Uploaded September 2023 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
I took a trip to Bangladesh I visited and recorded the shipyards in Dhaka at Keraniganj along the banks of the Buriganga River. Bangladesh has gained world-wide recognition for its ship building industry. Bangladesh does not use high-tech assembly lines where sleek ocean vessels are mass produced. All of the ship demolition and building is performed by hand. Large teams of men and underaged boys work in conditions with poisonous fumes and physical hazards.
An old ship has to be broken down into its component parts before a new ship can be built.
Strong men pull apart pieces of the old ships. They tediously bang out the dents in the metal and put the curves back into shape with hammers.
They rebuild new ships using recycled parts and new parts. In other parts of the shipyard, propellers are cast using underground furnaces where oils and poisonous smoke burns your lungs and make eyes tear. Boys as young as 7 years old work here at the forges. Their hands turn the color of metal because they are dirtied with silver paint, oil, and metal dust.
Many of the workers live here in the shipyard in small shacks and cabins next to shops that sell tea and cooked food. This thriving community of workers lives next to all of the welding, hammering, banging, lifting and sweating. There is community pride in the fact that this is a working neighborhood. Everyone here works, from the youngest boys to the oldest men and women.
Young children run through the dirty lanes between the buildings running around on work errands. Goats wander around through the lanes. Goats the source of meat in this community that is primarily Muslim. On the day I was walking around it was 115 degrees Fahrenheit. The heat from the sun and furnaces was intense.
The shipyard workplace is very dangerous. The men work without helmets or a harness at heights that could kill them if they fall. The smoke from the steel casting furnaces made breathing painful and hard. I had to leave after a few hours near the furnaces because I became dizzy and nauseous from all of the smoke.
I was wearing a face mask, but the local men did not have anything over their mouths to protect them.
This shipyard in Dhaka represents human labor in raw form. Sheltered inside 1st world countries like the United States, it is hard for us to relate to the type of lives these workers live. Things we take for granted, like workplace safety, education don't exist in Bangladesh.
Here in the claustrophobic, noisy and dirty shipyard there are such friendly and kind people. The workers in the shipyard were very friendly and open to talking and being videod. They were probably wondering why a foreign visitor like me would find their hard work so intriguing. My friend Abdullah R. helped take care of me and made sure that if I was feeling a little low on energy because of the extreme heat that I was safe and taken care of. The tea shop welcomed me in with a smile and served me tea and snacks.
It’s instances of such humanity that truly made this a rewarding and unforgettable travel experience. This video that documents the hard conditions that these people have to work in day after day. It shows the human face of a community whose lives are very different from ours. It shows the connection of the humanity that is shared between us all.
I took a trip to Bangladesh I visited and recorded the shipyards in Dhaka at Keraniganj along the banks of the Buriganga River. Bangladesh has gained world-wide recognition for its ship building industry. Bangladesh does not use high-tech assembly lines where sleek ocean vessels are mass produced. All of the ship demolition and building is performed by hand. Large teams of men and underaged boys work in conditions with poisonous fumes and physical hazards.
An old ship has to be broken down into its component parts before a new ship can be built.
Strong men pull apart pieces of the old ships. They tediously bang out the dents in the metal and put the curves back into shape with hammers.
They rebuild new ships using recycled parts and new parts. In other parts of the shipyard, propellers are cast using underground furnaces where oils and poisonous smoke burns your lungs and make eyes tear. Boys as young as 7 years old work here at the forges. Their hands turn the color of metal because they are dirtied with silver paint, oil, and metal dust.
Many of the workers live here in the shipyard in small shacks and cabins next to shops that sell tea and cooked food. This thriving community of workers lives next to all of the welding, hammering, banging, lifting and sweating. There is community pride in the fact that this is a working neighborhood. Everyone here works, from the youngest boys to the oldest men and women.
Young children run through the dirty lanes between the buildings running around on work errands. Goats wander around through the lanes. Goats the source of meat in this community that is primarily Muslim. On the day I was walking around it was 115 degrees Fahrenheit. The heat from the sun and furnaces was intense.
The shipyard workplace is very dangerous. The men work without helmets or a harness at heights that could kill them if they fall. The smoke from the steel casting furnaces made breathing painful and hard. I had to leave after a few hours near the furnaces because I became dizzy and nauseous from all of the smoke.
I was wearing a face mask, but the local men did not have anything over their mouths to protect them.
This shipyard in Dhaka represents human labor in raw form. Sheltered inside 1st world countries like the United States, it is hard for us to relate to the type of lives these workers live. Things we take for granted, like workplace safety, education don't exist in Bangladesh.
Here in the claustrophobic, noisy and dirty shipyard there are such friendly and kind people. The workers in the shipyard were very friendly and open to talking and being videod. They were probably wondering why a foreign visitor like me would find their hard work so intriguing. My friend Abdullah R. helped take care of me and made sure that if I was feeling a little low on energy because of the extreme heat that I was safe and taken care of. The tea shop welcomed me in with a smile and served me tea and snacks.
It’s instances of such humanity that truly made this a rewarding and unforgettable travel experience. This video that documents the hard conditions that these people have to work in day after day. It shows the human face of a community whose lives are very different from ours. It shows the connection of the humanity that is shared between us all.
