ALANG:
What, after all the places, you are going to visit Alang?
Yes, Alang!
Have you gone mad, are you crazy; Don’t tell me that Alang is a tourist destination?
Once I tell you about Alang, you decide whether our decision was right or wrong?
And before I tell you more about Alang, I have to make these four points very clear.
- I had read on the internet about Alang while preparing my Tour Guide. But while writing this travelogue, I am not influenced by the information available on the internet. Everything is my own experience and through my common sense.
- Today (25/01/15) was a Sunday. Alang being an industrial area, was closed for weekly off.
- Our next destination was Palitana. We wanted to finish Palitana also today itself at any cost, otherwise we were going to waste one full day tomorrow. So we were at Alang for just one hour only, that too including lunch break.
- Hence whatever I have written here may not be 100% true. And if I have given wrong information, kindly accept my apologies in advance.
Now over to Alang:
After Nishkalank, we were approaching Alang with the help of GMaps. When we were near a village called Sosiya, we saw a left turn. This left road was better than the main road to Alang shown by GMaps. Out of curiosity, we stopped a two-wheeler and asked him for Alang road. He directed us to take the left road, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise for us. Soon we were at Alang. We went on the road from one end to other end. What we saw was beyond our imagination.
There were lots of industrial plots between the road and the sea shore. Each one was few acres in size. And almost all the plots were active. We could see at least one ship in each plot, on the beach. And those ships were broken, some partially, some half, some 3/4th etc. Most of them were without any workers, being weekly off. The entire area was almost deserted because of weekly holiday, followed by Republic Day. We asked few watchmen for taking photographs, but we were curtly denied permission. However we were able to take photos from distant places.
Ships seen from distant place
And a closer look
What is Alang?
All the sites on internet tell you that Alang is a graveyard of ships.

I beg to differ with all of them. It is a ship breaking industry; and not a graveyard.
Ships are neither burnt here nor buried here. Or for that matter, not thrown here-and-there after dismantling.

In fact it is not even an industry.
You all have seen your neighborhood workshops. We call them as “welding shops”. So you may call Alang as a “de-welding (breaking) shop”, nothing more than that.
Let me explain in detail now. Like every vehicle, even ships also have a life span. Once it gets aged, it has to be disposed off properly. Ship contains lots of metal and other items. So it has got a scrap value. Entrepreneurs buy these old ships from all over the world. And they bring it to Alang.
Now the next question is, why Alang and why not any other place in India? Luckily you are following me from Sanjan, beginning of my Gujarat tour. I have also shown you Kavi Kamboi (Stambheshwar Mahadev) and Koliyak (Nishkalank Mahadev) temples. The reason for these two sea temples is the special coastal line of Gujarat. The high and low tides. This is the same reason for Alang to be the biggest ship breaking yard in the world. It is comparatively easy to bring the large ships to the shore and anchor them during high tides. And once they are anchored, the breaking work of ship starts.
Once the dismantling work starts, all the items are sold as scrap. Depending on the size and type of ship, it might take a couple of years to completely break a ship. Hence it is a livelihood to lots of workers.
After taking a couple of shots, we went to Annapurna Hotel at Alang Circle. We had our lunch there.
Too many cooks did not spoil the food
After the lunch, we thought our visit was over and we left Alang. But there was more to come.
We were shocked to see what was on the way ahead.
Used washing machines for sale at Alang
You see, a ship can be like a Lorry or a Bus. I mean, it can be used to transport Goods or can be used as a Cruise. So basically a ship contains everything, i.e., a room, office, canteen, stadium, theater, swimming pool, hospital, kitchen, tank, container vessels, helipad, football stadium, mini airport etc. In fact it contains many more things that we can even think off.
And all the items used in the ships must be of extremely excellent quality. The reasons are simple. One is the salty sea water. Other one is that you can’t get a replacement in the middle of the sea, if something goes wrong.
So all the items used in the ships will be of #1 quality.
So, when the ship is broken, all these items are also sold in the second hand market. So what all these items could be? Good question. You think of it, you have it. Just look around your house, room or office or wherever you are.
Anything and everything that you can see surrounding you, is available in these second-hand shops.
To name a few: Computer, table, fan, TV, switch board, bulb, motor, grinder, kitchen item, vessel, dining table, stove, window, door, wash basin, washing machine, electric motor, pin, stapler, curtain, bed sheet, cot, turbine, generator, rope, fishing net, belt, I mean the list is endless.
Second hand Wash Basins and other items
There are shops on both side of the road for almost 3 – 4 kilometers. Due to lack of time, we did not stop at any of these shops and enquired. But I am damn sure; you can get them for a better deal compared to OLX, Flipcart, Snapdeal etc. And the quality also must be damn good.
Fishing nets, Machinery parts etc
So that was Alang for you.
I repeat again, whatever I have written here may not be 100% true. And if I have given wrong information, kindly accept my apologies.
It was already 2.15 pm, and we were around 50 km away from Palitana, our next destination. We must hurry up, otherwise we will loose one day...