Shipbreaking Procedures
The skills required to dismantle a ship are a unique blend of technical knowledge and physical labor. Technical knowledge is needed to properly eliminate hazardous materials and safely remove heavy sections of steel hulls. Ship scrapping is still a labor-intensive process with much of the work being done using hand held cutting tools.

The two methods of scrapping a ship are the afloat method and the dry-dock method. The afloat method is generally less expensive than the dry-dock method, but this cost savings comes with greater difficulty than the dry-dock method. Scrapping a ship while in the water is more difficult because of the scrappers need to strip the inside of the ship before dismantling can begin. Workers must strip the interior through doors and hatches and remove the propeller(s) and rudders while the ship is in the water. Then, the scrappers remove the superstructure and topside components and progressively cut the main and lower decks from bow to stern. As they remove material from the ship it becomes lighter and is pulled ashore, a little more each day, with each high tide. Scrapping a ship in a dry-dock is more expensive, yet it is easier to scrap the vessel. Since the ship is not in the water, the workers can immediately begin separating the vessel into large sections, then move the large sections to other areas to be cut into smaller sections.