Cruise Ship “Cemetery” Revealed as Pandemic Fallout Deepens
ALIAĞA, TURKEY – Striking aerial photographs captured in October 2020 revealed a growing fleet of decommissioned cruise ships anchored off the coast of Aliağa, Turkey, marking an unprecedented result of the COVID-19 pandemic’s devastating impact on the travel industry. The images, taken by Turkish photographer murat Bektas using a drone, were among the first published showing what would become known as a “cruise ship cemetery.”
during the first six months of 2020, more than 40 cruise ships reported cases of COVID-19, leading to a near-total shutdown of the global cruise industry.This left as many as 40,000 crew members stranded, sometimes in isolation, and ship operators facing the costly dilemma of maintaining vessels with no revenue. According to industry analyst Dr. Uğur Bektas, keeping ships in port without passengers still incurs important expenses, prompting operators to “dismantle the ships somehow, especially the ones that are not too neat, that are not new enough.”
The port of Aliağa was already known in Turkey for ”ongoing issues around safety and pollution at the site,” and its established ship-breaking industry made it a logical, if unsettling, destination for retired cruise liners. Bektas initially faced resistance from shipyard owners when requesting access to photograph the ships, but circumvented the restrictions by utilizing a drone. “The picture from drone is really on the aesthetical side. it creates a really nice picture,” he explained.
Despite regulations making drone photography illegal in many parts of Turkey, Bektas was able to capture the images relatively easily, spending approximately half an hour with colleagues on a nearby hill. The resulting photographs quickly gained widespread attention, offering a stark visual depiction of the pandemic’s economic fallout and raising concerns about the environmental and labor practices at the ship-breaking facility.
The dismantling of these vessels represents a significant loss for the cruise industry and a potential environmental challenge, as the process of breaking down large ships can release hazardous materials if not handled properly. the images from Aliağa serve as a lasting reminder of the pandemic’s far-reaching consequences and the difficult choices faced by businesses and workers alike.
