Zhoushan shipyard, just south of Shanghai, is ground zero for a massive recycling process handled by Dutch company Sea 2 Cradle, who are currently dismantling ships and oil rigs for spare parts to be sold and metal to be fused and re-used in other forms.
The process is basically to strip the vessels from all cables, furniture and equipment to keep only the bare structure, then cut the whole thing down in big chunks with gas torches. Those large sections are then set on ground and taken apart by an army of ant-like workers who separate all elements, which are later sent away by trucks to be melted down.
Raphael Olivier is a corporate & industrial photographer based in Asia for about 10 years, currently living between Hong Kong and Singapore, and available for assignments around the region including annual reports, corporate social responsibility reports, advertising campaigns and more.