Narrator: For these $300 million cruise ships,
this is the end of the line.
Because of the pandemic, Carnival, Costa,
and Pullmantur cruise lines have all sent ships
to western Turkey for demolition.
Here, there'll be ripped to shreds deck by deck
and sold for parts.
But dismantling a ship that holds 2,000 passengers?
Well, that's ...
One of the most dangerous jobs in the world.
Narrator: Ship-breakers saw off massive sections
of the hull and move them overhead.
There's millions of dollars' worth of parts at stake,
but any misstep could mean injury
or hurting the environment.
And it's only gotten harder with lots of new arrivals.
We take you inside the yard
turning these floating hotels into this.
Before the pandemic, the Aliaga ship-breaking yards
were pretty quiet.
Normally, the 22 yards only demolished
a few dozen cargo ships a year.
But when the pandemic wrecked the cruising industry,
more and more cruise ships ended up here.
After losing more than $4 billion in the second quarter
of 2020, Carnival Cruise Lines decided
it was more affordable to sell its old ships for parts
than try to keep them operating.
Aliaga will be the last stop for Carnival's Inspiration,
Imagination, and Fantasy ships.
Captains navigate the cruise liners from the US,
UK, and Italy.
They coordinate with the harbormaster to beach ships.
Nicola: Then the whole front of the vessel is grounded
on the shore while the stern still floats.
Emre Aras: We plan how we cut the vessels
together with our technical department.
Narrator: Then 2,500 ship-breakers set out
to remove any valuable material.
Emre: There are very expensive navigational equipment
at breach side.
Narrator: Working one deck at a time,
crews take out all the furniture, mostly by hand.
We're talking everything from chairs, tables, and pianos
to light fixtures and beds.
Emre: I can easily say that cruise vessels
are the hardest vessel type to dismantle because, you know,
there are hundreds of rooms on board.
Narrator: Then they move onto amenities,
dismantling gyms, pools, and theaters.
Stripping walls, windows, floors, and handrails is next.
This is where lots of saws and blowtorches come in.
Nicola: Workers risk daily falling from great heights,
inhaling toxic gases during cutting operations,
being hit by falling objects.
And the blowtorch comes with fire hazards.
Emre: They are working in very high degrees under the sun
in summertimes, or they are working in very extreme
conditions in wintertime.
Narrator: Since October 2022, two workers have died
from falling objects.
Emre: The vessel lies on water,
so there is not any way for the ambulance to reach
in case of emergency situations.
Narrator: Despite these injuries,
working conditions in Aliaga
are better than those of the world's
biggest ship-breaking yards.
Nicola: In South Asia, in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan,
where most of the end-of-life vessels end up every year,
dozens of people die or get injured in the process.
Narrator: Those yards in South Asia
use the dangerous gravity method.
Nicola: That is dropping huge blocks into the water
onto the beach.
Narrator: But in Turkey, workers lift ship parts
with a massive crane.
Emre: Which has a 2,000-ton capacity
in our shore site, and we cut big blocks at the vessel.
And by using this huge crane, we take these big blocks
at our secondary cutting zone.
Narrator: Aliaga hasn't always had the safest yards.
In the late '90s, Turkey was just as bad as South Asia.
But in 2002, Greenpeace released a report
that revealed the unsafe work conditions here,
and the world took notice.
Nicola: As a reaction to this international criticism,
things have improved considerably.
Narrator: Things got even safer in 2018
when some Aliaga yards started complying
with the European Union ship-breaking regulation.
That's why Carnival chose two yards here
for its end-of-life ships.
Those EU guidelines have also raised the standards
for environmental practices.
Every cruise ship has dozens of toxins hidden inside.
Things like asbestos in pipes, heavy metals in paints,
biological hazards from sewage tanks, radioactive material
from gauges, and the list goes on.
Left unchecked, they can seep into the soil, beach, and water,
where they've destroyed local marine habitats
and water systems around ship-breaking yards before.
But because of these new regulations, Aliaga got newer
and better drainage systems and cement floors
in the secondary cutting area so workers weren't cutting
ship parts on open beach.
They also got new oil booms for containing oil spills,
a new waste management center for properly disposing
of those toxins in the ship,
and a better asbestos removal process.
Nicola: Practices have improved, but there are still
concerns related to the long-term impact on the health
of the workers due to exposure to toxic substances.
Narrator: Nicola says many workers
aren't aware of these risks,
and the rest choose the job anyway because of the high pay.
After the ship is demolished,
this is all that's left.
While the whole process takes six months for a cargo ship,
it takes a lot longer for a cruise ship.
Emre: Almost one year, maybe more.
Narrator: Workers move everything pulled off the ships
into separate piles: electronics, light fixtures, textiles,
furniture, glass, and machinery.
Buyers interested in cruise memorabilia
claim the life jackets, art, and maps from antique sellers.
But what about all that metal?
In 2020, Omil estimates workers pulled over
a million tons of steel off cruise ships here,
and that will all be recycled.
Nicola: Recycling steel instead of mining
the raw materials reduces, definitely, energy requirements
and the carbon footprint.
Narrator: It's estimated scrap metal from one ship
could pull in around $4 million in profit
for the ship-breaking association.
Emre: You can make good money because
there are lots of things on board for secondhand sales.
Narrator: Demolishing these bigger ships
has led to larger profits
and a growing workforce for Aliaga shipyards.
Narrator: But as ship-breaking booms,
it comes on the heels of a crumbling cruise industry.