The Freighter Graveyards of South Asia

The sandy beaches north of Chittagong in Bangladesh look like giant steel graveyards. Ships line the banks ready for dismantling. Others are so far disassembled that their hulls are all that is left protuding morosely from the water, according to shipping industry journal Lloyd's List. All kinds of vessels get broken down here: bulk carriers, container ships, vehicle transporters and oil tankers.

A worker at Pakistan's Gadani beach earns 280 rupees -- less than three euros -- a day. Still, the scrapping regions do benefit from the industry. A country with few natural resources such as Bangladesh can make good use of scrap metal, particularly since producing its own steel from iron ore would be costly and time-consuming.