The ship breaking industry in Pakistan, which once occupied a second rank position in the world, was thrown into a verge of collapse in the 1990s due to the ascendancy of influential political power of a family having a significant interest in steel trade. In the 1970s it provided direct jobs to some 100,000 workers and indirect jobs to over 500,000 persons. During this period, 150 ships used to enter Gaddani beach for ship breaking purposes with more than 100 companies operating in the country. Gaddani ship breaking industry was considered as the largest and the best ship breaking centre in the world.

The years between 1969 and 1983 are considered to be thriving periods of ship breaking industry in Pakistan. It was during this period that the ship building industry reached its zenith, leaving many other international ship breaking industries far behind in terms of the total number of ships being broken down and the tonnage of ship scrap being handled. It is estimated that during these flourishing days, this industry contributed Rs5.3 billion to the national exchequer taxes annually. The ship breaking industry did prosperous business from 1970s to 1990s due to cheap labor availability and the large demand of ship scrap from abroad. However, when government abruptly imposed duty on ship breaking industry in the 90's, it started to decline.

After the Pakistan ship breaking industry came to a standstill in the 1990s, India and Bangladesh became the pioneers of the ship breaking industry in the world. Most of the foreign clients turned to them in this hour of critical crisis. Today both countries are prospering due to lower cost and less strict environmental and labor regulations. China, an important contributor in ship breaking industry in the 90s is trying its best to reposition itself. In India, the annual ship breaking figure has reached the level of above 3 million tonnes followed by Bangladesh with 1.5 million tonnes..

Ship breaking boom has once again returned as more than 70 ships have arrived at the Gaddani ship breaking industry from different countries for scrapping. The removal of custom duty and sales tax had helped to revive this ship breaking industry after a pause of eight to ten years. This has given immense job opportunities to people residing in that area and to those in the adjoining areas. It is anticipated that these ships would produce 500,000 tonnes of scrap for the steel industry in the country.

Since the ship scrap smuggling from Afghanistan and Iran has been halted, it might turn out to be beneficial to the industry. Sources reveal that due to world economic recession there may be a reduction of forsaken ships in the international market but in view of very low prices being charged for these ships, the ship breaking industry will not suffer but will thrive. It is expected that Balochistan will get more financial assistance from foreign agencies and Federal Government to boost this industry.

The fear of re imposition of tax in the coming budget on ship breaking industry still remains and the importers are trying hard to bring as many vessels before the end of the current fiscal year. It is anticipated that at the ship breaking yard as many as 100 ships will arrive at the closing of this fiscal year. In the beginning there were very few ship breaking plots but at present they stand at 127 and another 5 plots are under development. If in this current budget the custom duty and excise duty is re-imposed, it would be an adverse affect on the existing fragile industry, having disastrous consequences to the economy of the country. In this context, it is worth mentioning that the ship breaking industry has already started generating revenues and providing employment opportunities to the people.