Rather like shipbuilding half a century ago, he says, shipbreaking is a boom-and-bust business.

ECONOMIST: Shipbreaking

The British government committed itself in 2007 to scrapping its ships properly and is encouraging the development of a British shipbreaking industry.

ECONOMIST: Shipbreaking

If the environmental aspects of shipbreaking are tricky, so are the economic.

ECONOMIST: Shipbreaking

Turned away by Spain and Turkey, the ship was slated to be broken up in India, which has a cheap, slapdash and thriving shipbreaking industry.

ECONOMIST: Shipbreaking