many of the cruise owners have been forced out of business. They are also facing bankruptcy because of interest on loans and costs of insurance. Further, the crew maintenance, anchorage and fuel costs add on the pocket of the owners. They expect that the cruise tourism is not going to restart for next 6 to 8 months. Thus, they put the vessels for sale or to be scrapped.

Cruise that reached to the Shipbreaking yard

As per the available data, one ship on an average comes to Alang shipbreaking yard. But, In the last one year, no cruise vessels came and suddenly there is slump in the number of cruises reaching to the yard. Recently, cMV Karnika cruise reached Alang in end-November 2020 after this 14-deck vessel had failed to restart operations because of lockdown. On January 2, 2021 a 40-year-old Ocean Dream moved to the yard as it remained idle for a year near Hiroshima. In the line, Marco Polo which was commissioned in 1965 also headed toward the yard.

What is Ship Breaking?

Ship-breaking or ship demolition is the process of ship disposal. The process involves the breaking up of ships for either a source of parts or extracting the raw materials. The source of the parts can be sold for re-use. The process allows the ship materials to be recycled and made into new products. Thus, this process lowers the demand for mined iron ore. It also reduces the energy use in the steelmaking process.